Chapter 10 · What Her Pulse Left Behind

I'm sitting on the fire escape when Jessa finds me.

Not hiding. Just breathing. Rowan's inside with the door locked because the retrieval squad's faces are still stuck in her head and I can't fix that part. Can't talk it away. Can't promise her they won't come back.

Jessa climbs up slow, hands visible, like I'm the one who might bolt. "Nia."

"Don't."

"I'm not here to fight."

"Then why are you here?" I don't look at her. My phone's in my lap, screen cracked worse than before. Mom's last message is still open. The one that came through right after the smoke cleared. Clinic name. No address. Just a name and a question mark.

Jessa sits anyway. Keeps a foot of space between us. "Because you texted me."

"I didn't."

"You did. Three words. 'Need your help.' Then nothing."

I did. I don't remember doing it. My hands were shaking too hard to hold the phone and I did it anyway because Rowan's burn went clean through her shoulder and I don't know how to fix that either.

"She took a pulse hit," I say. "The retrieval guy. He tagged her before the ceiling came down."

Jessa goes still.