Chapter 23 · When Rowan Breaks

Jessa hit the floor before I could catch her.

Her shoulder slammed into the freight elevator wall. The little black receiver clipped inside her jacket blinked red, and every time it flashed, Rowan's knees buckled harder.

"Nia," Rowan said. Her voice came out wrong. Thin. Scraped raw. "Command me."

"I'm trying."

I dropped beside Jessa and pressed two fingers to her throat. Her pulse jumped under my skin, fast but steady. Blood ran from her hairline into her eyebrow. Not enough to kill her. Probably.

That was a terrible word to have in my head.

Behind me, the elevator lights strobed white, then blue, then white again. The cables above us screamed. Somewhere outside the shaft, boots pounded over the theater's backstage floor.

Knox's people had found us.

Jessa grabbed my wrist. Her fingers were cold and sticky with blood.

"Don't let them take her," she rasped.

"That was already on my list."

"No. You don't get it." Her eyes dragged toward Rowan. "The receiver's not tracking her. It's pushing a reset."

Rowan's head snapped to the side. Silver hair stuck to her cheek.