Chapter 16 · Before the Flood

The glass sealed with a hiss and the water started pouring in.

Kade was on the other side, chest heaving, blood running down his temple where he'd sold the fall. The chip sat heavy in my palm. He'd thrown it to me two seconds before the arena floor split open and the kill box rose around him.

The crowd was screaming. I couldn't hear them. All I heard was water.

"Mara." Sloane grabbed my shoulder. "We have to move."

I couldn't move. Kade was trapped in a glass cube filling with water and I was standing here like an idiot holding the one thing that might crack the system. Might. The chip was warm. Sloane's nails dug into my jacket.

"Mara, listen to me—"

"Where's Lyra?" My voice came out flat.

Sloane's face went tight. "Medical hold. Sub-three. They're saying equipment malfunction but the timer's still running."

The timer. Lyra's clock. Forty-eight hours to prove I could win or pay, and if I didn't, the debt transferred and my sister went into bond service.