Chapter 15 · The Name They Erased

"Don't let it bite him!"

"Great advice!" Nia drove her knife into the thing's wrist. The blade went through. Cold spilled over her hand, smelling like burnt paper and old blood.

The creature shrieked.

Kellan dropped hard. She caught the back of his coat before his head hit the floor, then kicked the monster into the furnace rail. It folded wrong—all elbows and teeth—and vanished into the red glare below.

For three seconds, nobody moved.

Then Kellan whispered, "Who are you?"

Nia froze.

His eyes were open, but they looked through her. His fingers clutched the front of her jacket like he knew the shape of it and nothing else.

"Kellan." She crouched in front of him. "Hey. Look at me."

He flinched at her voice.

That hurt worse than the knife wound in her palm.

"I'm your sister," she said.

Kellan blinked. "I don't have a sister."

The core gave a deep, grinding hum behind them. Red lines crawled over the walls, filling the old control chamber with broken symbols. One of them locked onto Kellan's name.

IDENTITY ANCHOR UNSTABLE.

Tavi stared at it. "That's not good."

"No kidding."

Elias pushed himself up beside the furnace.