Extracted

FIFTEEN

LEX

I feel her before I see her. Immediately the feeling of hot flames billows up my neck and my vision blurs. The room is burning. I can’t breathe. Have to hide. My bedroom. Men with guns yell. My clothes are burning into my skin. Anastasia—my Anya—puts out the fire on me with heavy blue drapes, then stuffs the bottle caps in my hand. A flash of light eats the memory.

My heart pounds while I hide behind all the jars of brains on the shelf. Our friend Rasputin tells her that I ran down the hall. He has saved me from losing the hide-and-seek game with her. When Anya can’t find me, Rasputin winks and I laugh. Now I don’t have to be “it” for the time being. Another flash.

Anya is gone. I’m not sure where she went, but I’m alone in the flames and I’m crying. My skin hurts from the burning. I see a man in a blue conductor’s coat. Am I going to the hospital on the train? I like trains. I crawl onto his back and the world around me disappears.

I know who I am. I’m Alexei Romanov.

I come to when a sweaty fist hits me square in the jaw, right on my tattooed scar. It might as well have been a target. The Tesla vault is full of my memories and my legs go weak, dropping me to the floor. Someone crashes into my assailant, knocking him into the wall. From my knees, I look up at the girl.

My sister.

“Anya?”