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Her grip on my hair tightens further and I yelp out in pain. Aiden clenches his jaw.

I complain, “Can you loosen up on my hair a little, please? My braids did nothing to you.”

She ignores me. “You’re mistaken, Aiden. I’m not going to hide her. That’d be too easy. Too kind of a gesture for her father. No. I’m going to do worse. I’ll destroy her soul.”

Aiden and I look at each other confused, as my father gasps and says, “No, you couldn’t have it. It’s locked away. The only way to get it is with all the directors scanning in.”

Then, it finally clicks why he looks so horrified. The only way she could destroy a soul is with a weapon that was banned and locked away—‘The Obliterator’. The same weapon used on the worst of the worst souls. The same weapon that may be used to destroy me. Shit.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She moves her hair to the side to show us behind her ear. There is an infinity sign tattoo. “I spent years finding back doors to every department and programmed it into this tattoo. It works as its very own department, but leaves no trace when I use it. I have access to almost everything in Eden.” That’s when I realize, it's not an infinity sign—it's the number ‘8’. As in the eighth department that shouldn’t exist.

I recall seeing Joey with the same tattoo. That’s how he was able to easily frame Aiden and knew Taevian was my father. He was a part of her plan too. I can’t believe I ever trusted him. Mac also has the tattoo. Man, she really is collecting reapers like Pokémon.

She finally lets go of my hair—I am nervous to see the damage—and walks back to the table, picking up a gun. I’m assuming that’s ‘The Obliterator’. She walks back over to me and aims it at my head. From what I’ve read, I know there’s no actual bullets in there. It’s more like energy is released from it.

She presses it against my head. “Join me or she dies. Permanently. Choose.”

“What’s to stop me from telling everyone your plan once that weapon is not pointing at my daughter’s head,” my father asks. I am still working at my binds. I’m almost there.

She grins wickedly. “Because you don’t know what reapers are on my side or not. If you run and tell anyone, I can assure you, someone, if not me, will destroy your daughter.” That sick bitch. Didn’t she just say earlier that she wasn’t going to harm us. What a liar.

My father looks at me desperately and I aggressively shake my head. “Dad, you can’t do this. Look at the lengths she went for power. Imagine what she would do to Eden.”

“Taevian, just do what she wants,” Aiden pleads.

I whip my head to Aiden, confused at his words. “Why the hell are you helping her?”

His face hardens. “I’m not helping her. I am trying to make sure nothing happens to you.”

“What about Eden?” I push, knowing how much he cares about Eden. It is shocking that he is not conflicted right now.

“You think I’m concerned about Eden when there is a gun that can destroy your soul pointed at your head? This place can burn for all I care.”

“See. Someone with common sense,” Director Young remarks. I turn to my father to see him already staring at me.

He looks up to her. “Jia, you don’t have to do this.”

She sighs, then moves the gun to my chest, where my heart is. “Taevian, honey, I do. One last chance. Help me or she dies. Choose.”

I wiggle the last piece of rope off my wrist. Yes! I finally got my binds undone. If I can get that gun away from her then we will have a fighting chance to get out of here. I can’t let my father help that evil bitch hatch her plan. I’ve grown to love Eden and if she takes over, who knows what she will do.

Quicker than I’ve ever been, I grab her hand moving the gun away from my chest. She wrestles to get the gun pointed at me again. I swipe my legs out, making her fall on her back. The gun falls out of her hand, sliding across the floor. We both pause, then we race for it. I almost reach it when she disappears from beside me and appears right by the gun.

Crap.

I crash into her and down to the floor we go. She tries to point the gun at me again but I move on top of her, struggling to turn the gun on her. I know it won’t kill her, but it may cause her to take some serious damage. I can hear Aiden and my father yelling my name.

I can’t focus on them right now.

I almost have the gun on her when she knees me in the stomach. I let out a grunt and lose my grip on the gun. In an instant, she turns it on me, and a shot rings out. I let out a breath as a force slams into my chest.

Well, this can’t be good.

I don’t feel pain. Instead, I feel an extreme sense of peace washing over me, bathing me in tranquility from top to bottom. It is completely different from when I was shot in the courtroom. I was confused and a little scared then. Those emotions aren’t present now.

Glancing down at my chest, I see it is glowing gold. I look back up to see Director Young scrambling backwards on her behind. I lean back, my hands pressed against my chest.

“Joyce!” I hear Aiden shout and I turn to look at him. His face is masked in complete horror. I already feel my skin beginning to hum. I look from Aiden to my hands to see them slowly turning into gold flecks and sprinkling away. After two seconds, my hands are no longer there. I don’t have a lot of time to process what is happening.