Chapter 22 · Don't Feed It Your Heart

The hand's still moving.

Marcus stares at his pack where something's scratching fabric from the inside. Cassian's severed hand. He'd shoved it in there after the ice-predator fight because leaving pieces of another Maker lying around felt like a bad idea, and now the thing's crawling like it's looking for a way out.

Ayla's on her knees five feet away, breath still ragged, knife finally on the ground beside her. Blood from the predator streaks her face and her wrap's torn at the shoulder. She's looking at his pack too.

"What is that."

"Nothing good." Marcus yanks the drawstring tighter. The scratching stops. Then starts again, harder. "We need to move."

"Move where." She doesn't get up. "You killed it with sound. One note. You're not from the outer rings."

"I'm not from anywhere you'd believe."

"Try me."

He looks at her. She saved his life under the ice. He saved hers topside. That's two debts and he doesn't know which way the math runs but her eyes are too sharp and she's not going to let this go.

"I'm a Resonance Maker," he says. "I fix broken things in broken worlds.