Chapter 27 · Loopbound - Chapter 27: Nolan's Last Run

Nolan's hand is on Evan's forehead and Evan's eyes are rolling back.

Callum hits the door at a full sprint. The restricted archive is three floors down and the stairwell is a blur of stone and panic. He can hear Vera behind him, her breath ragged, but he doesn't slow down.

"Callum, wait—" She's saying something about wards, about how Nolan will sense them coming, but Callum's done waiting. Done planning. Nolan walked out of that breach like he owned it, like Evan was just another piece on the board, and if Callum's learned anything in two hundred seventy-three loops it's that you don't give people like that more time.

He slams through the archive door.

The summoning circle is still there, chalk and blood and something else that makes Callum's teeth ache. Evan's kneeling in the center. Nolan's standing over him, one hand pressed to Evan's skull, the other holding something that looks like a shard of broken mirror. The air around them is bending wrong.

"Get off him."

Nolan doesn't turn. "Callum. You're early. Usually takes you another four minutes to figure out where I've gone."

"I said get off."

"He can't hear you." Nolan's voice is calm.