Chapter 31 · Fresh Prey

The countdown hits fifty-eight seconds and the whole facility screams.

Not the building. The people inside it. Every student who just got tagged, every kid who thought they were safe in their dorm or the library or wherever the hell they were pretending this place was normal.

I'm still standing in front of the destroyed core, and Cain's still holding the blade, and neither of us is moving.

"Ivy." His voice cracks. "I didn't—"

"Shut up." I grab his wrist. The one with the knife. "We have fifty seconds before every hunter in this school comes looking for fresh meat. Move."

He doesn't.

"Cain." I yank him forward. "I said move."

That breaks whatever loop he's stuck in. He drops the blade and it clatters on the metal floor, sparks still spitting from the gutted core behind us. The countdown's in my head now, not just the overhead speakers. Forty-nine. Forty-eight.

"The vault," I say. "The memory vault. You know where it is?"

"I—yes, but—"

"Take me there. Now."

He stares at me like I just asked him to cut his own throat. Maybe I did.