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“Go!” I shouted as Marcus’s cleaners smashed through the fire-escape door behind us.
Ash vaulted over the railing and dropped into the alley. I followed, hit the pavement hard, and nearly buckled when the rune on my forearm flared hot enough to blur my vision.
“Not yet,” I growled at it.
A gunshot cracked above us.
“Move!” Ash yelled.
We ran.
Three blocks. Four. Ash stayed on my heels, though his breathing turned ragged. My right arm throbbed with every step. The blue mark had crawled past my elbow since I’d seen Lily’s face on that work badge.
Lily.
Six years dead.
Unless Marcus had lied about everything.
“Where are we going?” Ash gasped.
“Somewhere they can’t follow.”
“That’d be nice. Got a specific place in mind?”
“Keep running.”
Two black SUVs screamed around the corner behind us. I dragged Ash down a subway entrance and shoved through the turnstiles. We pressed into the shadows along the far wall as the cars roared past above.
The platform was nearly empty. A man slept across a bench. A girl in headphones stared at her phone, unaware that armed men were hunting us underground.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I checked the message.
*Warehouse in twenty. Alone. Bring the gun.*
“Don’t,” Ash whispered.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You made that face.”
“What face?”
“The one that says you’re about to do something incredibly stupid.”
“Good. At least I’m consistent.”
Another buzz cut him off.
This time, it was a photo.
I opened it.
A blue-lit lab filled the screen. Glass tanks lined the walls. Human-shaped forms floated inside them, too pale and too still.
A woman stood in front of the nearest tank, wearing a Genesis project jacket. Her face was turned away, but I knew the slope of her shoulders. The way she held her left hand near her hip.
My grip tightened around the phone.
“Ash.”
He leaned closer. His shoulder brushed mine. “What is it?”
I shoved the phone at him.
His face drained of color.
“That’s—”
“My sister.”
“But she’s…”
“Supposed to be dead. Yeah. I know.”
I zoomed in on the reflection. The picture was grainy, but the timestamp was clear.
Three days ago.
Ash swallowed. “You think Lily’s alive?”
“I think somebody wants me to think she is.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I’ve got.”
The train roared into the station. Brakes shrieked. The girl with the headphones didn’t even look up.
Ash caught my arm before I boarded.
“Then we don’t go to the warehouse.”
I looked down at his hand.
He let go. His fingers lingered for half a second before dropping to his side.
“We go,” I said.
His jaw tightened. “You just said it could be a trap.”
“It is a trap.”
“Then why are we walking into it?”
“Because it might be Lily.”
“That’s your whole plan?”
“No. My plan is to walk in through the front door, shoot everybody, and ask questions afterward.”
“You’re joking.”
“Not even a little.”
The train doors began to close.
Ash jumped inside. “You’re a terrible leader.”
“Still following me.”
“Against my better judgment.”
“Your judgment’s never been that good.”
He flipped me off as the train lurched forward.
We took the back car. It was empty except for us, flickering fluorescent lights, and the sour stink of old coffee and urine. I leaned against the door and forced air into my lungs.
The rune glowed beneath my sleeve.
Ash noticed.
“That’s spreading.”
“I noticed.”
“It wasn’t that high an hour ago.”
“Want to keep pointing that out?”
“I want to know what happens when it reaches your neck.”
“So do I.”
“You could ask Zero.”
I turned toward him. “You want me to trust the thing that tried to tear my throat out?”
“I want you to stop pretending you’ve got this under control.”
The words hit harder than they should’ve. Ash looked away first.
My phone showed the warehouse location: East Waterfront. An abandoned industrial block beside the river. Condemned buildings. Empty piers. Plenty of places to hide bodies.
“Marcus knows about the rune,” Ash said. “He knows about Genesis. Now he knows we have the badge. Why would he send you an address?”
“To make sure I show up.”
“With what?”
“Probably Lily.”
He didn’t answer.
The rune pulsed again, hot against my skin.
Ash rubbed a hand over his mouth. “If this is a trap, you’re not walking into it alone.”
“I am.”
“No.”
“You don’t get a vote.”
“I’m making one anyway.”
The train stopped at the waterfront station. We stepped onto the platform with our guns drawn but low.
Ash checked the tunnel behind us. “Fifteen minutes until Marcus’s people catch up.”
“Stay behind me.”
“I’m not a child.”
“Then stop acting like cannon fodder.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“If this goes bad, you run.”
“No.”
“You call whoever’s above Marcus in the chain and tell them everything. The labs. The bioweapons. Genesis.”
“I said no.”
I grabbed the front of his jacket and shoved him against a tiled pillar.
“Listen to me.”
His breath caught. He was close enough for me to feel its warmth against my cheek. Fear sharpened his eyes, but he didn’t look away. His jacket bunched beneath my fist.
“You run,” I said. “You don’t play hero. You don’t come back for me.”
“And you?”
“I’ll handle Marcus.”
“You don’t even know if Marcus is here.”
“Then I’ll handle whoever is.”
His gaze dropped to the blue light beneath my sleeve.
