Chapter 26 · Under the Number

The tank blew open hard enough to throw me backward.

Freezing fluid slapped across the lab floor. Glass came down in glittering sheets. Somewhere behind the red emergency lights, an alarm started shrieking like it had been waiting all night to finally lose its mind.

My mom caught herself on the rim of the broken tank, coughing up blue-white liquid.

Then she looked right past me.

"That isn't Rowan," she said.

Rowan stood three feet away with blood running from one nostril and her silver hair stuck to her cheek. Her hand was locked around the metal rail beside the tank.

The rail was bending.

"Mom," I said. My voice came out thin. Wrong. "What are you talking about?"

Mom's eyes found mine. They were glassy. Terrified. But not confused.

"Get away from her, Nia. Now."

Rowan went very still.

Not normal still. Not Rowan trying to look tough still.

The kind of still that happens right before a live wire snaps.

"Commander," she said quietly, "I need you to move behind me."

"No." I swallowed and stepped toward Mom instead. My boots slid in the cold mess.