Chapter 6 · The Relay Is a Trap

"Move, Nora!" Elias slammed his shoulder into her just as the relay discharged.

Blue fire tore through the space where her head had been. It struck the iron wall behind her and blew a fist-sized hole straight through it.

Nora hit the floor hard, her palm scraping over broken glass. The pain in her hand barely registered. The pain in her chest did.

Elias staggered beside her, one hand clamped over his heart.

The same pain twisted under Nora's ribs.

"Get off me," she snapped.

"Gladly." He grabbed the back of her coat and hauled her behind a stack of dead power cells. "As soon as you stop trying to get us killed."

Another blast punched across the chamber.

The relay tower screamed.

Nora drew her short blade and peered over the cells. The old grid relay filled the center of the chamber, six stories of black metal and glowing blue channels. Three council hunters stood on the upper platform, their masks sealed, their weapons aimed down at her and Elias.

The relay had been dead for twenty years.

Now it was feeding on every memory in the district.

"You said this place was abandoned," Elias said.

"It was.