Chapter 36 · Steal the Starlight - Chapter 36: Stealing the Whole Damn Sky

"Don't touch her!" Cade's voice cracked through the control room. "Ellis, get away from the core! Now!"

The black tendrils around my chest tightened.

My ribs screamed. My hands flew up, fingers digging into the slick bands wrapped over my jacket. They weren't metal. They weren't smoke, either. They pulsed like something alive, squeezing harder every time I pulled.

Wren grabbed my wrist. "Ellis, look at me."

"I'm busy not dying."

"Look at me."

Her grip was hot. Too hot. The life-link between us snapped tight, and her pain hit me a second later—sharp, bright, and deep enough to make my knees buckle.

She sucked in a breath but didn't let go.

"You feel that?" I gasped.

"Yeah. So stop fighting me."

"You are literally trying to die for me. I don't think you get to tell me to stop fighting."

The core answered with a low boom. Light split across the chamber floor. The symbols under our boots flared white, then black, then white again.

Cade slammed both hands against the control panel. Sparks jumped over his sleeves. "The command is locked!