"Hadley, stop!" Jamila finally said, stopping them in one of the tunnels on the way back to her room.

Hadley stopped, but she was still freaking out. She wanted to leave the tunnels as soon as possible. Get behind closed doors. Pack hers and Jamila's things and leave!

Were they even safe in their room?

"Hadley, I have work to do. And you do too. I thought we talked about this. We need to pull our own weight to earn our place with the Wildlings." she said. Then she pointed at the empty tunnels. "What are we doing here? What's wrong?"

Hadley didn't know where to start but looking at Jamila now, with them alone in the soft-yellow glow of the tunnels, it reminded her why she had gone to find her in the first place.

"It's you, Jamila. What's wrong, is you," Hadley almost yelled the words. A weight lifted off her at the admission. She calmed herself down and reached out to take Jamila's hand.

"What?" Jamila asked, backing away from Hadley.

"That." Hadley raised her brows and motioned to what had just happened.

"I don't get it..."

"You barely want to touch me anymore," Hadley said.

"What?"

"Ever since I showed up... after that first night together...?" Hadley tried to explain. "You and I... everything's off kilter. We live in the same space, sleep in the same bed, we're having our daughters together, but we don't fit like we used to."

"I lost you, Hadley! I have been grieving your death ever since you were taken," Jamila pointed out. "The last three weeks have been... I just need time..."

"After everything we've been through together, it could be three years, three decades or three centuries and we'd still fit, Jay," Hadley said, walking closer to her. "We would. And I know you agree. That's not it. Something's wrong. I can feel it. What is it? Please. Just tell me."

Jamila was suddenly falling apart as she stood only fingertips away. Hadley wanted so badly to reach out and touch her, hold her, but she realised she couldn't face any more rejection from Jamila. She held back her need to, her fingers aching from the effort and her heart beating hard against her chest. Instead, she slipped her hands into her pockets.

The cold sting of the Damascus steel rings in her right pocket made her breath catch.

"Hadley," Jamila breathed the name, heavy with emotion as she finally stepped forward, reached out and carefully cupped Hadley's cheek.

Jamila's hand on her cheek melted everything inside Hadley in a wave of love and affection that she had been missing for weeks. Hadley pulled her left hand from her pocket, placed it on Jamila's against her cheek and closed her eyes, soaking up the feeling.

"Tell me what's wrong, Jay," Hadley whispered, desperate to always have this. "Please?"

Hadley opened her eyes, her vision blurry from balancing tears, and for a second there, it looked like Jamila was about to say something. About to pour her heart out. About to open up. Then her face walled over and she took her hand away.

Hadley's stomach dropped.

Jamila smiled.

It was fake.

"Everything's fine, Hadley. I promise. Now, let's get back to work." she said, her voice plastic. She turned and began to walk away.

She'd lied.

Right to Hadley's face.

And Hadley had thought being mauled to death by a vampire hurt.

"No," Hadley replied, following Jamila down the hallway. Her voice had a touch of desperation in it, but Hadley didn't care. "No, Jamila. Everything's not fine. Please, just talk to me."

Jamila turned around and finally broke!

"Okay, Hadley. First of all, I'm not pregnant! Anette was just telling me about remedying that, but you know what? I don't even know if I want to! You like the idea of us both bringing up our daughters together more than you like me, and that's okay, but I'm not pregnant. I know that Conception Day was months ago, but it didn't work for me. It worked for you and everyone else, but not me. I think there's something wrong with me, but Anette says... and Ruq said... it's just..." Jamila was stumbling over the words as they rushed out of her.

Hadley tried to calm her down. "Hey... Jay... wait...just..."

"Let me finish, Hadley. I have to get it all out or I won't be able to again," Jamila said in despair. "It's not just that I'm not pregnant... that's just one... okay, here goes... I think I like Ruq. And I can't promise, if we ever see her again, that I won't do anything about that... and I know that there's bad blood between you two, but I just... I can't deny... everything is so uncertain, and things keep happening and changing and..."

Hadley went numb, unsure of how to respond, rocked by Jamila's confessions. Memories played in her mind. She saw their trip from the Compound, but with details she'd missed when her singular, desperate focus had been on finding the Wildlings.

Jamila and Ruq.

