Maria couldn't sleep. The soft bed felt wrong after years on the hard cots of Blood Farm #17. But it wasn't just the bed keeping her awake. It was what she'd seen at breakfast.

  People with the curse. Not hiding. Not afraid. Acting like the curse was normal.

  She got up and paced the room, words from The Promise running through her head. The light had sent her here to find others with the curse. To tell them the truth before it was too te.

  When morning light came through the window, Maria had made up her mind. She wouldn't hide in this room. She would find the cursed ones and save them.

  Opening her door, she found Eliza waiting in the hallway.

  "Good morning," Eliza said with a smile. "Would you like breakfast?"

  Maria shook her head. "Where are the ones with the curse?"

  Eliza's smile faded a little. "The wereanimals? Many are in the garden at this hour. But Baron Cassian suggested you might need more time to—"

  "Take me there," Maria said.

  Eliza looked unsure but nodded. "This way."

  They walked through the big house and out a different door than yesterday. Outside was a huge garden with flowers and trees and benches. About ten people sat or stood in groups, talking. Some had the animal look Maria had seen yesterday—eyes that fshed strange colors, teeth too sharp, movements too quick.

  Maria walked straight toward the nearest group. Three people—two women and a man—talking near a tree. They looked up as she approached.

  "The light has sent me to find you," Maria announced. Her heart beat fast, but she wasn't afraid. The light protected those who spoke The Promise.

  The three stared at her. One woman—older with gray streaks in her hair—looked confused. The man frowned. The younger woman raised her eyebrows.

  "You're the new one," the man said. "From the blood farm."

  "Yes," Maria said. "I come with a message about the curse we share."

  "Curse?" the older woman asked.

  "The curse," Maria expined, pointing at the man's eyes, which had just fshed yellow. "The thing that happens at full moon. When I bck out and wake up all tired and hurt. The older ones told me it's punishment from the light. They said we must fight it, not give in to it, so we can be saved when the demons are destroyed."

  The three exchanged looks.

  "Listen," Maria continued, her voice growing stronger. "The demons—the vampires—want us to think being beasts is normal. They want us to forget we're people. But the light showed me The Promise."

  She began reciting the prayer-poem, the words familiar and comforting. "When we've suffered enough, when our blood has paid the price, the light will break the dark, and demons will turn to ice."

  More people were looking now. Some had stopped talking to listen.

  "Their fangs will break like gss, their power will fade away, the chains will fall to pieces, as the light brings judgment day."

  Maria felt braver as she continued, her voice rising. "We are more than just blood bags, though they drain us every day. We are children of the light, and freedom is on the way!"

  When she finished, silence hung in the garden. More people had gathered around her. Some looked confused. Others seemed concerned. A few were smiling, but not in a nice way.

  "Well," the younger woman finally said. "That's certainly... different."

  "It's the truth," Maria insisted. "The light chose me to share it with others who have the curse. You need to know what happens when enough blood is paid."

  A tall man at the back of the group shook his head. "You don't understand what's happening to you at all, do you?"

  "I understand the light's message," Maria said, frowning at him. "The curse is a test. If you give in, you lose your soul when the light returns."

  "And when is that?" someone asked.

  "When enough blood has been paid," Maria answered. "When we've suffered enough punishment."

  "Punishment for what?" the older woman asked gently.

  Maria hesitated. No one had asked that before. "For... for our sins," she said, though she wasn't exactly sure what sins she'd committed.

  "You think we deserve to suffer?" A new voice joined the conversation. Nara had appeared at the edge of the growing crowd. Her gold-flecked eyes were focused on Maria.

  "Not what we want. What the light demands," Maria expined. "Demons were sent to punish us. That's why they take our blood."

  "And the bckouts?" Nara asked. "What do you think happens during them?"

  Again, Maria didn't have a ready answer. "More punishment for some," she finally said. "Those who need to pay more."

  "Pay for what?" Nara pressed.

