Chapter 31 · Kade went still

"I'm not making it funny. I'm keeping you angry. Anger keeps you here. Panic feeds the core."

Kade went still.

"How do you know that?"

"Because the mark reacts to your fear. Because every time you remember the district, the power rises. Because I can see the soul-lines running from your chest into the floor."

"You can see them?"

"I can see everything the mark touches."

"Then tell me what it's doing."

Ayla looked down. Three red lines ran from his boots to the center of the symbol. A fourth line curled toward her bleeding hand.

"It's trying to complete the circuit."

"And if it does?"

"The company gets your location."

"That's all?"

She hesitated.

Kade stepped closer. "Ayla."

"It may open the core."

"What does that mean?"

"It means the power wakes up."

"And then?"

"Then we find out if you destroyed the district."

His face emptied.

The station shook again. Somewhere above them, metal screamed. A distant alarm answered, faint but getting closer.

Kade's eyes went black around the edges.

"You should leave," he said.

"Not happening."

"If the core wakes, it may kill you."

"If I leave, it may kill everyone upstairs."

"You don't know that.