Hadley had seen it from the start. Both of them laughing at the edge of the bonfires. The children rushing for Ruq and Jamila, never Hadley, and both of them taking care of the little ones together. It was Ruq that Jamila would ask to take over the camp and the children when she needed to clean up or just rest. Hadley had been so obsessed with finding the Wildlings that she hadn't even noticed that Jamila wasn't pregnant. And now that they were together at The Caves, all Hadley had been focussed on was her status as a Fisher and what others would think about her and her daughter.

This whole time, she'd just assumed that Jamila was having an easy pregnancy! Given that Hadley still believed in Conception Day, no matter what nonsense the Wildlings tried to tell her, and the fact that she'd always thought that Jamila was already the personification of motherhood, she figured that her body had just eased into the task too.

Fuck.

With how Hadley had been treating her, she'd made it impossible for Jamila to tell her the truth.

And did Jamila just say that Ruq knew?

She'd talked about this to the vampire, but not her?

"Hadley?" Jamila was calling her name, her voice heavy with concern and fear.

Hadley looked up in time to see that they weren't alone in the tunnels anymore.

"Hadley Fisher!" The voice belonged to Uriko, Kade's right hand, who's voice Hadley recognised just as clearly as she had Kade's. The woman was grinning from ear to ear as she walked over to them, six other people following behind her.

"What's going...?" Hadley was cut off by a punch from Uriko that split her lip.

Hadley reached for the wound, her fingers drawing away crimson. She looked back up at Uriko.

"I have wanted to do that for a long time!" Uriko announced triumphantly, shaking out her fist.

Jamila was shouting and trying to come to Hadley's aid, but she was held back by four of the men who'd accompanied Uriko. Jamila was struggling against their hold, giving them hell, but she was trapped. Hadley turned back to face Uriko in time to receive another punch. And another. And three more. She was on the ground now, the punches never stopping. Her jaw was on fire. Her nose was broken. Her eye socket almost caved in. Everything was happening so fast. Hadley could barely process it all, let alone respond to it. She was still numb from what Jamila had just told her, and though her body was aching to defend herself via muscle memory, her mind held every muscles back.

She deserved this.

"Uriko, stop! She's pregnant for fuck's sake!" Jamila screamed, still struggling against her captors. Hadley had never heard Jamila cuss.

They all ignored her and instead, the men who weren't holding Jamila joined Uriko, reducing Hadley to pulp. After the beatdown, they bound Hadley's hands behind her back and Uriko instructed the two men to drag Hadley up and forward, the woman leading them out of the tunnels. Hadley could barely speak, her face badly bashed in, and she could barely walk upright, several of her ribs cracked and at least one of them broken, pressing against a lung.

"That was for my men! They died because of you. Because you led those dogs to us! Kade might think you're a saint, but I see right through you," Uriko ranted. "I really hope the Council comes down on you hard! God knows you deserve it!"

As they led her away, Hadley didn't put up a fight. Those men's deaths had been hanging over her head for a while now, and after that talk with Jamila, there was no more fight left in her anyway.

Uriko led them through a maze of tunnels that Hadley hadn't been to before. These were as soft yellow and as smooth as the other tunnels, but they arrived at a dead end. Not a single one of the tunnels Hadley had walked through ever led to a dead end – there was always a door or more tunnels.

The wall before them suddenly slid open and Uriko pushed Hadley through into a new tunnel. It had pure earthen walls, jagged to the touch, as if freshly hewn. The scent of damp earth was heavy, making it difficult for Hadley to breathe, which was already a hardship thanks to the broken rib puncturing her left lung and her broken nose. They had to mostly drag her the remainder of the way into a large hollow sanctum deep underground.

The musty air followed them in here, but it seemed easier to breathe. Hadley was on her knees, wheezing. She looked up to see where they'd brought her. There was a semicircular glow in front of them from twelve pole-mounted cloth torches burning in the dark. The dancing orange flames illuminated the hooded figures who held the torches, their faces hidden in shadow.

"The same eyes and the same belligerent attitude as her mother," a voice said.

Her mother?

Hadley almost scoffed. Her mother? Belligerent? No one was more of a rule follower than Aadya!

But then she remembered Gram Lee's story about her mother.

Hadley tried to improve her posture, wincing in pain, but trying her best not to appear as defeated as she felt. There was one lesson Aunt Zee had enthusiastically and literally pounded into her for years in preparation of this unavoidable meeting – a meeting with the Wildling Council.

