Chapter 8 · The Memory Hole

"You don't remember how you got here, do you?" Eve slammed the back room door and locked it, her palm flat against my chest before I could take another step.

"Of course I do," I said. "You dragged me in through the back. Like you always do."

"Wrong." Her eyes didn't blink. "Try again. What's my last name?"

I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.

"Vane," she said. "Eve Vane. You knew that five minutes ago. Now you don't. That's the hole, Cole."

"Bullshit. I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"You're leaking." She grabbed my wrist and shoved my sleeve up. The pact mark was bleeding light. Thin white lines crawling up my forearm like cracks. "Silas took his price last night. He didn't just take a memory. He tore it. And now it's spreading."

I yanked my arm back. "So patch it. That's your job, right? Broker fix-it girl?"

"My job is to make sure the Council doesn't see you like this." She was already moving, dragging the steel shutter down over the tiny window, killing the light. "They're coming. Now."

"Who's coming?"

"Auditor." She tossed me a cold bottle of water I didn't remember asking for.