The charge Cassian gave me still hums just beneath the surface, but the second I meet her gaze, I know the truth:
She’s at least ten times stronger than I am.
“Let me out,” the boy says again, louder now. “Right now. Or none of us are getting out of here.”
Cassian moves. But not towards him. Towards me. He steps between me and the wraith and shields me from her with the dagger in his hand.
“I said prove you’re a Reaper,” he growls. “That hasn’t changed.”
The boy doesn’t flinch. His face is pale, drawn, not scared exactly, but sharpened with urgency. His eyes flick to me.
“Skye. You know I’m right. Break the circle. You know I’m not lying.”
“I—” My voice catches in my throat. Idofeel it. But how can I trust a feeling? How do I know it’s something worth risking everything for?
I don’t know if I can trust myself. I don’t know if—
The wraith moves.
One moment she’s just a smear of smoke in the hallway.
The next—
She’s charging.
Cassian stiffens. His whole body turns to stone in front of me.
It takes a second. A blink. Then his dagger clashes against her claws with a deep, sickening clang that reverberates through the room. A tray crashes to the floor. Dust erupts from the cracks beneath us. Cassian is knocked back half a step.
But he doesn’t falter. Doesn’t waver. He just digs in harder, boots grinding against the tile, and growls from somewhere deep in his chest.
The wraith hisses, the sound rattling through us like a tuning fork struck wrong.
Nathaniel moves in from the other side. Talon lifts his weapon.
And the boy—
He’s still trapped. Still glaring at me.
“Skye!” he shouts. “This isn’t the way. Stop hesitating and listen to me!”
My breath stutters. My mind splits between panic and instinct.
I watch the wraith swing at Cassian again. He blocks it, his dagger slicing through her, but missing anything vital. She doesn’t flinch. Just absorbs the hit and reforms like smoke.
The boy yells again. “Break the goddamn circle!”
Fuck.
Cassian blocks another blow. Then another. Finally, Talon darts in from behind, slashing her back, but it barely fazes her.
Worse, ittriggersher.
Rage. Pure, sharp, unnatural.
She spins in a blur, claws flashing, and hurls Talon across the floor. He crashes into a hospital bed with a grunt, the metal frame shrieking as it topples over him.
Everything explodes at once.