Never show weakness in front of a Wildling.

She lifted her head and worked to keep it held high.

"Definitely Aadya's child," another voice chimed in.

This room didn't resemble the rest of the Caves at all. It felt like an add on. A space made just for this – to host a secret conglomeration of Wildlings. They moved closer to her, maintaining the semicircle, and staying hidden under those large hoods. The air around them felt regal, like you had to stop and listen to what they had to say and seriously consider it.

Uriko moved forward as well, handing one of the hooded figures a book – leather-bound and wrapped, with no distinguishing marks on the outside. Hadley grit her teeth. She knew exactly what that book was. Had thumbed through its pages hundreds of times in the last few months. The one who accepted the book took off their hood. It was an ancient man. A shrivelled, dishevelled weather-beaten old man, with a black face full of wrinkles and dark marks and hair the colour of snow. He became the oldest person Hadley had ever seen. The old man handed Uriko his torch and then went through the book in the dim light.

"This book, found in your belongings, has markings and symbols that are only known to this Council," the wizened man said as he continued to peruse through the book. "A special code that shouldn't have ever graced your eyes. How do you have this book?"

"That book was not found. It was stolen from my belongings," Hadley replied indignantly, as if she wasn't on her knees with her wrists bound behind her back and her body thrashed and in pain.

They must have broken into Jamila's room and taken it apart to find Aunt Zee's diary. Had they done it on the word of the Healer? She'd looked disturbed and threatened at seeing Hadley! What had Jamila called her? Anette? She was part of Kade's tribe, which was also Uriko's tribe. How else could Hadley explain this? She had lived in peace with the Wildlings for weeks! This was the Healer's fault. Her way to get Hadley before Hadley got her!

"I demand an apology for this disrespectful act of thievery and the book's immediate return to my possession." Hadley said.

Uriko slapped Hadley hard enough to make her ears ring.

"The Council Member asked you a question," Uriko said in a stoic voice. "Answer it."

Hadley clenched her jaw, staying silent. Aunt Zee had added those symbols to help prove to the Wildlings that she belonged with them when she showed up. But with the constant recognition and reference to her as a Fisher she never needed it. Hadley didn't even know what the symbols in the diary meant. Just that they were supposed to help, not hurt.

But if her body was any indication, they were hurting.

A lot.

"That book has maps to several of our Camps!" Uriko spat. "She found our camp and she brought vampire dogs, a Venom vampire, and the Scavengers with her! Our people were killed and abducted because of her. She must be punished!"

"This map doesn't start from The Hotel, which we know is Barret Fisher's base of operations," the Council Member with the book observed. "It starts from a Barn."

There was that name again, but this time, yet another name was attached to it.

Barret.

Barret Fisher.

Another Fisher?

Curious, but what did this new person have to do with Hadley?

"You can't for a second believe that she escaped from a Barn!" Uriko said pointedly. "No one ever has. Those genetically modified freaks can't tie their shoes without being brainwashed into it! That's nothing but a misdirection!"

There was a beat of silence, where Uriko looked around the room, as if shocked that the Council members were even considering the concept of Hadley's escape as a possibility. Hadley would have laughed if it wasn't excruciating. No one had raised a single objection when Uriko had slapped Hadley and Hadley was trying to avoid a repeat of that. From what Hadley could tell, Uriko was important here. As for Hadley? For whatever reason – perhaps for just being a Fisher – she was important too, but not nearly enough or as much as she'd started to believe.

"Look at her eyes! Her mother's eyes changed to that colour under Barret Fisher's influence and clearly passed it on to her! It's how we all know exactly who she is. And exactly like her mother, she is definitely one of Barret Fisher's experiments," Uriko announced. "A spy, even."

Hadley blanched at the words.

This was not going well for her.

There was a loud scoff from the audience.

"Because she had that one book and inherited a physical trait from her parents?" Hadley was surprised to hear that deep, rich voice. "That's beyond an absurd jump to conclusion."

Kade was a Council Member?

He let down his hood to reveal himself. For some reason, after seeing the old man, Hadley had just assumed the Council was made exclusively of elders.

And was Kade defending her against Uriko, his own tribe member and right-hand woman?

"It's not just the book," Uriko clarified, unable to hide the smugness in her voice. "Or her eyes, or the fact that she hacked a path through the forest that led vamp dogs right to us, or that we were attacked by Scavengers right after she arrived, when we had been safe from them for almost a year."

