Chapter 19 · The Last True Signal

"Move!" Nia's shout hit Tavi's back before he could process what he was seeing.

"I'm trying!"

"You're standing there!"

"I noticed!"

The memory-hound slammed into the corridor wall. Impact shook dust from the ceiling. Its body came apart—strips of old photographs, hospital tags, school records, faces cut from government files. Then it pulled itself together and lunged.

Tavi jammed his signal spike into the door panel and twisted until the metal cracked. Blue sparks spat across his fingers. He smelled burned skin.

The tower door unlocked.

He threw himself through.

Nia grabbed Elias by the coat and dragged him after her. Elias stumbled across the threshold, pale, shaking. His left hand wouldn't stop trembling.

The door slammed.

The hound hit it a second later.

The whole tower shook.

"Tell me that holds," Nia said.

Tavi looked at the old brass lock. At the cracks spreading through the door.

"No."

"Great."

"That was the honest answer."

"Try a dishonest one."

"It holds forever."

"Better."

The inside of the memory tower looked nothing like the clean upper district outside. No marble. No gold. Thick cables hung from the ceiling in bundles. Relay coils filled the walls.