Divided Read online

  Divided

  Madeline Dyer

  Contents

  Divided

  Praise for the Untamed Series

  Also by Madeline Dyer

  Title Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Preview

  “Dyer packs a punch with Divided! As we’ve come to expect from her, the pages are packed with vivid imagery, high tension, and an earnest and willful heroine. Another great read in an intriguing saga.”

  Tracy Clark, author of The Light Key Trilogy & Mirage

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  “Divided is a powerful novel full of disturbing mental manipulation and a powerful protagonist who is determined to pull through. It’s highly addictive, and impossible to put down. Best cliffhanger yet!”

  S.E. Anderson, author of Starstruck

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  “A fantastic dystopian tale. Highly recommended for fans of strong heroines and intriguing sci-fi worlds.”

  Pintip Dunn, New York Times bestselling author of the Forget Tomorrow series

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  “A YA Mad Max—thrilling and deep, with richly drawn characters and spot-on pacing. […] Dyer’s Untamed series is a must-read for dystopian fans.”

  T.A. Maclagan, author of They Call Me Alexandra Gastone

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  “Fascinating and intriguing.”

  A Drop of Ink Reviews

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  “Dyer is as much a poet as a dystopian scribe.”

  Marissa Kennerson, author of The Family

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  “Strong writing and well-rounded characters.”

  Heidi Sinnett, author and librarian

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  “While Dyer provides all the elements you’re looking for in an action-packed dystopian adventure, I also found her message about women and their rights to be very timely. Fragmented and Dyer both have layers that are worth exploring.”

  Kimberly Sabatini, author of Touching the Surface

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  “A kick-butt story with amazing characters and outstanding world building.”

  Readcommendations

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  “Highly recommended.”

  Dr. Jessie Voigts, WanderingEducators.com

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  “Dyer writes with an urgency and a rhythm that compels you to turn the page.”

  Sue Wyshynski, author of The Butterfly Code series

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  “Untamed is a fantastic dystopian survival story, filled with twists.”

  The Literature Hub

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  “As a person who rarely reads fantasy/sci-fi but grew up with it always on the nightstand, Dyer’s book reawakened in me a buried love for the genre.”

  Jen Knox, author of After the Gazebo

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  “Readers who enjoy dystopian novels would enjoy this book.”

  The Story Sanctuary

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

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  Divided

  Copyright © 2017 Madeline Dyer

  All rights reserved.

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  Madeline Dyer asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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  First edition, July 2017

  Published by Ineja Press

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  Edited by Michelle Dunbar

  Cover & Interior Design by We Got You Covered Book Design

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  Print ISBN: 978-0-9957191-4-9

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9957191-5-6

  * * *

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, distributed, stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval systems, in any forms or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, without the express written permission of the author, except for the purpose of a review which may quote brief passages.

  * * *

  The author can be contacted via email at [email protected] or through her website www.MadelineDyer.co.uk

  For Rachel, Alicen, and Rhiannon

  I play dead as the Enhanced Ones’ leader checks on me.

  His steps are light as he treads around my body. A second later, something nudges my arm. His foot, probably. I grit my teeth and try not to move. Mustn’t move, because then the pain will start. And then he’ll know. He’ll know he’s winning, know that part of me—the tiniest part—wants the augmenters he’s holding. I can picture them now, those tiny vials. Pale blue liquids. Pastel oranges. Deep pinks, with the subtlest hint of silver accentuated by the light.

  It’s been so long since that first concoction wore off… Too long. Saliva pools under the left side of my tongue and against my cheek. My chest feels strange, light, as if my lungs are floating away and I need to breathe deeper, stronger, to keep them. Sweat breaks out across my forehead; I feel it, like a shoal of tiny, slimy fish, wriggling and plunging into my soul.

  You need them, Seven.

  A sour taste fills my mouth.

  No.

  No.

  No.

  I squeeze my already-tight fists harder, clench them as much as I can. Pain leaks through my bruised, aching knuckles. But my fingers are stronger now than before, than after Manning broke them and Jed set them as best as he could. Someone here must’ve fixed them, or partially fixed them, when I was unconscious, because I know if I unclench my fists, each finger will be straight and perfect again. I shudder, and the scratchy fabric of the strappy top I’m wearing catches on a sore bit on my back. Thinking about the clothes makes something inside me tighten; I had on a white dress when I was caught. Someone changed me when I was unconscious. My new clothes—the top and a pair of dark leggings—feel wrong.

