Chapter 31 · She Brought Royal Paperwork

The backup line goes dark three seconds before Mallow drags it back through the service corridor.

I feel the cable snap loose from the eastern junction. Then I feel Mallow. Not the usual warm spark of her moving through my walls. This is different. Smaller. Fading.

She's hurt.

I pull the corridor lights up and reroute power to the cameras. The feed flickers on and I see her. She's dragging the severed cable in her teeth, each step slower than the last. Her left front leg doesn't touch the ground. Blood streaks the tile behind her.

"Mallow."

I don't know if she can hear me. I don't know if I'm saying it out loud or just pushing it through the walls. She keeps moving. One step. Another. The cable sparks against the floor.

Ivy's voice crackles through the emergency radio I rigged in the main hub. "Noah, talk to me. What happened to the east grid?"

"Mallow's bringing it back." My voice comes out flat. I'm trying to keep the corridor walls stable, trying to seal the cracks that opened when Vex's crew hit the foundation with whatever the hell they're using. Sonic charges, maybe.