Chapter 19 · The Dead Zone

"Get your face out of the dirt and move, or I'm leaving you for the scrap-heap."

Mara didn't just say it. She punctuated the threat with a sharp boot to Rowan's ribs.

Rowan groaned, rolling onto his back. Above them, the metal monstrosity—a jagged mass of rusted pistons and sensory arrays—screeched. Its heavy claws scraped the ceiling of the maintenance tunnel, the vibration rattling Rowan's teeth.

"A little help?" Rowan wheezed, reaching up.

Mara didn't take his hand. She stepped over him, her blade humming with a lethal, low-frequency buzz. She didn't even look back.

"You brought this mess on us," she snapped. "My father was a liar, you're a fugitive, and now we're trapped in a hole with a blind killer. I'm not in the mood for chivalry."

Rowan scrambled up, lungs burning. As he stood, a sudden, freezing pressure slammed into his chest. It wasn't a hit—it was a void. He tried to trigger the kinetic burst he'd unlocked three loops ago. The one that could blow a vault door off its hinges.

Nothing. Just a hollow, dead silence where his power should've been.

"Mara," he gasped, stumbling. "The abilities. They're gone.