Chapter 22 · Light and Gravity

"Vivian? Vivian, talk to me!"

I screamed her name into the white noise, but my voice felt like it was being sucked into a vacuum. The blast had stripped everything away—the lab, the alarms, the smug look on Silas’s face. Now there was just smoke, thick and tasting of ozone and burnt plastic, and a silence so heavy it felt like it was crushing my lungs.

I tried to move, but my legs weren't cooperating. I looked down. My boots were fused to a slab of melted circuitry.

"Dammit," I hissed, slamming my palm against the floor. "Get up. Get up, you idiot."

I forced a surge of gravity into my heels, trying to rip myself loose. The metal groaned, shrieking under the pressure, and then I snapped free with a jolt that sent me sliding across the debris. I didn't stop to check my bruises. I scrambled on my hands and knees, coughing, my eyes stinging from the chemical haze.

"Vivian!"

"Over... here..."

It was a whisper, barely audible over the ringing in my ears. I spun around and saw a flash of gold—or what was left of it.