I whirled around and marched out the door to Hunt's office. I had no time to waste. Shoving past Hunt's escorts, I searched for the nearest exit. I was halfway down the first flight of stairs when Arlo caught up with me.

"What the hell were you talking about in there?" he asked me curiously, not winded at all despite having had to sprint to catch up to me.

"Move," I told him as he blocked me from going down the steps. "This is urgent."

"What exactly is urgent?" Riley questioned from the top of the staircase, looking down.

I was practically snarling when I said, "Why don't I tell you on the way?"

"To Romania?" Hunt asked, appearing next to Riley and the others.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I stated firmly, "You know what used to be in northern Romania."

"Yes, Delphinium, but it's gone now. You, of all people, should know that. The United States government investigated it for months."

"What's going on right now? I hate being left out of things," Jaxon put in his opinion amid the argument.

"You can never be too cautious," I reminded Hunt, ignoring Jaxon. "You have to admit, it is suspicious."

Hunt struggled for words before he finally got out, "Be that as it may, that doesn't mean that anything relating vaguely to your past needs to be thoroughly investigated again. We need you here, especially with everything that is going on."

I took a threatening step toward him. "You brought us here to protect the nation. And for the first time, that is what I'm going to do."

The director was quiet as he thought. I could practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to decide what to do. I knew that he wanted us here, but I'd planted a seed of doubt in his mind. I could only hope that it would sprout.

Finally, Hunt answered, rubbing a hand over his tired face. "There will be a plane waiting for you on the southern quadrant. You have two days to be back here."

I nodded my head once to express my gratitude and continued down the staircase. I had no time to waste.

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

Staring out the window of the plane, I watched the ocean pass by below us. It was vast; as far as the eye could see to the horizon line was water. I half-wished I could drown in it and escape this mess.

No, I told myself hurriedly. It could be nothing. My suspicions could always be wrong.

They aren't alive.

They can't be alive.

I repeated this mantra to myself as I fixed my eyes on the carpeted floor of the jet, almost as if in a trance. It had to be true. It had to be true.

I closed my eyes, purposefully allowing myself to remember. It almost felt wrong; I'd done the opposite for so long. But now, I was hoping it would bring me peace of mind.

Alarms blared as debris rained from the crumbling ceiling. Ashes fell like snow against the raging red backdrop.

Covering my mouth and nose with my hand to lessen smoke inhalation, I ran through the long hallways as I desperately tried to find escape. Flames were all I could see; it was like an ocean.

I held back a scream as part of the wall caved in beside me, almost crushing my body. I turned and ran for my life, hoping that I could outrun the collapsing tunnel. A piece of machinery, wreathed in flames crashed to the floor right behind me. I kept running.

      I did my best to ignore the sight of the charred bodies that had been claimed by the tongues of fire. I didn't look into their faces; I might have once recognized them.

As I ran past, dying hands reached out to me, grasping for my ankles, holding onto that last shred of hope. I shook them off, knowing that the people who reached out for salvation were the same ones who committed atrocious deeds in the name of Orion.

My heart dropped when I hit a dead end. The entire hallway had been reduced to rubble. I didn't know how far the carnage went past the wall of rocks.

      When I stumbled back in horror, a flaming tongue reached out to lick my smooth skin. The sensation of extreme warmth hit a moment before the pain. Crying out in pain, I dragged myself onto the only part of the floor that wasn't on fire.

      My eyes blurred, but I couldn't tell whether it was from the smoke or my own tears. I blinked, wondering if I had rigged the mountain to blow only to go out with it. But I was oddly comfortable with that thought. As long as the rest of them were dead, maybe I had done my job. Maybe I could finally be at peace.

      Standing up, I tried to get as far away from the flames as I could. I would hold death off as long as possible, but if he came for me, I wouldn't fight against his prying hands.

      Motivated by the unbearable heat in the corridor I was trapped in, I gritted my teeth and set my eyes on the roof above the pile of rubble. With my mind, I brought it crashing down, adding to the destruction I'd already caused.

      Hand over hand, I crawled up the mountain of debris. My hands were nearly torn to shreds, but I only saw the light at the end of my climb.

      My chest heaved with the effort, but I managed to haul myself up onto the next level. I'd lost track of which story of the fortress I was on, but it hardly mattered now that it was burning from the inside out.

I picked myself up off the floor and kept running. When I came across another wall, I didn't even stop running. I blew it wide open with the power of my mind and jumped out of the hole.

My skin burned but not because of the flames. I raised my head from the ground I'd landed on to see that the land around the fortress was covered in white snow.

However, I had no time to celebrate my successful escape. A shadow passed over me and I looked upwards just in time to see a massive chunk of rock falling towards me.

