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The thing behind Mara had three mouths and moved wrong.
Rowan didn't think. He slammed into her sideways, both of them hitting cobblestone hard enough to knock the air from his lungs. Her sword clattered away. The badge spun into the gutter.
"What the hell—"
The Tidespawn landed where she'd been standing. This one was bigger than the scouts. Humanoid frame stretched too tall, skin slick and gray-green like something drowned for weeks. All three mouths opened at once, rings of teeth spiraling inward, and the shriek that came out made Rowan's ears ring.
Mara was already rolling, grabbing for her pistol. "What is that?"
"The thing that actually killed your deputy." Rowan shoved to his feet, pulling the rusted blade he'd looted. His hands were still shaking. The screen flickered at the edge of his vision.
[Tidespawn Ravager - Level 5] [Warning: Corrosive blood]
Mara fired twice. Both shots hit center mass. The creature staggered but didn't go down. Black ichor sprayed from the wounds, hissing where it hit stone.
"Head," Rowan shouted. "You have to—"
The ravager lunged. Mara dropped flat, and Rowan swung wild, catching one of its arms. The blade bit deep. More of that burning blood sprayed, and he twisted away, but droplets caught his sleeve. The fabric started smoking.
"Son of a—" He ripped the sleeve off, skin underneath already blistering.
Mara didn't waste the opening. She came up on one knee, aimed, and put a round through the thing's center head. The skull exploded. The ravager went down thrashing, all three mouths still trying to scream.
Rowan kicked its jaw sideways and drove his blade through the throat. The thrashing stopped.
[Tidespawn Ravager defeated] [+80 XP] [Level 3: 180/300]
He was breathing hard. His arm burned like hell. Mara was staring at the corpse, then at him, pistol still raised.
"That's what took Hal," Rowan said. His voice came out rough. "They're called Tidespawn. They're coming through the sea wall, and someone's covering it up."
Mara's expression didn't change. "You expect me to believe—"
"I expect you to look at the damn thing." He pointed at the corpse. Already it was starting to dissolve, flesh sloughing off into black tar. "Hal's badge was in a nest with two more of these. He didn't run. He got caught."
She lowered the pistol an inch. Just one. "How do you know what they're called?"
"Because I've died to them before."
The words came out before he could stop them. Mara's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Rowan swallowed. His throat was dry. The burn on his arm throbbed in time with his pulse. "The hanging. I didn't—" He stopped. Started over. "This isn't my first time through today."
"You're insane."
"Yeah, probably." He laughed, and it sounded half-cracked even to him. "But you remember something, don't you? From a timeline that didn't happen. Something I said or you said, and it's stuck in your head like a splinter."
Mara went very still.
"The code phrase," Rowan pressed. "'Irongate stands.' I told you that right before you died in my arms. You bled out in an alley off Saltwind because one of these things opened your throat, and I couldn't stop it."
Her knuckles were white on the pistol grip. "I've never told anyone that phrase."
"I know."
"It's from my first year on the guard. A training exercise password. No one outside my squad—"
"I know," Rowan said again. His chest felt tight. "Because you told me. Right before you died. You thought I was one of yours. You kept saying it, over and over, like if you said it enough times the backup would come."
Mara's jaw worked. She didn't lower the gun.
"Prove it," she said.
Rowan spread his hands. "How? I can't make you remember something that hasn't happened yet. But you feel it, don't you? That itch in the back of your head. Like you've lived this conversation before."
She didn't answer. The fog curled between them, thick enough now that he could barely see the far side of the alley. Somewhere in the distance, another shriek echoed. Closer than before.
"More of them," Rowan said. "We need to move."
"You're not going anywhere." Mara stepped forward, and now the pistol was aimed square at his chest. "You're still under arrest. And if you're telling the truth about these things, then you're coming with me to the guardhouse. We report to the captain, lock down the district—"
"Your captain's dirty."
That stopped her.
"What?"
"Why do you think the investigation into Crowe's murder went straight to me?" Rowan's voice was bitter. "No evidence, no witnesses, just a broke courier with no alibi. Someone wanted a body on the gallows fast, and your captain handed me over."
"Captain Renlow is—"
"Taking bribes from someone high enough to bury this whole mess." Rowan pointed at the dissolving corpse. "You think these things are new? They've been coming through for weeks. Crowe knew. That's why he died. And whoever killed him is making sure no one else figures it out."
Mara's hand wavered. Just a fraction.
"My sister's in a holding cell," Rowan said. "They took her because I ran. If I go back to the guardhouse, we both hang, and no one stops what's coming through that wall."
Another shriek, and this time it was answered by two more. The fog was moving wrong, swirling in patterns that had nothing to do with wind.
Mara swore under her breath. She looked at the corpse, at Rowan, at the street behind them. Then she holstered the pistol.
"If you're lying—"
"You can shoot me later," Rowan said. "Right now we need to—"
Pain exploded across his chest.
Not pain. Burning. He looked down and saw black lines crawling across his skin, spiraling out from his sternum like ink in water. Mara made a choked sound. She was clutching her own chest, and when she pulled her hand away, the same marks were spreading across her palm.
[Mark of Resonance detected] [Binding in progress]
The screen was flashing red. Rowan tried to speak and couldn't. The marks burned hotter, and he could feel something pulling tight in his chest, like a rope knotted around his ribs.
Mara was on her knees. Her face was sheet-white. "What did you do?"
"Nothing," Rowan gasped. "I didn't—"
The marks stopped spreading. They pulsed once, twice, then solidified into a pattern that looked like a bell. No, not a bell. A clocktower bell, cracked down the middle.
[Mark of Resonance established] [Bound: Rowan Vale, Mara Voss] [Condition: Shared fate until loop resolution] [Warning: If one dies, both reset]
Rowan's vision swam. He could feel her. Not her thoughts, but her presence, like a second heartbeat layered over his own. Terror and fury and confusion, all of it bleeding through the mark.
Mara was staring at her hand. At him. "What the hell is this?"
"I don't know," Rowan said. His voice was shaking. "I've never—this didn't happen before."
She looked like she wanted to shoot him anyway.
Then the clock tower rang.
Once. Twice. Three times.
It kept ringing.
Rowan counted. Twelve. Thirteen.
Thirteen bells.
The fog pulled back like a curtain, and he saw them. Dozens of shapes moving through the streets. Crawling over rooftops. Slithering out of the gutters. All of them heading toward the center of the city.
Toward the guardhouse.
Mara's hand was on his arm, pulling him up. Her grip was iron. "Move," she said.
"Where—"
"I don't know. Away from here. Now."
They ran.
Behind them, the thirteenth bell was still ringing.