Chapter 23 · The City Falls Up

"Get your hands off me, Vivian! I can't—I can't hold it anymore!"

I screamed the words right into her face, my voice cracking. I was pinned against the crumbling edge of the skyscraper, the wind whipping my hair into a frenzied mess. My fingers were locked around her wrists, but not because I wanted to. I was shaking. The gravity collar around my neck was pulsing a violent, searing red, vibrating against my skin like a living thing trying to choke me out.

Vivian didn't flinch. She didn't even blink. She just leaned in closer, her golden eyes scanning my face with that terrifying, unwavering focus. Her warmth was the only thing keeping me from freezing in the high-altitude chill, and it pissed me off how much I wanted to lean into it.

"Hold it, Tess," she commanded, her voice low and steady. "If you let go now, the shockwave will flatten three city blocks. Look down. Do you see those people?"

I looked. Below us, the street was a chaotic hive of screaming civilians and overturned cars. The air around us was already warping, bending the light into sickening spirals.