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“Don’t think so.”

Travis added, “But we heard them say they already went to Roman’s house. So who knows what the hell that means for Arthur.”

“If they hurt him,” Lace began, her tone sharp, “I’m going to personally blow their brains out.”

“Umm, sorry to interrupt,” Aspen said, craning her neck to see into the distance, “but is Maya supposed to be leaving?”

Heads turned. Loren wasn’t sure what Maya Reacher looked like, but she spotted a flash of pink hair among the crowd. A second girl walked beside the pink-haired one, the two of them heading east.

“What the hell,” Max muttered. “MAYA!—”

CRACK.A clap of thunder shook the city. People screamed, some running to take cover. Loren threw her arms out to balance herself, Dallas grabbing onto her hand as the ground vibrated so hard she couldn’t think.

The Void groaned and stretched, the shadows writhing like living things as they spread farther. Higher.

Jewels fell, Malakai shouting out in alarm as the side of her head smacked against the asphalt, the skin of her temple splitting open like a peach.

Travis screamed for Jewels, his voice barely audible over the deafening noise as he and Malakai dropped to their knees beside her.

Thunder cracked again, the city shook one more time, and fractures began to form in the ground—glowing like molten lava.

Loren was vaguely aware of Dallas hanging onto her. She didn’t know how it’d happened, when she’d fallen, but she was on the ground, Dallas crouching beside her.

Jewels was screaming, hands clamped over her ears. She was having a seizure, her body jerking about.

Malakai and Travis were screaming too, both men calling her name—desperate to help her, and not knowing how. Her eyes were black, and there were thin, dark lines appearing around them.

Suddenly, she fell still. Quiet. Her heart?—

It had stopped.

“HEY—WE NEED HELP!” Malakai roared as Travis shot to his feet and sprinted toward the paramedics.“WE NEED HELP OVER HERE! SOMEONE HELP US!”

8

Northeast Montgomery

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

Roman Devlin’severy limb had turned sluggish, the cold having wormed so deep into his bones he feared they might snap like the icicles dripping off eaves and overpasses. He and Darien hadn’t talked in awhile, both of them too tired and frozen to use their words.

The one and only plus right now was that they could see, though everything looked somber and hazy, as if a giant paintbrush had swept a wash of water-color gray across the city. It was better than being underground, though, with nothing to see by but the sword.

Darien walked beside him, the sword now sheathed down his back, the blade black again instead of glowing reflective glass. This area was quiet, the monsters seeming to gravitate toward the masses of Void shadows, as if confined to the darkness by unbreakable chains. Their keening yawps, clicks, and howls created a monstrous symphony that bounced through the streets.

Shortly after the waterfall had spat them out and they’d begun their trek north, Darien had started displaying signs of fatigue. But Roman knew his cousin would deny it—help, rest—til the bitter end. The one thing about Darien was he alwayspushed himself to his limits, even at the expense of his own well-being.Especiallyat the expense of his own well-being, which was precisely the last thing Roman needed right now.

“You okay?” Roman murmured.

“Fine.”

Roman allowed a minute to pass before he slowed, playing up a limp, and said, “I think I might need to stop for a rest.”

Darien looked Roman over, the exhaustion vanishing from his eyes as he checked for injury. “You all right?”

“I could use a breather. And some water.”You could use a breather,Roman amended mentally,and some water.“My feet are killing me.” At least that last part wasn’t a lie. While his toes were numb, everything else was throbbing like hell.

“’Kay,” Darien choked out, wincing again from the pain in his hand. His arm, too, where a beast had sunk its teeth into him in that cavern. Darien gestured ahead with an upward tip of his chin and said, “Let’s try one of these houses.”