I raised my hands in the air, hoping that my power could hold it up long enough for me to get out of its path. Instead, fueled by my adrenaline, the rock burst apart like it had been exploded.

I put my arms up to cover my head as the tiny shards pelted my body. When it stopped, I dropped my arms and took a few steps back as I took in my work.

      The fortress, which was built into the mountain, was crumbling into itself. The once-powerful stronghold, along with its inhabitants, was dying. Massive machine guns that had been mounted to the turrets fell inside the building. Smoke plumed up into the sky, making the air thick and gray.

      I had finally done it, I realized as the flames flickered in my eyes. I had finally clipped the evil in the bud. I had pulled up its roots. Soon, it would be nothing more than a memory.

      A wry smile found its way onto my face. After almost three years of imprisonment, I was finally free.

I opened my eyes again as the memory faded. There was no way they could have survived such destruction.

      "Delphinium."

The mention of my name snapped me out of my thoughts. I wasn't sure whether I should be grateful or annoyed.

I glanced up at Finn, knowing exactly what he was going to ask. "Yes?"

He gave me a look, aware that I was skirting around the inevitable. "Who are we going to see?"

      I was mindful of the fact that the others were listening in, curious of what I had to say. I didn't want to tell any of them anything, but it appeared that I now was being forced to.

      "I didn't make myself an assassin. We're going to see the people who did." I spoke slowly, choosing my words wisely. All the eyes were on me now and I didn't want to say more than I had to.

      "I'm sorry, what?" Arlo asked, holding his hand up to his ear as if he hadn't heard me.

      "We are walking blindly into the organization of people that trained you? If their abilities are anything like yours, we'll die in minutes," Riley reasoned, worriedly running her hands through her inky hair. I saw Kane glance at her and then quickly away.

      "No," I dragged out the word. "We'd be dead in seconds. Thankfully, I already took care of them a year ago."

      "'Took care of them' meaning...?" Jaxon trailed off, waving his hand for me to continue the sentence.

      "Meaning that I put explosives in the center of the fortress and burned it to the ground, crushing everyone inside." I had to force the words out of my mouth; I had never thought I'd ever talk about this aloud to anyone.

      All my teammates were quiet for a moment after, and I knew that they were shocked by what I'd done. I was shocked by what I'd done, myself.

      "Yeah, it kind of sounds like they should be dead," Jaxon said, talking to me like I was a child to make his point.

      "Yes, it does. And yet, Hundsen was shipping us out to a buyer in central Romania." I looked around at each of my teammates. "Have you ever been to the middle of Romania? There's nothing there. Or at least, there shouldn't be."

      "Why would they want us? Who are they?" Finn asked, his eyes fixed pointedly on me.

      "They'd want us for our power. They already used mine for their own purposes; imagine what they could do with eight of us." I ignored Finn's second question, not wanting to talk about them directly.

      "And who exactly are these mysterious overlords that trained you?" Riley asked curiously.

      "They're a group that commits heinous deeds for their own dark intent. They worked with people like me to extract information, steal goods and kill targets. My teachers make Adiago Hundsen look like a schoolyard bully." I said nothing of the horrors I'd seen in the place, for I didn't even want to think about them. I saw them in my nightmares often enough.

      "Could you not leave? Why did you work with them for so long?" Arlo questioned, dead serious for once. Riley slapped his arm and gave him a firm look to chide him for asking such a stupid question.

      "Leave?" I almost laughed. "There's a reason I finally burned the fortress down."

      "Do they have a name?"

      I glanced at Jake, who was watching me intensely; he had asked for the name before as well. "The name doesn't matter. They're dead anyway."

      "But you just said-"

      "I know what I said," I barked, cutting Arlo off. "I just need to be sure that they're gone."

      They had to be gone. They had to be gone.

      Finn stood up from the seat he'd been sitting in across from me. "I think that's enough," he told the others. "Thank you for telling us, Delphinium."

      I watched him for a moment. He had apparently picked up on the fact that I didn't want to talk about it anymore, and for that, I was beyond grateful. Finn had also been the least prying during the questioning. Maybe he knew from experience what it was like to be in the hot seat. It then occurred to me that he could have a few skeletons in his closet that I didn't know about.

      With a small nod of my head, I accepted his thanks. The others went back to their own ways to pass the time. I sighed, hating the feeling of vulnerability I got when I spoke about my past.

      Feeling slightly out of breath, I turned to look back out the window at the ocean far beneath us. I did my best to keep them out of my thoughts, but all my thoughts eventually were taken over by them. It was just like it had been in those three years.

      They had to be gone.