Chapter 11 · Quinn Sells Them Out

Quinn's on his knees when we find him.

Not praying. Not begging. Just kneeling in the center of the Hollowspire Plaza with his hands loose at his sides and his head tilted back like he's watching something we can't see. The plaza's empty except for him and the rain—thick, wrong rain that doesn't fall so much as materialize halfway down and vanish before it hits the stone.

Nyx stops walking. Her hand goes to the blade at her hip.

"He called us here," she says.

"How do you know?"

"Because I didn't."

The air smells like ozone and old copper. My HUD's flickering again, throwing error text across my vision faster than I can read it. Something about packet loss. Something about unauthorized access.

Quinn doesn't turn around. "Took you long enough."

His voice is wrong. Flat. Like he's reading a script he's bored of.

I step forward. Nyx's hand shoots out and catches my wrist.

"Don't," she says.

"He's—"

"Not alone."

She's right. I see it now. The air around Quinn isn't just glitching. It's moving. Folded. Like something's pressed up against the inside of the world and Quinn's the seam it's pushing through.

"Quinn," I call out.