POV: Maya

Sixty seconds. The numbers echoed through the loudspeakers, each one a hammer blow against my skull.

"Fifty-nine."

I tried to push myself up. My arms shook, muscles spasming. Black blood covered my hands, sticky and wrong.

"Fifty-eight."

"Maya, please!" Elena's voice cracked. "Just surrender! We can figure something out later!"

"Fifty-seven."

But I knew better. I'd seen what Seraphina did to prisoners. Surrender didn't mean mercy. It meant becoming lab rats. Test ...