Chapter 35 · Scaling the Cloud

"Kai, look at me. Not the city. Me." Vala's hand locked around my jaw before I could step off the edge.

Her glove pressed against my skin. Cold metal. Warm fingers underneath. The difference should have grounded me.

It didn't.

Below us, Aurora City had stopped moving.

Traffic hung over the lower districts in frozen streams of red and white. Drones hovered with their lights stuck on. Thousands of faces stared up at the black tower we had just climbed, all of them wearing the same empty expression.

The Void whispered through my skull.

Open the gate.

"Kai." Vala tightened her grip. "Say something."

"Get your hand off me."

"No."

"Vala."

"You can threaten me after your eyes stop looking like a dead server." Her thumb shifted under my cheek. "Stay here. Stay with me."

I slapped her wrist away.

The second her hand left my face, the tower shuddered beneath our boots. A black line split the platform. It ran between us, glowing with pale blue code.

Vala pulled her weapon free and shoved me behind her. "How long?"

"Until what?"

"Until you lose control."

"I already lost it."

She glanced back.