I chew into a chicken leg as I watch what the others are watching—Marina acting weird. It's almost nightfall and the thirteen of us are sitting around the fire in silence as we watch her mysterious gathering with the wolves beyond the fence.

"Can they even understand each other?" Christian says.

"I have no idea," I say. "It looks like they can."

I squint my eyes at the trees, seeing strange shadows among them. It's not just the wolves, hundreds of birds are gathered around her. Birds of all species. Some are so big that I can't tell if they have bird wings or creature wings.

"Oh my god!" a voice screams.

Christian grips his hand around Holly's wrist and stares right past my face, his cheeks going white with an expression of terror. I jump to my feet immediately, along with everyone else, and I instantly move towards Jackson who is cowering closer to Natalie.

Through the dark sky, mighty wings land in the middle of our small village. Wings that belong to the bodies of dozens of lions. Some of them recall their wings while others stare at us with their teeth snarling.

"Marina!" Christian shouts.

Marina turns around, her red eyes flashing with amazement through the forest. She doesn't seem concerned and her calmness is putting a few of us at ease. One of the lions separates from the pack and it walks right over to me while the others stay near the fence. It keeps its head down as though it is hunting, its red eyes are like a laser beam.

"Aurora," Christian says from across the circle. "Don't."

The creature stops walking, its form as a lion is so realistic that my hands shake as I cross the short distance. The creature sits and its nose sniffs against the air as I draw closer. The creature's form of a lion is the biggest animal I've ever seen in person. The mane is thick and soft, my fingers touch it first as I kneel in front of the magnificent beast. The red eyes just stare back at me and it lifts its paw. I swallow before placing my hand underneath it, cradling it as though it is merely a dog. The creature twists its head as a shiver runs through it. It backs away steadily, unleashing a pant before roaring at the sky.

"His name is Kazeelek," Marina says as she lands next to us. "King of the animal-eaters."

"King?" I mumble.

"Remarkable specimens," Marina says, running her hand along the lion's head. "He and Cain have an understanding. Kazeelek and his army remain far away from the rest of our kind, they do not interact or tolerate each other. My kind shunned them for being different but Cain has always respected their choice."

I stand to my feet, eyeing her suspiciously. "What are they doing here?"

"They are here for you," she says. "Kazeelek doesn't consume completed souls, he worships them."

I look across the circle and I find Christian staring back at me with the same look of absolute bewilderment, as though there's a question caught in his throat that he can't quite spit out. This information is not working right with my brain, I look down at the beast and it seems to be waiting for me to give it some kind of order.

Marina notices my confusion and she steps towards me, taking my hands and pulling me closer to her. "You have allies here, Aurora," she whispers. "Do you trust me?"

I nod my head.

"I know it is strange but they are our ticket out of here." She smiles at me, not willing to give anymore than that when her eyes go over my shoulder. The dozen pairs of human eyes staring at us forces her into silence. She takes a deep breath and squeezes her fingers into my arm. "It's time."

Kazeelek turns and runs towards the fence, the rest of the creatures follow him, they jump over it and scatter into the trees. There was more to her visit to the palace than she said, there's more to Cain's hunger. She knows something that she won't share with me and not because there's witnesses. This has been a long time coming and I feel as though it has to be now.

I sit back down, keeping my eyes on the fire as I try to find the words. "There's something I need to tell you all," I say.

Everyone is silent as I explain the impossible to them. Marina fades into the background and vanishes all together, not bothering to stick around for the reactions. I know how stupid it sounds or maybe that's just how I'm telling it, Marina was so much better at it than I am. Confusion sweeps across their faces for several minutes. I'm not just giving them hope of a world without the creatures but I am also declaring that our time here will end. To my surprise they take it well, none of them interrupt me or break out into smaller conversations, they continue eating in silence.

I finally stop. My eyes scrolling around each face to see who is brave enough to ask a question because I know they are dying to. The voice that asks first isn't the one I hoped to answer.

"What will happen to you after?" Jackson asks.

"I'm not sure," I say. "I hope I'll be okay but there's no way of knowing."

"You're talking about touching an ancient bell infused with some creepy, magic crap that can kill an alien race," Danielle says. "No offence but I don't think the odds of surviving that are good."

Jackson turns white at her statement. "You could die?"

"No," I say. "I'm going to be fine."

"Don't lie to him," Christian mutters.

"But there's a chance you could?" Miles says.

I take a deep breath. "It's possible. Marina thinks that their creators will save me, that they'll protect me."

"Don't do it," Jackson says, standing to his feet. Natalie tugs at him to sit back down but he ignores her. "We have a great life here. We are happy here, why would you want to destroy that?"

"Jackson," I mumble, my fingers grazing the side of my skull. "It's more complicated than that, you know it is."

