Chapter 7 · Hollowborn - Chapter 7: The Bell Tower Remembers

The needle went in clean. I didn't even feel it.

The medic—some middle-aged guy with reading glasses and zero bedside manner—labeled the vial with a barcode sticker and walked out without a word. Marcus stayed by the door, arms crossed, watching me like I might sprout claws any second.

"Results in twenty minutes," he said. "If you're clean, you walk. If not—"

"You throw me in a cell and wait for the next purge clearance." I kept my voice flat. "Got it."

He didn't correct me.

The door locked behind him with a magnetic click. I was alone again. White walls, fluorescent hum, that chemical smell that made my throat itch. The kind of room where people disappeared and nobody asked questions.

I pulled the locket out of my pocket.

It was warm. Not body-heat warm—active warm, like something inside it was running. I flipped it open. The photo of Mom stared back at me, that half-smile she always wore when she thought I wasn't looking. The new note was still tucked behind the frame.

Bell tower. Grid K-7. Midnight.

I checked the clock on the wall.