Scarlett's POV (One Year Later). Total of three years)
The sun was high over the Nigerian mountains, beating down on the red earth of the combat grounds as I watched a group of teenagers practice their defensive strikes. My skin had darkened slightly from the long hours under the sun, and my muscles were lean and strong from constant training.
I wasn't the fragile, broken girl who had arrived here in the middle of the night; I was a warrior, a healer, and a woman who had finally learned to stand on her own feet.
"Keep your guards up!" I called out, my voice carrying across the field with a strength that surprised even me. "The moment you drop your hands is the moment you lose your life!"
As they adjusted their stances, the cellphone in my pocket began to vibrate. I didn't even have to look at the screen to know who it was. Only one person in the world had this number.