  "Sins," Maria repeated, but the word felt hollow now.

  The tiger-strain man snorted. "Sins? I was born this way. What sins did I commit as a baby?"

  Others murmured agreement. A woman with red hair stepped forward. "You don't even know what happens during your bckouts, do you?"

  Maria hesitated. "The curse takes over. The older ones said I should never try to remember. That remembering makes the curse stronger."

  Others murmured agreement. Maria felt her certainty wavering but pushed the feeling away. The light had chosen her. The Promise was real.

  "You don't remember your sins. But the light knows," she insisted. "And when enough blood is paid, the light will return and—"

  "Do you hear yourself?" a woman interrupted. "You're saying we deserve to be punished? That's—"

  "Enough, Sarah." Nara cut her off. "She doesn't understand."

  Maria noticed the faces around her changing. Their anger faded into something that made her feel small. They looked at her with soft eyes and sad smiles. The same way the older blood bags had looked at the youngest ones in the farm. Pity.

  The red-haired woman shook her head and whispered to her friend, "She's been locked away her whole life. Doesn't even know what's happening to her own body."

  An older man with silver-streaked hair approached and knelt down so he could look directly into Maria's eyes. "Child, they lied to you. About everything. There's no curse. There's no punishment."

  "But the light—" Maria began.

  He shook his head gently. "Maybe there is a light. But not the way you were taught."

  Maria felt her throat tighten. She didn't understand why these people were looking at her like she was broken. She was trying to save them.

  The tiger-strain man who had been angry before now looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Look, kid," he said, his voice softer, "we've all been there. Confused. Scared. But this... this isn't right. What they taught you."

  "They didn't teach me," Maria said, her voice shaking a little. "The light showed me The Promise."

  A young woman near the back of the group turned away, wiping at her eyes. "I can't listen to this," she murmured. "It's too sad."

  "I understand the light's message," Maria said, lifting her chin. "You've forgotten because you live with demons, eating their food, sleeping in their beds. They've tricked you into thinking that being cursed is normal."

  Several people looked offended now. Others exchanged worried gnces. One younger boy looked confused, almost scared.

  "The Baron saved us," the tiger-strain man said angrily. "We were pets—locked in cages, forced to perform tricks, treated like animals. He gave us freedom."

  "False freedom," Maria countered. "Real freedom comes when the light returns and destroys the demons. Until then, we must resist the curse and—"

  "That's enough." Nara stepped forward. "Maria, I understand this is what you were taught. But these people have suffered too. They don't need to hear they deserved it."

  "But The Promise—"

  "Is something we should discuss privately," Nara finished firmly. "Not here."

  Maria looked around at the faces watching her. Some looked angry, others sad. The young boy who had seemed scared now had tears in his eyes.

  For the first time, doubt crept past Maria's certainty. These people didn't look evil or corrupted. They looked hurt by her words. That wasn't what the light would want, was it?

  "I just want to help," she said, her voice smaller now.

  "I know," Nara said, her tone gentler. "But not like this. Come with me. Let's talk somewhere else. There's a lot you don't understand."

  Confused and suddenly tired, Maria allowed Nara to lead her away from the crowd. As they walked, she heard the tiger-strain man say to his friends, "Poor kid. Doesn't even know what the curse really is."

  The words stung, but Maria said nothing. She wasn't crazy. The light had chosen her. The Promise was real.

  Wasn't it?

  Nara led her to a small gazebo at the edge of the garden, away from the others. "Sit," she said, gesturing to a bench.

  Maria sat, feeling strange. No one had ever told her to stop talking about The Promise before. In the farm, the other blood bags had listened. They'd needed the hope it gave them.

  "Those people have all suffered," Nara said, sitting beside her. "Some were kept by vampire high-ranks like things they own. Some were hunted. Others were born here, in safety, but know what would happen to them outside these walls."

  Maria stared at her bnkly.

  "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Nara asked, noticing Maria's confusion.

