Chapter 9 · Stay Down

I hit the floor on my stomach and reached for the chain.

Burnt metal scraped the back of my throat. Voices whispered beneath the breach—dozens of them, all repeating my name.

The chain was six inches away.

I stretched.

A guard crawled toward his rifle.

Kane kicked it across the room. "Stay down."

"The source is controlling the seal," the guard spat. "You're letting her kill the city."

Kane turned on him. "Say that again."

"She's the disaster. Oscar showed us the records. Every event started after she arrived."

My fingers closed around the chain. "Records can be forged!"

"Not the dead."

The guard's hand jerked toward his coat.

Kane saw it a second too late.

The hidden pistol cracked.

Kane moved before I could even turn. The bullet punched through his shoulder. He slammed into the wall, hit one knee, and went still.

"Kane!"

I crawled to him. Blood soaked through his shirt, hot against my fingers when I grabbed his arm.

His face had gone blank.

Not pain. Nothing.

"Look at me." I cupped his jaw. "Kane, look at me."

He lifted his head.

"Who are you?"

My stomach dropped through the floor.

"Evelyn." My voice shook once.