Chapter One

The purple orbs expand from my hands, pulsing and growing warmer with every flicker. The air around my fists swirls as it hums slightly. My fingers warm, but I hold the shifting colors for as long as I can, clenching them hard against the brightness.

I watch as the light brightens the tunnel I'm standing in. Small rays of purple erupt from my hand and illuminate the colorful patches of graffiti on the walls.

After a moment, my fingers twitch harder and I can feel myself slipping.

No, comes a familiar voice. Hold...

I squeeze tighter.

Come on, Sin!

I hold on for as long as I can before the light recedes and the electrical pulse in the air dies down. The purple energy finally fades away, and I'm not surprised. After last night's training session and this early morning one, my energy is pretty much drained.

A button clicks behind me.

"Four minutes, thirteen seconds. Eh, you could do better."

Startled, I turn and see Addie sitting on an upturned cardboard box, wearing her usual ripped jeans and oversized sweatshirt. A stopwatch rests in her hand, a coffee cup next to her boots.

"When did you get here?" I ask.

She tosses her blonde hair. "I'm your spirit animal, remember? Wherever you go, I go."

"That's a bit stalker-ish." I mumble. "What was my time again?"

Addie checks the stopwatch.

"Oh, it went away. I don't know, four minutes, seconds...something. Wanna try again?" I glance down at my hands. My fingertips are already turning a deep shade of grey - I've been going at it for too long. Any longer, and I risk my fingers altogether.

"Nah, I'm good." I swipe her coffee cup from the ground and take a sip.

"Hey!"

"Ugh, how do you drink that stuff? It needs sugar or somethin'." I hand it back to her, making myself gulp down the bitterness.

"I'm going shopping today. I wanted to ask you if you needed anything," she mumbles in annoyance, holding her coffee away from me. Her black fingernails glint under the harsh overhead lights of the tunnel.

"Uh...I don't know. I don't think so."

We exit the tunnel and merge with the train tracks. Though the tunnel is cracked and overrun with vines and no train has come in here since the Override of the Remnants, we step clear of the tracks onto the waiting platform. The old metal bars groan under our steps.

There's another dimly-lit tunnel a bit ahead that leads to another makeshift training room. A few posters are still taped up on the brick walls from various movies and plays, but all of them are at least a decade old.

Taking a final drink, Addie tosses her coffee cup on the ground and crushes the paper with her boot, leaving a little stain on the cracked concrete.

"So, what are you doing today?" She asks, abandoning the cup and fingering with the stopwatch instead.

I think about it for a moment. My body yearns for sleep, considering I've been up for almost seventeen hours with no food but a piece of toast that Cole made me eat yesterday.

That training session was hard, but I can feel it paying off. I'm not only more powerful, but more controlling, too.

I remember only a couple of weeks ago when I would cry and scream during training because it felt like my fingers were being ripped off in bloody purple pieces. But now, I can continue for hours at a time without getting hurt. I'm proud of how far I've come.

"I'm probably going to take a rest. And food." Addie nods in understanding.

"I can tell you need a re-charge." she says quietly, gesturing to my stone-like hands. Her light words echo off the walls of the dim tunnel. A ladder lies straight ahead, leading straight up to the secret man-hole that we hid months ago to stay safe.

"Get some rest, okay Sin?" Addie rubs my arm in a comforting way, then leaves, her figure disappearing at the misty height of the ladder.

Suddenly cold without her touch, I turn away and wring my lifeless hands as I walk in the other direction.

I don't really have a room to call my own, so I sleep in an abandoned train car on the lower floor. It's actually quite comfortable, considering I've never slept in a real bed before.

Our little group of misfits moved into this old metro almost exactly seven months ago after restoring it, and Addie is the only allowed to go aboveground to re-stock our supplies.

Cole is too attached to this home that we created together for him to leave unless it's absolutely necessary.

Rubi and I aren't normal looking-enough to go aboveground without getting suspicious looks.

Taze isn't allowed to go aboveground because shes' a familiar face among many Aces. She could be caught easily without backup.

And Parker...no one can see Parker.

I make my way down the cold stairs of the lower level, the temperature dropping with every step. It's become more and more gloomy down here.

The last of us Remnants have made this place a home as best as we knew how. Though we have the entire metro to ourselves, the space we actually live in is the train that we found stuck in an old pile of boards and crawling ivy. Each room is a different train car frozen on the tracks, a kitchen, living space (aka Cole's library), a small weapons container, and the occasional bedroom. There's no doors or locks on the bedroom, in case we need to get up quickly and fight.

I immediately smell rose tea as I come closer to the makeshift kitchen area. Our electric kettle is bubbling as I watch Cole gather two coffee mugs and place them on a nearby board.

"Late night, Sin?" he asks with a small chuckle, pouring steaming water into the mugs.

I step in the kitchen and lean against the wall, feeling weak in the legs. I'm completely drained.

"The latest."

"Hm."

"How'd you know I was coming down here?"

"I had a feeling."

He hands me one of the mugs, fragrant and filled with cream just how I like it. My cold fingers curl around the rim as I inhale the sweet steam.

"Sin," he mumbles with a tone of warning.

"Hm?"

"Your hands. We talked about this."

I look up into his big brown eyes, regretting ever coming down here. "You can't just train endlessly. Look at your hands, Sin. You're ruining yourself!"

I place my tea down on the wooden board and look him square in the eye. I can feel him backing down already.

"Cole, thank you for caring for me, but I am not a kid anymore." I lift my hands so he can see my frozen palms in plain view. "This is training. And if we are ever going to go back aboveground again, this is the only way."

We're both silent for a moment.

"I just don't want you to kill yourself in the process." he answers quietly. "You remember what happened to--"

"I know."

"Sin, I--"

"I'm going to sleep." I say bluntly, wanting to end the conversation. "Thank you for the tea."

Cole looks down at the floor, defeated.

"You're welcome. Goodnight, Sin."

"'Night."

I walk through the doorway and swish the threadbare curtain closed behind me. I realize I have no idea what time it is, but it must be at least afternoon if Addie went shopping.

The tangled fairy lights around my top bunk give off an odd glow as I shed my sweaty training uniform and lie on my mattress.

I can feel sleep coming quickly. I close my eyes and rub my knuckles together under the sheets in an attempt to warm them.

My pillow is so soft..... I think just as I doze off.

...

The Override of the Remnants.....what a day full of loss.