  "The words..." Maria said slowly. "Some words I don't know."

  "Which words?" Nara asked, her brow furrowing.

  Maria looked embarrassed. "Own? Hunted? Safety?"

  Nara's eyes widened slightly. These weren't complicated concepts - they were basic words. "Safety means... not in danger," Nara tried to expin, her voice softening.

  Maria's forehead wrinkled. "Not in danger?"

  "Protected," Nara said, searching for words Maria might know.

  "Pro-tec-ted?" Maria sounded out the strange word slowly.

  Nara's breath caught in her throat. Something shifted in her eyes as she truly understood for the first time. Maria didn't even know what protection meant. Had never experienced it. Had no word for it.

  Nara blinked rapidly, turning her face slightly away. When she looked back, Maria could see her eyes were wet and shiny.

  "It means..." Nara's voice wavered, "it means when someone keeps bad things from hurting you."

  "Oh," Maria said, still confused why this made Nara upset. "Like how the older blood bags would stand between the youngest ones and the angry guards sometimes?"

  A small sound escaped Nara's throat, almost like pain. She nodded quickly. "Yes. Like that."

  "Yes," Nara said, her voice growing quieter. "And hunted means when someone chases you to catch you."

  "Like when guards chase blood bags who try to run away?" Maria asked.

  "Yes," Nara said again, her face changing as she realized the extent of Maria's limited understanding.

  "Why would demons want to hunt people with the curse?" Maria asked, still confused by the whole idea.

  Nara studied Maria's face. "Maria, how much talking did you do at the farm?"

  "Not much," Maria said. "The demons got angry if we talked too loud. The older blood bags taught me words for prayers and The Promise. They told me to remember the words exactly."

  "Did anyone teach you to read? Or show you pictures?" Nara pressed.

  Maria's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What is reading? What are pictures?"

  Nara's eyes widened even further. Her lips parted but no sound came out for a moment. "Reading is..." she started, then stopped, clearly searching for the simplest way to expin something so fundamental. "It's when marks on... on things tell you words."

  Maria looked even more confused. "Marks can tell words?" She sounded completely bewildered by the concept.

  Nara went very still. "Pictures are..." she started, then stopped, clearly shocked. "They're like... like seeing something that isn't really there."

  Maria looked frightened. "Like when the curse makes me see things before I bck out?"

  "No, not like that," Nara said quickly. She stared at Maria for a long moment, then suddenly stood up. "Baron," she called, her voice urgent. "We need to speak. Now."

  As Cassian approached, Nara turned back to Maria. "Wait here, please. I need to talk to the Baron about something important."

  Maria watched as Nara pulled Cassian aside, speaking in a low, intense voice. She couldn't hear the words, but she could see Nara's face growing more upset as she spoke. The Baron's expression changed too, from concern to something darker Maria couldn't name.

  Maria sat alone on the bench, not understanding what was happening, but seeing clearly that something she had said had upset them both deeply.

  In the distance, they saw Baron Cassian walking across the garden toward them. His face was serious.

  "The Baron wants to speak with me about you," Nara said. "Will you wait here? I'll come back."

  Maria nodded, still confused and now a little scared. Would the demon punish her for preaching to the cursed ones? Would they lock her up now that they knew she wouldn't be fooled by their nice tricks?

  As Nara walked to meet the Baron, Maria watched them start talking. They stood far enough away that she couldn't hear their words, but she could see their faces. The Baron looked concerned. Nara looked frustrated.

  They kept looking over at Maria while they talked. She tried to look strong and unafraid, though her hands shook a little.

  After what felt like a long time, they seemed to reach some kind of agreement. Nara nodded at something the Baron said, then they both started walking back toward the gazebo.

  Maria sat up straighter. Whatever punishment they had pnned, she wouldn't cry or beg. The light would protect her. The Promise would come true.

  Even if deep down, for the first time since she'd learned The Promise, Maria wasn't completely sure.