Chapter 23 · Bloom Wilts

"Move your damn hand, Maya! If you don't slice that core now, we're both becoming organic fertilizer!"

Pip’s voice wasn't coming from the plush anymore. It was screaming directly into my skull, a jagged, distorted glitch that made my teeth ache.

I was pinned. A thick, pulsing tendril of the Bloom—looking like a cross between a translucent vein and a carnivorous orchid—had my wrist slammed against the cold metal of the lab table. It didn't just hold me; it was drinking. I could feel the heat leaving my arm, a sickening drain that made my vision swim in neon greens and bruised purples.

"I'm trying!" I yelled, my voice cracking. I lunged forward, my other hand gripping the mono-blade.

"Trying isn't a combat stat, you idiot!" Pip shrieked. "Left. Three inches. There's a rhythmic pulse in the center—that's the heart. Hit it or we're done!"

I shifted my weight, my boots sliding in a pool of iridescent slime that smelled like rotting ozone. The Bloom’s heart was a fist-sized mass of throbbing gold, encased in a cage of white thorns. It looked beautiful.