Chapter 19 · Mirror Trap

"Take your hand off my head, Kai, or I break your neck."

Vala's fingers dug into the back of my skull. Her knee pinned my thigh to the metal floor, and the edge of her shock blade rested under my jaw. Blue warning lights flashed across her face. Every pulse made her eyes look colder.

I tried to move. The blade pressed harder.

"You really want to test me?" she asked.

"Not especially. I was hoping you had a hobby that didn't involve murder."

"You have three seconds."

"Then you should count faster."

Her grip tightened.

The room split open inside my head.

Vala's thoughts hit me first. Not words. Pressure. A locked door. A target reticle. The sharp, clean certainty that my throat was one twitch away from opening.

Then came the image she was trying to hide.

Vala stood in a white room, facing a row of identical black capsules. One of them held her. One of them watched her. One of them had already been sent into the city wearing her face.

I gasped.

Vala jerked back like I'd burned her. The blade nicked my skin.

"What did you see?" she snapped.

"You tell me.