Chapter 15 · Hollowborn - Chapter 15: Every Hunter Wants Her Blood

The black water swallowed us whole.

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. Cole's hand locked around mine so tight I felt bones grind, but the Gate dragged us down anyway, pulling us through something that wasn't water and wasn't air—just cold that burned and pressure that crushed.

Then we hit ground.

I gasped and choked, coughing up nothing. My lungs worked but there was no air, just the taste of metal and old blood. I was on my knees in shallow black water that didn't move, didn't ripple. Cole knelt beside me, still gripping my hand like letting go meant vanishing.

"Where—" My voice came out wrong, too loud, like the space around us was too small.

"His core memory." Layla's voice came from everywhere and nowhere. I looked up and she was standing ten feet away, but she looked different—younger, her hair shorter, dressed in hunter gear I'd only seen in old guild photos. "The part Marcus tried to erase."

I stood up slow, pulling Cole with me. He was staring at Layla like he'd seen a ghost. Maybe he had.

"You were there," he said. His real voice, rough and quiet. "Ten years ago. You were the target.