Chapter 24 · The Noon Bell Bites

The tower stairs were falling apart under Cass's boots and he didn't have time to care. Stone cracked. Dust hit his face. Somewhere above him Nix was screaming, and it wasn't the kind of scream you heard when someone stubbed a toe or failed a test. It was the kind that meant something had its hands on you and wasn't letting go.

Mara was three steps ahead, knife out, moving like she'd done this a hundred times. Maybe she had. Cass didn't know what kind of childhood produced a girl who ran toward screaming instead of away from it, but he was starting to think he owed her family an apology or a drink or possibly both.

"How far up?" she snapped without looking back.

Cass tried to remember. The loop had reset before he made it this far last time. He'd been too busy trying to convince Nix that breaking into the north tower was a terrible idea, right up until the moment Quill's lackeys shoved them both through the door and locked it behind them. "Third landing. Maybe fourth. There's a—"

The step under his left foot just stopped existing. His stomach dropped.