"No, it's simple. You ring that bell and you die, if you stay here then you'll live."

"This isn't living!" I shout, standing to my feet. I look around at all the faces that refuse to look back at me. Shane is leaning forwards with his hands covering his mouth. "I'm sorry but it isn't. This isn't freedom and even if it was, we can't just ignore what's happening to the rest of the world. Don't any of you feel guilty about it? Because I do, every damn day."

"Why should we feel guilty?" Sarah demands from the other end of the circle. She has an annoying, squeaky voice that goes right through me every time she talks. "You're acting like we haven't been through hell either. We've all paid our dues, we deserve to be here, the King saw that and he's letting us live here so we don't have to go back out there! Ever!"

Christian laughs from below me. "The only reason that we're all here is because he didn't want Aurora to be alone."

"And what if this bell myth is complete and utter nonsense?" Sarah says. "Do you think he's going to let us stay here after? No, he's going to kill us or give us to the creatures outside the palace to punish us. This is insane, Aurora."

Most of them seem to be agreeing with her, even the silent ones that haven't moved much in minutes. I knew this would happen which is why I've been holding it off for so long. There are good points and bad points about it, I've known that since the very beginning. I could die. It might just be a myth. Cain might find out and kill everyone here. But even though there's doubts, I know in my heart that it's the only way. The creators are on my side, they helped me kill Saffron, and that has to mean something.

"I agree," I say. "It is insane. And Sarah's right, you have all been through hell and you deserve to be free. But think about the cost of that. Your happiness means the suffering of millions of others. I am not asking for your permission here. I am ringing that bell one way or another but it would mean a lot to me if you could be on my side."

"So we don't even have a say in it?" Sarah says. "She's taking away our choice now."

"No, I'm not. . ." I take a moment to calm myself, she's really starting to get on my nerves.

"Just shut up for a minute, Sarah and listen," Natalie says.

"Listen to what? Her plan to have us all murdered?"

"No one is dying!" Christian says. "Just listen to her!"

"I'm sorry but she won't be the one that the King hurts for betraying him, us on the other hand will be first in line." Sarah snarls at me. "Are you really going to gamble our lives here on some ancient riddle?"

Her question is a fair one, it raises the attention of everyone else. They all stare at me for the answer and no matter what I say it's the wrong one.

"Yes. Because even if there's just a small chance that humans could be free, that the creatures could die, then I will take it. I am willing to risk my life for it."

"What about our lives?" Holly says quietly, peeking around Christian's shoulder. "That is what she asked."

I shake my head in disbelief, scanning my eyes angrily over all of them. "I can't believe how selfish you're all being. I know that going back out there terrifies you but the creatures will be gone. You can't live here without Marina, there are no animals to eat, you will starve. Your only choice is to come back with me."

"Answer the question, Aurora!" Sarah shouts. "If you had to kill us right now to save the world, would you?"

"That's not fair," Christian says.

"Why? It's the same thing, isn't it?"

"Even if the King did find out then he wouldn't harm you," I say. "So yes, I would risk your lives because I know you'd be safe."

"Bullshit," Sarah hisses. "He wouldn't harm all of us. Christian and Jackson would be safe but the rest of us? He'll kill us in a heartbeat and you know it."

"I don't know what you want from me!" I say, shaking my hands angrily. "Don't you think I want to live here too? Don't you think I want to just hide away for the rest of my life and pretend like this isn't happening? But I'm not going to shy away from it because there are people out there that need my help and I won't sleep as well as the rest of you ignoring them!"

"I'm going to sleep," Sarah says, offering me a smirk from across the circle. It takes all of my strength not to run over and hit her. "Goodnight."

"I'm going back to my cabin too," someone else says.

"Me too."

I fall back down to the log and I hold my face in my hands. I take deep breaths, feeling Christian's hand cradle against my leg as a sign of comfort. Everyone starts leaving, even Jackson and Natalie, and eventually Christian and Holly stand up to leave me too.

"It's been a long day," Christian says. "We'll talk in the morning."

"Goodnight," I say.

"You did good," he says. "They'll come around. They just need some time to think on it."

He leaves me pondering that thought and I lift my head, thinking that I'm alone. Shane looks at me from across the fire and then starts to make his way over. He pats down his baggy, grey shirt and picks his drink up from the floor.

"Well that was something," he says. "And I thought the flying lions would be the main talk of the evening."

I glare at him as he sits beside me on the log. "For once in your life, can you just be serious?"

"I could give it a try. Hold on." He closes his eyes and inhales deeply through his nose.

I smile and bash my shoulder into his. "Stop it."

"So how long have you known?"

"A long time," I say. "Long before we ever came here."

