Chapter 28 · Give the Fire Back

"Say it," Celeste demanded through every speaker in Gray Harbor. "Tell them who you really are, Mara Vale. Tell them what your mother did."

I stepped into the broadcast light with Julian's hand locked around my wrist.

His palm was hot. His grip was worse. He had blood soaking through the side of his shirt, but he still kept himself between me and the nearest camera.

"Let go," I said.

"No."

"Julian."

"You walk out there alone, you die alone. Pick a better argument."

Behind the glass, Nia slapped both hands against the console. Her knee was wrapped in a torn jacket, and blood streaked one cheek. She looked at the monitors, then at me.

"We have the city feed for maybe ninety seconds," she said. "Maybe less. Celeste is trying to burn us out of the system."

"Then make ninety seconds hurt," I said.

Julian leaned closer. His breath brushed my ear, warm and sharp with painkillers and smoke. "You don't have to do this."

"She just called me a curse on every screen in the city."

"I heard her."

"She threatened to execute hostages."

"I heard that too."

"Then stop talking like I can hide."

His jaw tightened.