  “You’re running lean, Shania.” Raleigh’s voice is brisk, business-like. He’s standing over me; I can sense him. “It’s been nearly eight hours since Tomas gave you those augmenters. And I was so disappointed when Amara told me you forcibly resisted a top-up an hour ago…after all this too. Come on
. Open your eyes and take them willingly. I’d rather not force them into you like Tomas did.”

  Three. My brother’s name is Three.

  My hands start to shake. I try to push them more firmly against my sides, but the movement stirs a stronger angle of the yearning within me. I can smell the augmenters, smell them. My stomach tightens. Mustn’t take any more. Need to remain in control, need to feel my own emotions, not what Raleigh wants me to feel.

  But it felt good…and you were calm earlier, when you arrived here….

  Raleigh’s clothing rustles as he bends down. A second passes, then his breath brushes the side of my face, too close. Every part of me screams to run away. But I don’t move, I won’t open my eyes.

  “You do understand that I own your soul now, Shania?” Raleigh whispers, and the whisper crawls over me, the words bloated and heavy. “Shall I tell you how this works? Is that a yes? Excellent. These Promise Marks on your body—”

  He touches my jaw. I shriek. My eyes spring open. Raleigh’s face looms over me. I see myself in his eyes: my own fading mirrors blink back at me, and—

  My gaze jerks to the augmenters in his hands, so close. They’re in a small, wooden rack, and the vials poke upward like spring shoots bringing new life. Bright green. No Calmness this time. My stomach twists. The intensity of the color hurts my eyes.

  Don’t look at them, Seven. Just get away. You have to get away, save everyone while you can. While you still have the chance.

  And I know the voice is right. Raleigh mustn’t make me use my powers, mustn’t make me end the Untamed.

  Raleigh smiles; his lips peel back to reveal perfect teeth that are too big, too white, too bright. “These marks, here,” he says, touching my jaw slowly and deliberately, “are the result of your soul being delivered to me. Your soul is connected to your body in life, just as your Seer powers are anchored to your soul. These beautiful Promise Marks are inscribed on your soul and all it controls—your body, your Seer powers. My stamp on you. If I have your soul, I can control your body and your powers. And I do have your soul.” He blinks slowly. “Do not underestimate my power, Shania. You may be the special Seer, but I am powerful.”

  My heart pounds, and I struggle to turn my head away—mustn’t look at the augmenters, or his eyes, or me in them—but pain flares across my temples the moment my gaze falls on the opposite wall, red bricks. His touch gets hotter.

  “No, I don’t want you to look away from me.”

  His voice creeps through me, and I’m forced to look up at him. More pain dives through me, and there’s so much of it. Raleigh smiles, and his fingers curl around my jaw for a long second, then he removes his hand and brushes his fingers off on his jacket.

  “I can make you do anything.” He looks back at me. “I can control your body and your Seer powers whenever I want to—they are bound together and to me, and if you resist my control, I’ll burn your soul. You’ll feel it through your whole body. It will hurt you a lot. Unbearable pain. And you don’t want that, do you? Pain is bad. Isn’t it, Shania?” The words are loaded.

  My breathing speeds up. This is different to the first time the Enhanced had me, a couple of months ago. Then, they wanted to seem nice, because they knew they’d have to let me go so I could become the Seer the augury speaks of, and if I wanted to join them again, on my own accord, it would make their job in converting me a second time easier.

  Everything at the compound was so pleasant then.

  But Raleigh’s not wearing pale blue now—none of them have been—and there’s no sweet smell of honey in the air. No bed either, no teddy bear. No food. Just a toilet bucket. Because they’ve got me. Raleigh owns me, he’s got what he’s always wanted. And for a people supposedly concerned with equality and being happy, Raleigh doesn’t seem to care how I’m treated. I’m just an object now. His property. His weapon.

  Maybe once he’s used me to wipe out the Untamed, he’ll treat me nicer, like a person.

  But you won’t be alive then. You’ll die when the war ends.

  I try to look behind him, to where the door is, but invisible hands grab my chin, stop me from moving my head.

