The Recall Trials-Chapter 110: Nothing Compared to Us

Zaara’s POV

The tunnel swallowed me whole.

My footsteps echoed like I was inside a creature’s throat. Pale red lights pulsed every few feet, barely enough to see.

I forced myself to keep walking, one hand brushing the wall, the other tight against my chest like I could hold my heart in place.

Vincent...

I tried to imagine him somewhere ahead of me, doing the same thing.

We stay together.

But we weren’t together. Not anymore. Not in here.

The tunnel forked. Right or left.

My chest tightened, and I went left.

I tried not to think about Vincent. About Nomi. About the baby.

I tried not to remember the way Vincent had looked when he hugged us both..

He chose you, I told myself. He promised.

I didn’t know how long I’d been walking when I first heard it:

A low, muffled sob.

I stopped cold. My pulse thudded in my throat.

It could be anyone, I told myself. Or anything.

But when the lights flickered up again, I saw her.

Slumped against the wall ahead, knees drawn to her chest. Head bowed so her blonde hair hung on her legs.

Nomi.

My heart lurched.

"Nomi!" My voice cracked as I stumbled forward. "Oh my God...Nomi, are you okay?"

She didn’t look up.

I reached her and dropped to my knees, my hands hovering over her shoulders, afraid to touch her too roughly in case she was hurt.

"Nomi, talk to me," I pleaded. "Please—are you hurt?"

She let out another broken sob and slowly raised her head.

Her eyes were glassy, rimmed with red. Her lips were cracked and pale.

But it wasn’t the damage that made my stomach knot.

It was the way she looked at me.

Like she hated me.

"Nomi?" I whispered.

I swallowed hard. "Nomi, we have to keep moving—come on, lean on me—"

But when I tried to slip my arm around her shoulders, she smacked my hand away.

"Don’t touch me."

I flinched back. My heart started to hammer.

"What—what are you talking about? It’s me, it’s Zaara—"

"Oh, I know exactly who you are."

Her head tilted, hair sliding back to reveal her hollow stare.

"You’re the girl who thought she’d be the center of Vincent’s world forever. Well guess what? Things change."

A cold chill rippled over my skin.

"Nomi, please, this isn’t the time to..."

Her laugh was brittle and sharp.

She shoved me hard. I stumbled back against the tunnel wall.

"You think Vincent’s yours?" she hissed, stepping closer. "You think he’s going to be your perfect boyfriend after this is over? Your perfect little life by the river? With your dog and your ugly tiles in the kitchen?"

"Stop it," I whispered.

"I’m the one carrying his child."

She spat the words like venom.

My heart was beating so hard I thought I’d faint. "Stop it, Nomi. You don’t mean any of this—"

She laughed.

Her hand shot out, curling around my wrist. Her nails dug into my skin hard enough to sting.

"I’m the one carrying his baby, Zaara!" She slapped a hand over her belly. "You think he’s going to choose you over his child?"

"You think love means anything in this place?" she hissed. "You think you’re going to leave here together? You think Vincent won’t look at me...and this baby, and realize you’re nothing compared to us?"

I tried to yank free, but her grip tightened.

"Let go..."

"Why should I?" she snarled. "He’ll come for me, Zaara. Not you. He already made his choice the night he put this baby in me."

Tears sprang to my eyes. My voice came out barely a whisper. "That’s not fair. You know it’s not that simple. He loves both of us, and he’s trying to..."

Nomi lunged again and shoved me harder. I fell to my knees on the dusty floor.

"HE LOVES ME MORE!" she shrieked. "I’m the mother of his child. I’m the one he’ll have to protect. Not you. You’re just... you’re just the girl who wanted him to love you. But he doesn’t. Not really."

I stared up at her, trembling. My chest felt crushed under a weight I couldn’t lift.

Nomi crouched low, so close I could feel her breath on my face. Her eyes gleamed like a predator’s.

"Do you really think Vincent’s going to stay with you," she whispered, "when every time he looks at me, he’ll see his baby? Our baby? Do you think you can ever compare to that?"

Tears spilled hot down my cheeks. "Please... just stop..."

Nomi tilted her head.

"I’m going to take him away from you, Zaara. And there’s nothing you can do about it."

My vision blurred with tears. My fingernails scraped the floor, searching for anything solid.

This isn’t Nomi.

This can’t be Nomi.

But her voice kept digging into my skull.

"You’re nothing, Zaara," she said softly. "Vincent’s going to leave you. You’ll be alone. Again."

A single sob tore from my throat.

Suddenly, Nomi’s eyes rolled back in her head. Her body stiffened...and then she collapsed in front of me.

She lay motionless on the floor.

My breath came out in broken gasps. I crawled toward her.

"Nomi?" I whispered. "Nomi!"

But her body began to glitch, flickering like a broken hologram.

For half a second, I saw metal and wires beneath her skin.

And then the image winked out completely.

All that remained was an empty patch of tunnel. No Nomi. No sound.

Only my sobs echoing back at me in the darkness.

I hugged my arms around my trembling body.

God. I felt truly alone.

I pressed my hand over my mouth, fighting to keep myself from sobbing.

It’s not real. It’s not real.

But the hurt was.

And as I pushed myself shakily to my feet and kept walking, the echo of her voice clung to me like:

You think Vincent won’t look at me...and this baby, and realize you’re nothing compared to us?

I wiped my eyes.

I have to survive, I told myself. I have to find them.

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