Chapter 26 · My Sister's in the Bell

"Your sister's alive."

Mara said it flat, like she was reading a warrant. We were standing in the wreckage of the chapel undercroft, blood still drying on the stone where the core had tried to eat us both. My hands were shaking. I shoved them in my pockets.

"Don't," I said.

"Don't what?"

"Don't use her like bait."

Mara stepped closer. Close enough I could see the cut on her jaw from where the chain had caught her. "I'm not using anything. I'm telling you what Elin said before the core pulled her back under."

"Elin's dead."

"Elin's in the bell system. The mark network. Whatever Crowe built to keep the loop running." Mara pulled a folded square of paper from her coat. "She left this in the rubble. It's your sister's handwriting."

I didn't take it. "How would you know what her handwriting looks like?"

"Because I arrested her three loops ago for breaking curfew near the harbor docks. She was looking for you." Mara shoved the paper into my chest. "Read it or burn it. Either way, we're moving."

I unfolded it. The ink was smudged, but I knew the slant of the letters.