Chapter 13 · The Ash Ledger - Chapter 13: The Test City

The street hit them like cold water.

Rowan stumbled forward, boots scraping stone that looked real, smelled real, but hummed wrong under his feet. The blast was gone. The hall was gone. They were standing in a square, narrow buildings leaning in from three sides, windows dark and waiting.

Mara was already moving, knife out. "Where's Kellan?"

"I don't know." Rowan turned, scanning rooftops, doorways. The city stretched in every direction, gray and identical. No sun. No sky. Just a roof of black nothing pressing down. "This is the projection. The test city."

"I can see that." She was breathing hard, eyes jumping from corner to corner. "You said three hours."

"That was before I cut the mark."

She rounded on him. "What?"

Rowan lifted his wrist. The black band was faint now, flickering like bad signal. Half the lines were gone. "I severed the link. Took back the kill I gave it."

"You what?" Her voice went flat.

"I had to stop the core from—"

"So now we're in here with no combat skill, no map, and my brother somewhere in this thing?" She stepped closer. "You didn't think to ask first?"

Rowan met her stare.