“They attacked Crown. With the Amplifier.”
I gasped, the shock hitting me like a punch to the gut.
“And Stephen’s over there.” His features twisted with fear and urgency.
“Oh my gods, James!”
"I'm sorry—I gotta go," he blurted, already half-turning away.
"Go! Go!" I said, louder than I meant to, the spike of fear slicing right through me.
Frozen in place for a second, he stared at me—then he was moving, tearing the thumb ring from his hand.
He shoved it into my palm. "Take this," he said, breathless.
“What is it?” I stammered, before my stare dropped to the unfamiliar weight in my hand.
“It’s Stephen’s ring,” he said quickly, the words tumbling out like he couldn’t spare the time to explain. “It’s imbued with his translation. If for any reason, you need to get out of here fast, portal into any Collective you want. This will give you clearance.”
My jaw dropped. “What?”
“There’s no time to explain,” he snapped, already stepping back. “Keep it on you at all times. And whatever you do—don’t tell anyone. Ever.”
Before I could process the enormity of what he’d handed to me, he leaned in and kissed me—quick, desperate, and over before I could react. Then he was gone, the portal closing behind him.
What the?—?
I looked down at the ring in my hand, the black and silver band glinting against my skin. I’d seen it on James so many times before, spinning idly on his thumb or clenched in his fist during tense moments.
Sothat’show he’d been able to portal anywhere, anytime—no clearance, no restrictions.
Antwerp, Kanata C, Coastal…
Wherever he needed to go. Whenever he needed to disappear.
And now, he’d handed this power to me.
Standing in the classroom later on the same day, the whole hour was a blur. My mind was on James, on Crown, and the endless flood of worries consuming me. What was going on at Crown? Where was James right now? What was he doing? Who was with him? Had he found Stephen by now?
"Emma?"
"Huh?" I replied, barely registering Nino’s voice as I snapped out of my spiraling thoughts.
"You mind showing us your haze?" Nino asked, unusually patient. Her whole demeanor held a softness I wasn’t used to seeing, and she had sympathy etched in her features. She knew.Of course, she knew. She was an Offensive, after all. She probably knew precisely where James had gone, maybe even more than I did.
"Sure," I mumbled, hastily pushing off the wall, my heart racing.
Maurice was in the room auditing the class, but I was hardly aware of him. I could only focus on the gnawing worry about James.
Thoughts of him consumed me, weaving through every corner of my mind. I grasped onto the worry, letting it fuel me, every emotion raw and overwhelming.
It was as if I couldn’t escape him—couldn’t escape the fear which clawed at my chest.James, James, James—it was all I could think. The fear he might be hurt tightened its grip on me, suffocating every rational thought.
I squeezed my lids shut, and tried to push the dread back, but it only intensified. My pulse quickened, each beat of my heart amplifying the worry, feeding the storm inside me. The more I tried to control it, the more it slipped through my grasp, like water spilling through my fingers. And then, another force stirred inside me—a dark energy, deeper and more powerful than I had ever sensed before.
Trying to grasp the energy flowing through me, my fingers trembled as I forced myself to concentrate. But it hit differently. Wrong, even. My red haze began to swirl around me, seeping out of my skin like a living thing—darker, wilder than usual—an intense shade of scarlet that pulsed with its own sinister life.
It wasn’t mine to control.
