Chapter 16 · The Price of Daylight

"Go on." Bo held Amy by the back of her dress, her boots kicking over the shaft. "You're hungry. Take what you need, and maybe you can reach her before she falls."

His blood hit the back of my throat before I even tasted it. Rust. Old pennies. My teeth ached.

I crawled through the dirt on shaking hands. The tunnel had collapsed behind me, and Luke was shouting somewhere in the main shaft.

"Qin! Don't you dare!"

"Shut up," I muttered.

Not Luke. The thing inside me.

Bo laughed. "That's it. You're one of us now. Edith saw it in you. That's why she turned you instead of killing you clean."

"Let Amy go."

"Make me."

Amy whimpered. She was seven years old. Her mother had died two weeks into the trail, and Amy used to sneak me biscuits when the other families refused to sell me food.

I forced myself upright.

Bo's grin widened. "There she is."

I took one step. Then another. His pulse jumped beneath the skin of his neck. I could see the vein.

"Come on," he whispered. "You know you want it.