Chapter 28 · The Chain

"What did you do?" Celia's voice comes out flat. Dead. "What the hell did you do?"

I'm on my knees, one hand still locked around Jonah's wrist. He's breathing. Barely. His skin's ice-cold and his pulse is all wrong—too slow, too faint—but he's breathing. The black marks crawling up his arm froze halfway to his elbow, like someone hit pause mid-death.

The city went dark. Every streetlight, every window, every phone screen—gone. Just the altar still glowing in the middle of the floor like a broken neon sign.

And it looks like it's smiling.

Rafe's slumped against the wall behind me. Not moving. I don't know if he passed out or worse.

"I didn't let him die," I say. My voice sounds steadier than I feel. "That's what I did."

Celia laughs. It's not a good sound. "You broke the lock. You broke the entire lock. Do you have any idea what that means?"

I don't. But I'm not about to tell her that.

I let go of Jonah's wrist and push myself up. My legs are shaking. Everything's shaking. The air smells like burnt metal and something older—soil, maybe, or rot.