Chapter 15 · Untitled Chapter

"Three," Tarin said.

The brass panel clicked beneath Nora's hands. Blue sparks burst across her vision.

"Tell me that's not a countdown."

"It isn't." Tarin slapped both palms onto the console.

The panel dropped to two.

He stared at it. "Okay. It's a countdown."

Samuel tried to stand. His legs folded, and blood slid from beneath his coat onto the cracked glass tiles. Nora caught him before his skull hit the floor.

"Don't touch me," he muttered.

"You're complaining. That means you aren't dead."

"Not yet."

"One," Tarin shouted.

The market screamed.

Not the people. The machines.

Memory jars burst along the shelves. Silver vapor flooded the floor, dragging fragments of lives through it: an old woman laughing, a child running through red grass, a faceless man kneeling before a burning door.

The tiles kicked upward.

Nora lost her grip. Samuel struck the floor with a wet gasp.

"Move!" Tarin yelled.

The royal hunting automaton smashed through the far wall.

Its left arm dangled by wires. One eye was gone, leaving a smoking socket. Three brass legs hammered across the market as it charged the Inspectorate soldiers.

A rifle cracked.

The automaton's chest split open.