Page 76 of Death Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Eve looked down at her phone, voice grim. “Because it spreads fear.”

Faith shook her head. “Or because it keeps us busy. Dagna knows we respond to outbreaks. She throws undead at the town and we chase them while she does whatever she actually wants.”

Tegan’s fingers tightened around the tracker. “That is possible.”

Nishi’s voice stayed calm. “It is likely.”

My stomach churned. “If this is a distraction, what’s the real play?”

Cal’s gaze stayed forward, expression hard. “The relic. The egg. Blood. Any one of those.”

Eve’s mouth tightened. “Or all of them.”

The hospital came into view, and the parking lot was chaos. Ambulances angled near the entrance. Police cruisers blocked lanes. A knot of mundanes stood behind a line of security guards and officers, phones raised, faces pale, mouths moving as they narrated tragedy like it was content.

Lights from the ER entrance spilled onto wet pavement, turning it into a mirror.

Nishi parked hard near the side entrance.

I climbed out slowly, the bond pulling at my ribs like I had tied a rope around my organs. Cal stayed close, one hand hovering near my back as if he could catch me if I folded.

Faith scanned the parking lot. “We need to move inside.”

Tegan’s phone buzzed. She answered quickly, voice tight. “Spencer. Where are you?”

A pause.

“Good,” she said. “We’re at the hospital. Use the side entrance, it’s less crowded.”

She ended the call, turning her gaze to us. “Delia is three minutes away.”

Three minutes was an eternity in a building full of patients.

We started toward the side entrance, and that was when Faith muttered, “This feels wrong.”

I followed her line of sight.

The air near the far end of the parking lot looked darker than it should under the floodlights. Not shadow. Something else. Like a thin film over reality.

Tegan stopped walking. Her tracker needle twitched once, then pointed toward that dark patch.

My skin prickled. “The shield zone.”

Tegan swallowed. “We’re close to the edge of it.”

Faith’s eyes narrowed. “So Dagna is operating near the hospital.”

Eve’s expression went cold. “Which means this outbreak is not random.”

Nishi’s eyes narrowed. “We need Greyson.”

Faith grabbed her own phone. “I’ll call him.”

She hit speaker.

Greyson picked up immediately, breathless. “What happened?”

Faith didn’t soften. “We’re at the hospital. Tegan’s tracker keeps dying near it. We need a way to see through it.”