Elias’s POV

The infirmary ceiling was a blur of white.

It wasn’t until the sharp antiseptic smell hit my nose that I realized I was awake, not in my bunk, not in the training hall, but lying flat on a medical cot with my pulse thundering in my ears.

My collar was humming.

Not its usual soft buzz, but an angry, vibrating throb against my throat.

Someone had touched it.

Someone had dragged me out of the floor and into the light.

Someone had seen too much.

My fingers jerked upward, ...