"Carrying a secret like that couldn't have been easy but I can see why you kept it to yourself. You literally have the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"Yeah, I-" I narrow my eyes as he moves his hands to my shoulders and starts massaging them. "You can massage all you want but the world won't go away."

"I know," he says. "But it feels good, huh?"

"Hm."

I close my eyes as his fingers pinch into the top of my back. It's so relaxing that I almost fall asleep. I needed that. I really needed that. His fingers are magic, melting all of my stress away.

"You have so much tension in your body," he whispers. "Why don't you come back to my cabin and I'll massage all of you?"

I snap my eyes open, my body ironically becomes tenser. He still keeps his grip on my shoulders, rubbing them in circular motions. Holly's words from earlier come screaming back to me, that I should just take the chance to be happy. I might only have a few days left alive, so why am I resisting this? Shane is handsome, he's mature—sometimes—and he makes the best out of a bad situation. He isn't the worst person to spend the night with but he's also not the one that the stupid part of my brain is suddenly yearning for. Still, what harm could it do?

Shane removes his hands and leans forwards. I turn to look at him slowly, my hand running up the sleeve of his arm. I swallow as my hand trails along his throat and gently touches the hair around his jaw. His deep brown eyes become alive, looking back at me with both excitement and arousal. My hand keeps moving until I am inside his soft, brown hair. I close my eyes as our lips grow closer. They brush gently at first, not quite at my full disposal for taste. My hand falls back to his shoulder and I pinch my fingers into his skin as I push my lips against his more forcefully. The first thing—the only thing—that I can taste, is disgust. Actual repulsion. I back away from him and cover my mouth like I'm going to throw up. The feeling is like tipping sludge down my throat.

I look away angrily as Shane is baffled. "Ugh. Cain!" I groan.

"It's Shane."

"I know. I'm sorry," I say, holding my stomach as I distance myself from him. "It's not you, it's this damn connection."

He laughs, showing a typical Shane reaction. "You can't kiss me?"

"No. I can't kiss anyone. It's like kissing tar."

"I only had chicken and soup for dinner," he says, rubbing his chin. "Maybe the soup was a little strong."

"It's not the soup," I say, smiling at him. "There's a virus in me that I can't cure."

Shane's eyes widen and he leans so far back that he almost falls off the log. He is suddenly desperate to get away from me and he is excessively wiping his tongue with his hand.

"Not an actual virus," I say, grabbing his arm to steady him. "It was a metaphor."

"Strange metaphor to use," he mumbles. "Whatever it is, I can't catch it, can I?"

I almost answer him but I don't think I can without laughing. I stand up instead and brush down my clothes. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

I leave him sitting on the log looking like his entire man-hood has been exterminated. I walk through the quiet village, my eyes resting upon the bright stars. Of course the connection wouldn't allow me to kiss someone else or move on or have even a chance of happiness. It's been six months and it's still that strong? How is that even possible? I feel like Cain had something to do with it but I'll send myself crazy pointing blame at him, not that I could do that anyway.

Is this his way of marking his territory? Of keeping others away from me? It's bizarre and creepy and I had no idea he could even do that. Christian kissed me once and I didn't feel like that but maybe that was because I didn't want to kiss him back. Or maybe Cain had nothing to do with it and it's the connection acting on his behalf.

Or maybe Shane just had really bad soup breath.

I enter my cabin a few minutes later and I go upstairs, Jackson's door is slightly cracked open and I knock softly before entering. He lays away from me, acting as though he's asleep. That was a lot of information for him to process and he's probably worried about me. I sit down at the edge of his bed, glancing around at the room he made his own. He kept some of the things from whoever lived here previously; like the desk and the bird clock and the strange clay ornaments that he found in the closet. But mostly it's full of things that he made out of wood. He and Christian went through a phase of out-building each other and the result was five broken chairs, a fire pit and an odd-looking coffee table that seems to move whenever you walk close to it. He also made the candle sticks for the candles and they light up his room just as brightly as bulbs.

"Hey," I say, rubbing his arm beneath the covers. "You want to talk?"

"I'm tired," he says.

"Okay. We'll talk tomorrow." I stand up and lean down to kiss his cheek. He lays still, his eyes firmly closed. "I love you."

"Aurora?"

"Yeah?" I turn around from the doorway. I see the tears falling down his cheeks and I can't catch my breath.

"I don't want you to die."

"I have to do this. You understand that don't you?"

"Yes but. . . I can't lose you."

"You won't lose me," I say. "Remember what I said to you at the nannery? I'll always be with you no matter what. Get some sleep."

I close his door and I make my way across the short hallway with a breaking heart. I blow out the candles on the wall and I enter the darkness of my bedroom. I change into my nightclothes and I crawl into the bed, staring at the empty place next to me.