Chapter 18 · The Hollow Cure - Chapter 18: Seeing Through Glass

"Don't look through it!" Lyra's hand slammed over my eyes and shoved my head back against the tunnel wall.

Her palm was burning hot. Like fever-hot. And the crystal veins under her skin were pulsing so fast I could feel them thudding against my cheek.

"You hear me? Don't you dare look!" she hissed.

"I have to," I snarled, and ripped her hand down. "You want us to die in here blind? That's the only light we got."

The tunnel was maybe three feet wide. Barely enough for both of us. The walls were solid crystal, not rock, humming and crawling with that sick pale light. And Lyra's eyes — Jesus. Her pupils were gone. Just clear, faceted crystal catching the light and throwing it back at me.

She'd woken up like that five minutes ago. After I'd pumped half my blood into her chest to restart her heart. Now she could see through the walls.

"Kael, it's not seeing," she said, her voice shaking. "It's pulling. Every time I look, it pulls more of me in."

"Then let it pull me instead," I said. "Tell me what you see."

"No. You don't get to decide that.