Uriko pointed at Hadley.

"No more than twenty minutes ago, I broke her nose. Completely smashed it in!" Uriko almost screamed her next statement. "Now, look at it! It's halfway healed!"

That caught Hadley's attention.

Uriko was right. It didn't sting as much to breathe, and it was no longer difficult to stay upright. Her ribs were hurting less, and so was every other injury. Hadley cursed inwardly. Damn that eye-patch Healer and whatever she'd done to Hadley! But now, Hadley was confused. Had Anette changed Hadley's physiology without the knowledge of the Wildlings? The Council? And if she hadn't imprisoned and sedated Hadley under the purview of the Wildlings, did that mean that she was working with the Scavengers?

Was she playing both sides?

That was definitely a compelling reason to want Hadley discredited and villainised.

"And what about the shoulder wound she went into a coma for? The loss of blood? That vampire killed her! The Healers said that she was fully exsanguinated! No one is supposed to be able to survive that! Ask the Healers! They don't know what to make of it. Tell me that isn't Barret Fisher's work!" Uriko went on. "And speaking of vampires, let's not forget that the blood sucker was a part of her group! And after that bitch attacked her, she stayed back to make sure the freak was still alive? What vampire would do that? What human has that kind of power over a vampire?"

Power over Ruq? Hadley had to stop herself from snort laughing.

No one controlled Ruqwik, but Ruqwik herself.

Or the Venom.

"The girl has a point, Maynard," another Council Member said from behind the old man, who seemed to be the leader they all addressed.

"Agreed," the Council leader, Maynard, said. "While it may be difficult to prove whether or not Hadley is a spy from Barret Fisher, there is the strong possibility that she may cause harm to those who call this place their home."

"She saved us from those dogs. Saved me!" Kade said. It was a bit of a stretch of the truth, but Hadley would take it. "And this is how you choose to show your gratitude?"

"Again, dogs that she led right to us!" Uriko insisted.

"You don't know that for sure," Kade interjected.

"Enough!" the Council leader cut them off. "Kade, you may be the next in line to lead the Council, but you're not there yet. This decision lies with me."

"Have you even taken the time to talk to any of her people who arrived here with me?" Kade asked. "It would be impossible to fake a whole life lived in a Barn, let alone several. Even for your all-time favourite bogey man, Barret Fisher."

"You were too young. You don't know him Kade," the Council leader replied. "The lengths he would go to..."

"Why do you give him so much credit? So much power over us all? You've built him up until you've turned him into a mythical being. A god! And now we're all afraid of our own creation!" Kade pressed. "He's just a man!"

"A man with the ability to kill every single human being on the planet," Maynard said, his voice low. "A man who claims that the blood running in his veins makes it impossible to be turned into a vampire. A man who almost started a global war with the vampires two decades ago. A man who has been on a campaign to abduct as many of our people as he can, and we can't stop him."

The tension in the cavern was suffocating.

"He may just be a man, Kade, but underestimating him is to our peril!" Maynard finished.

Whoever this man was, he was bad news. And the fact that he was a Fisher too was definitely not going to do Hadley any favours. Whatever connection they thought was between her and this Barret Fisher was a mystery. One she'd have to solve fast if she was going to get through this alive and stop them from conflating her with this person they vehemently despised.

"I say we imprison Hadley, then improve security around the Caves and finally, find a way to use her as bait to force Fisher out into the open, where we can kill him once and for all," Uriko said. "She's obviously important to him. He'll come for her."

Hadley didn't miss the look on Kade's face. It was the look you reserved for someone who'd just passed on your idea like it was theirs with a straight face. Hadley herself had worn that look more than once as a Medic in training, when her Seniors had passed her ideas to the Vampires as their own.

"I agree with Uriko," Maynard said.

"Is that so?" Kade challenged.

"It is. And you know what? Maybe it should be Uriko in that Council position instead of you, Kade," the Council leader replied, eliciting several gasps from the small group of Council members beside him. "To be honest, Uriko has been doing your job better than you have for months."

Hadley didn't have to look at Uriko. She could feel the smugness from where she was. It was a wonder they were able to fit in the room with her gigantic head in the middle of it.

"You know why I couldn't..." Kade was barely audible when he said those words, his voice faltering and then disappearing altogether as emotion overpowered him and his voice broke.

