Chapter 5

"Mara. Don't." His voice dropped. Cold. Flat. Judge-cold. "Step back. Now."

I didn't. I couldn't. The stink of formaldehyde burned my nose. The bag was right there. Zipper screaming as I ripped it down.

Leo. God. Leo.

Skin like wet ash. Eyes filmed over. But it was him. My brother. The one person this city didn't get to erase.

Then the corpse opened its mouth.

"Don't let her reach the vault, Mara."

I froze. My hand slipped off the zipper.

That wasn't Leo's voice.

That was Dax's.

"What the hell was that?" I jerked back, spine slamming the corrugated wall. "Why does he sound like you?"

"Because it's not him." Dax was already on me. He yanked me off the bag, one hard pull. His chest inches from mine. "You think that's your brother in there?"

"It's Leo! I saw him!"

"It's a mimic." His fingers dug into my wrist. Not letting go. "The vault's rotting. It's spreading. It feeds on what you want most and wears it like skin."

"Bullshit!"

"It used my voice because I'm the thing you fear most right now." His eyes locked on mine. Sharp. Dangerous. "That's how it hooks you."

I shoved him. Hard. Both hands on his chest.

He didn't move. Like shoving a wall.

"He's my brother!" My voice cracked. "How can you just stand there?"

"He's a vessel." He crowded me back against the wall. Heat rolled off him. Too close. Leather and ozone and cold air. "You wake that thing up, it doesn't just eat your memories. It uses you as a door. You wanna open the underground and let the swarm pour in?"

"You just want the heart back!" I hissed up at him. "You don't care who burns!"

"You think I care about the heart?" His thumb pressed hard against my pulse. Felt it hammering. Wild. "I care about not burying this city twice."

His gaze flicked down. Just a second. To my mouth. Then back. Hard.

My breath caught. His hand was still on my wrist. Hot. Tight. My back against freezing metal, his body caging me in.

He let go like I'd burned him. Reached for the canister by his boot.

"No!" I lunged. Grabbed his arm. "We can save him! There has to be a way!"

"Look at him, Mara!" He spun me, forced my face toward the bag.

Leo's jaw came unhinged. Not human. Like wet clay pulled apart. Black oil leaked from his eyes. And that voice again — Dax's voice, glitching, skipping.

"...all... will... burn... the contract... is... void..."

"See?" Dax snarled, breath hot against my ear. "That's not your brother anymore."

He kicked the torch into the wagon bed.

Whoosh.

Flame roared. Orange and blue. Heat slammed me back.

"LEO!" I screamed. Tried to throw myself forward.

Dax's arm locked around my waist. Hauled me back. Slammed me against his chest. Hard.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

"Shut up!" He held me. Fingers digging into my hip. His heart pounding against my back. Fast. Not fear. Effort. Holding me. "He was gone before the first reset! He's gone!"

I fought. Kicked. Scratched at his forearm. Then stopped. Just... stopped. Went limp against him.

The fire ate everything. The smell — burning flesh and chemicals — choked me. The silver heart in my chest stuttered. Went cold. Dead.

He didn't let go. Not right away. His chin brushed the top of my head. His grip on my waist softened. Just a fraction. Not a hug. A hold.

"Why?" My voice was raw. Smoke in my throat. "Why save me if you burn everything I love?"

He pushed me off. Mask back on. Judge face. Empty.

"Because you're the key," he said, cold again. "Can't open the vault with a melted key."

He turned. Boots clanking toward the driver's seat. "Get up. Five minutes to the border. Evelyn's people see us idle, they swarm."

I stayed on the floor. Stared at the ash. Black. Still smoking. A few twisted metal zippers.

My hands shook. I reached into the soot anyway.

Not for clothes. For what fire can't touch.

My fingers hit something hard. Cold.

I pulled it out. A shard of bone. Not white. Stained deep red. Like it'd been soaked in blood and baked.

Pain lanced my chest. Sharp. Bright.

I gasped. Ripped my shirt open. Skin over my heart exposed.

The contract scar — his mark — was moving. A thin red line bled out from the center. Crawled down toward my ribs. Same shape. Same curve as the shard in my hand.

Not a scar anymore. A map.

"Mara?" Dax called from the front. "You coming or am I dragging you?"

I shoved the shard in my pocket. Yanked my shirt closed. Heart hammering so loud I thought he'd hear it.

"Coming," I said. Voice shaking.

I climbed up beside him. Wagon lurched forward. Smoke still in my lungs. That red line pulsing under my shirt. Not the silver heart. Something else. Something that knew where we were going.

And it was telling me Dax lied about the first disaster.

"One question," I said as the checkpoint lights hit us.

"No."

"Did you know Leo was on that cart?"

His hands tightened on the wheel. Leather groaned.

He didn't answer. Didn't deny it either.

The wagon screeched to a halt.

A woman stepped into the road. Scar jagged across her cheek. Shotgun up. Barrel kissing our windshield.

"Welcome to the slums, Judge," Evelyn Thorne sneered, eyes flicking from him to me. "You bring me the heart, or you bring me the girl — so which one you gonna—"