Page 115 of A Thousand Cuts

They turned to see Wren had snuck past the cordon with King on a leash, officers only just noticing and chasing him down.

“That’s a cursebreaker too, you idiot. Don’t you see that mark on his fucking face?” Cyrus yelled back, the vein in his forehead bulging. “But great work noticing the massive dog slipping under your noses!”

Fix left Cyrus to continue to berate them and met Wren halfway.

“Is he okay?” Wren asked breathlessly as King whined and tugged. “The feed cut off on my way here. I should have known something was wrong this morning. I’m so sorry…”

“That fucker better hope he is, otherwise I’m ripping him limb from limb,” Fix growled, already stepping toward the mall’s entrance. “I’m going in there now. I’m not waiting for PUMA and Cyrus.”

“I figured as much, I’m just glad I was able to catch you first,” Wren said, offering King’s leash immediately. “He’ll be able to find Liam faster than anyone else, trust me.”

King was still straining toward the mall, and Fix took the end of the leash. King glanced up at him and a look of understanding passed between them.

“Let’s go get him,” he murmured.

Fix took off, King matching his pace before outstripping him and leading the way forward.

“What the—FIX! GET BACK HERE! YOU FUCKING CURSEBREAKERS ARE GOING TO GIVE ME AN ANEURYSM!”

Fix ignored Cyrus and pounded over the ground, following King through a loading dock and toward a door. King scratched at it and Fix hauled it open, letting King dart inside and following after. King sniffed the air a few times before heading left, yanking on his leash. Fix would have let him go but he knew King was faster than he could keep up with.

The lights above them flickered sporadically like a horror movie, and Fix knew instinctively it was a curse. He kept his eyes peeled for more as they ran through a storage back room that was now little more than a shell of its former self, but most of his focus was on finding Liam.

He strained his ears for any whisper of sound, only to have them blasted with a sudden burst of music. It was loud and obnoxious, a children’s song playing over and over with giggles echoing off the walls, the distorted tinkle of a lullaby dancing on Fix’s nerves and making him cover his ears.

Searching for the source, he found there wasn’t a way he could break it from here, seeing the speakers recessed into the ceiling. Gritting his teeth, he pushed on, following King and breaking a curse on a shutter that slammed closed as soon as they approached, only opening when they stepped back.

When they stepped out into the atrium it was into a pool of water that was spreading under their feet. He followed thespread and saw in the distance that a fountain had exploded and was gushing water continuously.

Fix could see the evidence of other curses in the unnatural shapes and actions of previously inanimate objects in a once dead mall, but it was hard to fully distinguish everything because the place was in such disrepair.

Fix caught movement on the top floor and then a distant scream sounded over the music, striking ice into the heart of him.

Liam.

That was Liam.

King started barking like crazy, straining the leash, going up on his hind legs as he desperately tried to pull forward.

Fix reached down and let him off.

King bolted through the water and Fix followed as fast as his legs could carry him, spray splashing up around him. There was a distant shatter of glass that sounded like it was echoing from every direction, voices rising as PUMA breached the mall. Everything was happening at once, the world speeding up like something cosmic had just reached out and spun the earth like a top.

Fix knew he couldn’t keep up with King, his powerful body a distant blur by this point as he tried to work out how to get up to where Liam was. Scanning around, Fix looked for his own shortcut, knowing he had to be smart about this. The escalators were turned on and going backward and the stairs were blocked. Fix gave up on them immediately, instead homing in on a stone pillar that had fallen over onto the second floor, creating a treacherous bridge.

He didn’t even pause, jumping up despite his wet shoes and powering to the top floor against the gravity that was trying to take him back down and the groaning and movement of the pillar.

Shadows flickered in the corners of his eyes, and there was more screaming and unintelligible yelling that made Fix’s heart pound. He couldn’t pinpoint it. Where were they?

“LIAM!” he shouted.

“FIX!” came from the left before another scream sounded.

Like a bat out of hell, Fix chased that sound down, willing his legs to go faster, carry him farther.

He skidded to a halt on a walkway.

Before him was the stalker, Liam held in his arms, facing him with a knife at his throat.