Chapter 28 · The Storm Knows His Name

The machine hooked into my spine and I stopped being a person.

I mean I was still there, sort of. I could feel my hands locked in the restraints, could taste blood where I'd bitten through my lip. But the rest of me was pouring out through the cables Steelhook's techs had drilled into my back, feeding straight into Ironspine's core like I was a battery they could just drain dry.

The sand inside me screamed.

"Output stable," someone said. A tech, maybe. I couldn't see him. The control room had gone white at the edges, too bright, like staring into the storm itself. "Core temperature dropping. Sir, it's working."

"Of course it's working." Steelhook's voice came from somewhere above me. Cold. Satisfied. "Increase the draw. I want full output."

Something clicked. The pull got worse.

It felt like someone had reached inside my chest and started pulling out everything that made me Kai Ruin. Memories flaked away like rust. I tried to hold onto them but they were sand, they were always sand, and I was the worst person to trust with sand.

Mom's face. Gone.

The shelter's mess hall. Gone.

Ashmark's voice saying Mom's last words.