Chapter 13 · The Same Second

"Sienna!" I dropped beside her, hand on her shoulder. Her pulse was there—fast, shallow, wrong.

"Get up," I said. "Come on, get up."

She didn't move. The burn on her hand was still bleeding through the makeshift wrap, but her chest rose and fell. Alive. For now.

Marcus didn't run. Didn't pull a weapon. He just stood there at the corner, hands in his coat pockets, smiling like he'd won a game I didn't know we were playing.

"Forty-three minutes," he said. "That's what you see over her head, isn't it?"

I jerked the gun up. "Stay back."

"Or what?" He took a step forward. "You'll shoot me? Go ahead. I already died."

"You're still standing."

"Exactly." Another step. "Funny how that works."

I got my arm under Sienna's shoulders and hauled her up. Dead weight. Her head lolled against my collarbone, breath hot on my neck.

"What did you do to her?" I said.

"Nothing." Marcus tilted his head. "I didn't have to. The loop did it for me."

"That's not how it works."

"Isn't it?" He gestured at Sienna. "You've watched her die what, six times? Seven? You think the universe doesn't notice? You think there's no cost?"