Chapter 6 · Voidbound - Chapter 6: The Cost of Calling

"You feel that?" Rook's voice cut through the roar of the crowd. "That empty space where something used to be?"

I was on my knees. Blood dripping from my mouth. The sand under my palms was hot, soaked through with sweat and whatever the hell was leaking out of the mark on my arm.

The hatchling had taken something.

I knew it the second I'd pulled it back. There'd been a tug, sharp and cold, like a fish hook yanked out of my skull. And now there was a gap. A blank spot where a memory should've been.

"Stand up," Rook said. He wasn't even breathing hard. "You've got more to lose."

I shoved myself up. My legs shook. The crowd was screaming but I couldn't make out words anymore, just noise, just pressure crushing in from all sides.

"What did you take?" I spat blood into the sand.

"Nothing." Rook smiled. "Your pet did that. Every time you call it, it eats a piece. Didn't anyone tell you?"

No. No one told me. No one told me anything.

I tried to remember breakfast. This morning. Yesterday. The memory was there, sort of—