"Don't you dare let go, Rowan!"
Mara's voice screamed over the wind as the ground vanished. I didn't have a choice. I clung to her leather jacket, fingers digging into the hide, while the world blurred into gray concrete and screaming metal. We weren't just falling. We were being sucked into a throat.
We slammed into a ledge twenty feet down. Bone-jarring. I hit first, air leaving my lungs in a pathetic wheeze. Then Mara crashed right on top of me.
Her boots caught me in the ribs. Her chest pressed hard against mine, pinning me to the cold stone. For a second, the only thing I could hear was her heart—fast, erratic, hammering against my own ribs through the link.
"Get. Off. Me," I gasped. I didn't push her. I couldn't move.
"Shut up," she snapped. Her face was inches from mine. Pupils blown, eyes scanning the dark. "Did you see it? The vision? Where the hell are we?"
I tried to breathe, but the air tasted like ozone and old blood. "Not... not yet. Everything's blurry."
"Typical," she hissed.
She didn't move. She stayed draped over me, her weight heavy and grounding in the void. I could feel the heat radiating off her, the scent of gunpowder and sharp winter mint. My hand was still locked on her waist. My thumb brushed the rough fabric of her belt.
Mara stiffened. A sharp intake of breath escaped her lips.
"You're shaking," she whispered. The edge was gone from her voice.
"I'm falling through a hole in reality, Mara. What do you expect?"
"I expect you to be useful."
She didn't pull away. Instead, she shifted, her thigh sliding between mine to get a better grip on the ledge. The friction was electric. A jolt that had nothing to do with fear shot up my spine.
Then the shadows moved.
Violent. Sudden. Pale, spindly limbs tore through the concrete walls. They looked like humans stretched on a rack—translucent skin, fingers ending in obsidian needles.
"Screamers," Mara cursed. She rolled off me in one fluid motion, her blade singing as it left the sheath.
"Screamers? Why are they called—"
One of the things opened its mouth. A sonic blast hit me like a physical punch to the gut. I was thrown backward, my head cracking against the stone. The sound vibrated in my teeth, shaking my very marrow.
"Get up!"
Mara stepped in front of me, her blade carving a shimmering arc through the air. She sliced the first creature's neck. Black ichor splashed across her cheek. She didn't even blink.
But there were too many. Dozens. A tide of pale flesh and needle-claws pouring out of the walls.
"We're trapped!" I scrambled to my feet, looking up. The hole was too high. The walls were slick with black slime. "Mara, we can't fight all of these!"
"I can fight them," she spat, stepping back-to-back with me. Her shoulder pressed against mine, firm and steady. "But I can't keep your sorry ass alive if you just stand there shaking. Do something! Use the vision!"
I closed my eyes. I pushed past the present, diving into the fragmented haze of the thirteenth return. The world shifted. I saw the ledge. The creatures. And then—a hairline fracture in the wall behind us. A shimmering seam of gold light.
"There!" I pointed, voice cracking. "Behind the pillar! The wall buckles in ten seconds!"
"Ten seconds?" Mara glanced at the swarm. "I can't clear a path in ten!"
"Then don't clear it! Just run!"
She didn't argue. She grabbed my wrist—grip like a vice—and hauled me toward the pillar. We sprinted. A claw snagged the back of my shirt, ripping the fabric. I yelled. Mara didn't stop; she twisted her body, driving her elbow into the creature's face and slicing its throat in one brutal motion.
"Don't scream like a girl," she mocked, her breath coming in heavy heaves.
"I'm not—!"
*CRACK.*
The wall exploded into light. The gold seam ripped open, revealing a narrow corridor smelling of ancient dust and metal. We dove through just as the swarm slammed into the breach. The impact echoed like a thunderclap, then... silence.
I collapsed, gasping. Mara stood over me, chest heaving, blade dripping black blood. She looked down at me. For the first time, the contempt was gone. There was something else. Curiosity? Respect?
Then she frowned. She looked at her wrist.
"What is it?" I asked.
"The link," she whispered. "It's changing."
I looked at my own arm. The faint glow of the energy bond was pulsing. *Thump-thump. Thump-thump.*
"It's not just a shield anymore,"\ I realized.
Suddenly, a voice boomed through the stones. Cold. Timeless. Mocking.
*"A temporary truce is a fragile thing. You seek to cheat the cycle, but the price of the thirteenth return is absolute. One life for the many. One soul to anchor the void."*
"Shut up!" Mara screamed at the ceiling. "Tell us how to break the loop!"
*"The loop is already broken,"* the voice replied, amused. *"You have merely forged a new chain. The Pact of the Dying Breath is now active. You are no longer two souls walking separate paths. You are one life, split between two bodies."*
A sharp pressure squeezed my chest. I gasped, clutching my shirt. Mara staggered, her hand flying to her sternum.
"What... what did it do?" I wheezed.
*"Simple,"* the voice echoed. *"If one of you falls, the other shall not linger. Sixty seconds. That is the grace period. When the first heart stops, the second shall follow exactly one minute later. No exceptions. No returns."*
Silence. Heavy. Suffocating.
I looked at Mara. Her eyes were wide. The power dynamic had just flipped. Before, she was the hunter and I was the prey. Now, I was her lifeline. If I tripped, if I caught a stray blade, if I simply stopped breathing—she was a dead woman walking.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered.
She stepped closer. Her fingers brushed the pulse point on my neck. Her touch was trembling.
"You're not going to die, are you?"
"I'm trying my best!"
"Listen to me, Rowan," she hissed, her voice low and dangerous. She stepped even closer, her body almost touching mine, her warmth enveloping me. "If you do something stupid—if you get yourself killed because you're too slow or too scared—I will find a way to bring you back just to kill you myself. Do you understand?"
I swallowed hard. "Crystal clear."
She didn't move away. Her hand stayed on my neck, thumb grazing my skin. The tension was thick enough to choke on. We were enemies. We hated each other. But now, we shared a heartbeat.
"We need to move," she said, though she didn't let go. "The Screamers will find a way in."
"I can see the core," I said, mind racing. "But it's further in. And there's something else... something bigger."
"What?"
An electronic chime cut her off. A holographic screen flickered into existence between us. A public notice from the Emergency Council.
*"ATTENTION CITIZENS OF IRONVALE. THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS ARE NOW CLASSIFIED AS LEVEL-S THREATS. DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED. BOUNTY: 50,000 CREDITS."*
Two images appeared.
Mara Voss, looking cold and lethal.
And me. Frozen in a look of terror.
Underneath my photo, in bold red letters, was a single word:
**TRAITOR.**
Mara looked at the screen, then at me. A slow, cruel smile spread across her lips.
"Well, Rowan," she whispered. "Want to tell me why the whole city wants you dead, or should I just start the sixty-second countdown right now?"