  “My darling butterfly, just accept the fact: you are going to save everyone. And that’s a fantastic thing to do.”

  My stomach hardens. Converting the Untamed into humanity-less automatons who only feel positive emotions is not saving them. And killing the ones we can’t convert isn’t saving them either.

  The Promise Marks over my body burn, along with the memories. I try to ignore the gold splashes, pretend they aren’t there, that my dark skin isn’t covered with them—but it’s impossible. And they keep moving, faster at times, then slower at others. I watched one earlier—a gold mark on my arm that looked a bit like an avenging eagle—watched it swoop down my arm and grow into a bigger blob, before it merged with another, then stretched out to meet the fingers of new splash. My very own lava lamp.

  Raleigh clicks his tongue. “Shania, just take the augmenters. The longer you stall, the longer those poor Untamed creatures will suffer. And you know it’s right. Deep down. You made your decision the moment you gave yourself to us.”

  I clench my jaw even tighter, until my gums throb. That’s not what happened.

  My hand goes to my chest, reaching for my mother’s pendant—the Seer pendant—but my fingers slap bare skin.

  It’s not there.

  My body tightens. I clench my fists as I sit up, force Raleigh and the augmenters to retreat a few inches. I try not to look at him, or the glass vials.

  “Where is it?” My voice is blunt.

  “Where’s what, Shania?” He smiles in a way that’s supposed to be sweet and endearing, a look that, in reality, is anything but.

  “My Seer pendant—my mother’s pendant.”

  He snorts, then sets the augmenters at my feet. The glass vials make a chink-chink sound against each other in the wooden rack. “Oh, Shania. You won’t need that here. No chance of getting lost in the Dream Land. That’s another reason why being a Chosen One is so much safer.”

  I grit my teeth, feel sweat drip down the back of my neck. “I need it.”

  “You don’t need it, my darling. You need these. Look how aggressive you are without them.” He takes an augmenter out of the rack, waits for me to grasp it.

  I shiver, pull my hands together, clench them, try to stop them shaking. My head pounds.

  “Shania, my dear. You’re running far too lean. Pain and unease are written all over your face. Don’t you want those feelings to go? Don’t you want to be happy?”

  I stare at him. He asks the questions, yet it’s him who’s keeping me in a prison cell. Raleigh only wants me to be happy when I’ve agreed to make his life easier.

  He encases my hands with one of his before I have a chance to react. With his other hand, he presses the vial into my palms, then makes my fingers curl around it. It’s cold.

  My gaze drops to the augmenter. Harlequin green. The ache in my chest gets bigger, stronger, pulls right through me, a ragged cavern widening. I force myself to look away.

  “I want my pendant back.” My hands shake against the glass vial, and Raleigh holds my fingers around it tighter, exerts pressure. My eyes narrow. “I don’t care if it’s useless here. I want my pendant back.”

  I need it back.

  It’s my connection to the Dream Land.

  The Dream Land that the Gods and Goddesses banished me from, believing I ignored Seeing dreams…when really it was Jed. It was all him. Raleigh’s son. Heat swipes across my neck as I think of him, of what he did.

  I must get back to the Dream Land. I need the Gods and Goddesses to know what really happened, not what it looked like. If I have my pendant, then somehow I can contact Death, and the other Gods and Goddesses, and this can all get sorted out: they can reverse Raleigh’s control over my soul. I just need my pendant.

  Raleigh shakes his head, then inclines it slightly. “Only wild Untamed Ones have Seer pendants.”r />
  I swallow hard, feel sicker, then jerk my hands from Raleigh’s. The augmenter slides away from my touch. I shake my head, catch a glimpse of the door. My eyes linger on it. Raleigh’s not controlling where I look now. The door’s behind him. Locked—I heard him lock it. I try to think: the key, he’s got to have the key on him…his pocket? Can I grab it, run, open the door, get out and—

  But you wouldn’t get very far, would you? Not when Raleigh can command your soul, your actions, your body, control you…like how he will when he makes you convert or kill the rest of your people who are still out there.

  I shake my head again. The gold marks on my arms flash in my peripheral vision. I resisted him before, temporarily. I managed to run away from him for a short time, while out on the mountainside. I hold onto that. I have to believe there’s still a way. That I can still fight him.