“What if you’re wrong?” he asked. “What if Lily’s dead? What if Marcus told the truth?”
I released his jacket.
“Then I just killed the only man who knows how to stop this thing from eating me alive.”
The rune crawled another inch up my arm.
Ash stared at it. “And if you’re right?”
“Then someone’s dying tonight.”
We climbed out of the station.
The waterfront stretched ahead in broken concrete and rusted fencing. City lights glittered behind us, but the pier was dark. No guards. No cameras. No movement.
That bothered me more than a dozen armed men would’ve.
“You see anyone?” Ash asked.
“No.”
“Why do I hate that answer?”
“Because you’re learning.”
We followed the fence until I found a gap wide enough to slip through. Ash went first. I covered him, then ducked inside.
The warehouse stood at the end of the pier—a massive concrete block with boarded windows and one metal door.
No lights.
No guards.
The door was unlocked.
Ash reached for my arm. “That’s not normal.”
“Nothing about tonight is normal.”
“Wait for backup.”
“Backup’s six minutes away.”
“And Marcus’s cleaners?”
“Probably less than that.”
“Great. Love the plan.”
I pushed the door open with my boot and raised my gun.
One overhead light burned in the center of the warehouse.
Beneath it stood Zero.
He looked worse than he had in the subway. Black veins climbed his neck and vanished beneath his jaw. His eyes held the same flat, dead stare.
He didn’t move.
He only watched me.
“Ivy,” he said.
His voice scraped like metal dragged over stone.
I kept my gun aimed at his chest. “Where’s Marcus?”
“Not here.”
“Try again.”
“Just me.”
“And the trap?”
Zero lifted one hand.
A small metal badge rested between his fingers. The Genesis logo caught the light.
I took one step closer.
The rune screamed for me to shoot.
I ignored it.
A picture had been fixed to the badge. A girl smiled up at me from six years ago. Younger. Brighter. Alive.
Lily.
My finger eased off the trigger.
“Where did you get that?”
“She gave it to me.”
“Lily?”
Zero tilted his head. The motion was too smooth and too fast.
“She gave it to me before.”
“Before what?”
“Before they changed me.”
“Who changed you?”
“Genesis.”
“Marcus?”
“Marcus pulled her out of the water.”
My grip tightened. “She drowned.”
“No.”
“Her boat went down six years ago.”
“No.” For one second, Zero sounded human. “Marcus found her. He took her research and used it to stabilize the first batch of subjects.”
“Ash,” I said without looking back. “Check the exits.”
“Already doing it.”
Zero’s dead eyes stayed on me.
“I was one of the subjects,” he said. “Lily kept me alive.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“She called you Mouse.”
The warehouse seemed to shrink around us.
Zero took a step closer.
I raised the gun again. “Stop.”
He stopped.
“She called you Little Mouse,” he said. “Always getting into places you shouldn’t.”
My finger slipped away from the trigger.
No one knew that name. No one except Lily.
“You’re in my head,” I whispered. “You’re reading me somehow.”
“I’m not.”
“Then how do you know?”
“She told me.”
“When?”
“Three years ago. We were partners. Genesis Phase Two.”
His hand closed around the badge.
“She figured out the rune-integration protocol. She was trying to make it safe.”
The blue light under my sleeve pulsed.
“Where is she?”
Zero’s mouth opened.
The badge blinked once. Twice.
A red light appeared along its edge.
Ash turned from the doorway. “What the hell is that?”
Zero looked down. Confusion crossed his face, followed by fear.
“It’s a tracker,” he said.
“For what?”
“Genesis personnel.”
The light blinked faster.
“Why is it active?” I asked.
“It detects signals within a hundred meters.”
“There shouldn’t be anyone else here.”
“There is.”
Zero turned the badge toward me. A tiny screen lit up with a blinking dot.
Right on top of us.
Ash raised his weapon. “Is it you?”
“No.”
“Me?”
“No.”
I looked at the badge.
The direction arrow shifted.
The signal wasn’t coming from Zero.
It wasn’t coming from Ash.
It was coming from me.
The rune flared white-hot. I dropped to one knee with a cry as pain ripped up my arm, sharp and deep, like someone was peeling me apart from the inside.
“Ivy!” Ash shouted.
“Don’t touch me!”
The veins beneath my sleeve pushed higher, crossing my shoulder. They weren’t black anymore. They glowed the same blue burning through the veins in Zero’s neck.
“No,” I gasped. “No, that’s not…”
The badge blinked again.
Its screen flickered. Letters appeared one line at a time.
*CROWE, LILY.*
*GENESIS PHASE TWO.*
*STATUS: ACTIVE.*
Zero stared at the screen.
I stared at him.
Behind us, a door hinge groaned.
Footsteps crossed the darkness. Slow. Deliberate.
Ash swung his gun toward the sound. “Who’s there?”
A woman stepped just beyond the reach of the overhead light. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew that voice—low, familiar, impossible.
“Hello, Mouse.” Her gaze fixed on the blue veins climbing my arm. “If you want Lily alive, put the gun down and—”