Hadley's heart twisted at the feelings laced in those few words. She had never imagined she would see Kade that vulnerable.

Never show weakness in front of a Wildling!

Wasn't that the rule?

"All I'm saying is that you're not indispensable, Kade," the Council leader replied. Though his voice was softer, it didn't blunt the brutality of the words. "It's about time you realised that fact! This is a point I won't argue with you, especially not now when tribes have been pouring into the Caves for months because of the Scavengers and now vampire dogs. We can no longer live free. My decision is final. We must find a way to stop her father."

Her father?

Maynard was clearly talking about Hadley, but what was this new word "father"?

And was its meaning the reason for them treating her like this?

Suddenly, she was tired of it all. Tired of being the butt of some cosmic joke hell bent on constantly exposing her ignorance of the world beyond the Compound Walls! She wasn't going to take this sitting down! Not anymore. She was going to contest her mistreatment. She'd done nothing to deserve any of this! She got ready to stand up and fight. There was no way she was going to let them...

"What about her people?" Uriko asked.

Hadley's fiery resolve went out in a wisp of smoke.

She slumped back to her knees.

Of the people Hadley had led through the jungle wilderness, Jamila wasn't the only one who'd survived and made it to The Caves with Kade's tribe. There was also Jael from the Compound and Juvan, one of Teroi's Progenies and now Jael's partner, as well as Lulu, Kilo and Chaz, who'd joined them from Trisca's camp. And she couldn't forget Drew. And Brownie – although the vampire dog was not a big hit with the Wildlings and stayed locked up in a cage, tossed the occasional rabbit when Hadley, Jamila and Drew found the time to go visit him.

"If her people are loyal to her, they will fight her imprisonment. And if it turns out that they really are Barret Fisher's Scavengers in disguise, that will not be good for our people," Maynard said. "Banish them all! Make sure they leave The Caves in the next twenty-four hours and that they know they are not welcome back."

"Wait! Stop," Hadley finally said. Her pleading eyes bore into Kade's. "You can't do this. They're innocent! And there's nowhere for them to go. If you force them out there, with the dogs and the Scavengers, you're sending them to their deaths."

"And what about Jael?" Kade added. "She's pregnant. And Anette has been working with Jamila on starting her pregnancy journey. Are you still willing to banish them? And what about the little boy, Drew? Him as well?"

Kade knew about Jamila too?

Hadley swallowed the jealous sting from that last thought.

This wasn't the time or place.

Her mind was buzzing. She would fight for the safety of her friends! She wouldn't allow herself to let them down without trying, even if that meant grovelling at the feet of this Council. Over the last few weeks at The Caves, Hadley had met up with Jael and the others who had survived, and they were happy here. They had already lost so much. This haven was all that was left for them. Hadley couldn't be the reason they lost that too.

She wouldn't be able to live with herself.

"Imprison me! Just me! Then... then tell them... um... tell them I'm on an assignment and that I'll be back. Something to do with Brielle's tribe. They won't question that. And they won't cause any trouble that way," Hadley said, taking a few pathetic steps forward on her knees, looking at every face in that room in turn. "Please."

"That would have worked perfectly if Uriko hadn't gone rogue and beat you to a pulp in front of Jamila, instead of just bringing you here as directed!" Kade pointed out.

One of the Council women spoke up this time. She lowered her hood.

"We're not sending pregnant women to their death, Maynard," she said.

"Cassandra, this is just another ploy for sympathy by Barret Fisher and his..."

"Maynard, if we cannot protect ourselves from children and pregnant women, then what good are our warriors?" Cassandra pinned a look of contempt on Uriko.

Hadley's heart was going to break out of her chest if they took much longer to deliberate. Eventually, it was decided to let Hadley's people stay, but keep them under surveillance. Jamila had been detained at the same time as Hadley. They would both be imprisoned and Hadley's suggestion to tell the others that they were on a Council mandated assignment would be implemented. Hadley didn't care if they locked her up forever. Just that her people – and, most importantly, her daughter – would have a home.

Her own fate in that equation was inconsequential.

Jamila's imprisonment was a horrible outcome from all of this, but it was better than having her thrown out of The Caves to die – pregnant or not.

Hadley slumped forward and sighed.

Thiswas quite possibly the worst day of her life.