Chapter 9 · Don't Open That Door

Julian's on the floor and the curse is spreading.

I can see it now. Black veins crawling from his shoulder up his neck, under his jaw. His right arm looks like charcoal where the white fire got him. The coat he threw over me is still smoking on the ground next to my knees.

"Julian." My voice cracks. "Julian, stay with me."

He opens one eye. The other side of his face is twitching like the curse is fighting to take over. "Still here," he says. His voice sounds scraped raw. "Not dead yet."

"Sera!" I'm yelling but I don't remember deciding to yell. "Sera, he needs help—"

"I know." She's already on her phone, snapping photos of the vault, the glowing safe inside, Julian's arm. Her face is stone. "Dispatch, this is Quinn. We have a curse escalation at the Clocktower. Cross is critical. I need a blood-binder and a suppression unit now."

She listens for half a second. "I don't care if they're off-shift. Wake them up."

Julian tries to sit up. I push him back down. "Don't move."

"The safe," he says. "Nia. You have to—"

"I'm not opening anything.