Chapter 29 · Loopbound - Chapter 29: The Sky Blinks

The roof tiles are cracking under my boots.

Nolan's twenty feet away, the shard floating between his hands like he's cradling something that might bite. It's glowing white-hot now, throwing shadows that don't match the angle of the light. Behind him the sky's split open. Not torn. Split. Like someone unzipped it.

The eye's the size of a house.

It doesn't blink. Doesn't move. Just hangs there in the rip, iris doing that slow spiral thing that makes my brain itch if I look too long. The white part isn't white. It's every color I don't have a name for, shifting like oil on water.

"Callum." Nolan doesn't turn around. His voice is too calm for a man standing under that thing. "You made it. Good. We need you for the next part."

I've got Mom's dog tag digging into my palm. She pressed it there five minutes ago. Don't bury everybody for one person. Her voice is still rattling around in my head.

"Put the shard down," I say.

He laughs. It's not a villain laugh. It's tired. "Can't. If I let go now, the anchor fails. The breach closes on itself. Everyone inside gets folded into the seam."