Page 16

I fall into step beside him as we head west. Toward the shell of the old train station.

The structure looms ahead like a dying cathedral, pillars of steel jutting crooked through the earth.

The stairwells are mostly gone, leaving behind twisted remnants of rebar and concrete slabs that make every step more cautious.

Rusted benches lean under the burden of ivy that’s begun to eat the ruins whole.

A trio of vultures pick at a decaying carcass in the shadows of what used to be the ticket counter. I force myself to look away before I can tell if it’s human or not.

We approach the weathered sign Jace spotted earlier. Up close, the symbol is clear. A faded sunburst design advertising some rail company that’s been long dead. Nothing like the jagged arc we found on the fabric. I dig my nails into my palm in frustration.

“Doesn’t match,” Jace says, stepping closer to study it.

Another dead end.

Another. Dead. End.

If I keep coming up empty, I’m going to break something for real.

Frustration snaps. Before I can stop it, I slam my good fist into the weathered metal.

The jolt zings up my arm, sharp and satisfying. It feels good to hit something, so I decide to hit it again. I pull back to hit it a second time, but Jace catches my fist, palm closing around it before I can follow through.

“Are you trying to take out both your wrists? Maybe your ankles next?” His grip is firm but not crushing. “You’ve already got one sprained. I’m not carrying you back unless I need to. Tearing your body apart won’t find your sister any faster.”

“Every fucking lead is a dead end,” I snap.

My voice crackles. Weeks of searching, weeks of hope crashing into nothing.

“Every single one. She could be anywhere. She could be—” The words choke off before I can finish.

Jace’s eyes are calculating as he watches me, studying my face like he’s seeing something new.

“Are you just going to stand there and watch me like some shitty reality show?” I snap as embarrassment blooms beneath the anger.

Something shifts in his expression. Almost like relief. “It’s nice to see the real you.”

“I’ve never been anything but real. If you can’t see that, that’s on you.”

He’s quiet for a moment, then his thumb brushes over my knuckles. The bruises are already starting to bloom.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” His voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it. “We’ll find her, Autumn. I promise.” One corner of his mouth lifts. “I’ve never made a promise I haven’t kept.”

The gentleness in his touch and the certainty in his voice cracks something loose in my chest. I manage a nod. I can’t trust my voice right now.

He lets go of my hand and looks around. “Well, we’re here anyway. Might as well check the area.”

“Where should we start?”

“This way.” He walks past the ticket counter, and I follow.

We move deeper into the station ruins, weaving between collapsed support beams and piles of debris. Jace leads the way, both of us scanning for clues. Fresh footprints, discarded items, signs of recent activity. Anything.

The silence stretches between us while we search, but it feels different now. Not cold. Not hostile. Quieter, maybe.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, I can’t stand the quiet anymore. He seems used to these long silences, so I break first. “You didn’t answer earlier,” I say, stepping over the crumbling edge of an old platform. “Your scar. What happened?”

“Told you. Fire happened.”

“We both know that’s not the whole story.”

He glances sideways at me with his dark brown eyes, but keeps walking.

“I know it’s none of my business, but?—”

“You’re right. It’s not.”

I stop. So does he. “All I’m trying to do is understand you.”

He exhales a sharp sigh, his head rolling back to look at me. His eyes are darker in the shadows and harder to read. Not that he’s been an open book to begin with. “Why, Autumn?”

“Because I care.”

He flinches as though my words slapped him. There’s a subtle pull of his shoulders and the twitch at the corner of his jaw. “The scar’s from a fire. One that someone else caused, all because I let someone get too close.”

I step closer to him. “Is that why you work so hard to push me away?”

He says nothing, but his jaw ticks.

I clench my newly bruising fist in anger and confusion. “Dammit, Jace. I’m not going to jump in your pants, if that’s all you think I’m after.”

“Then what are you after? ”

I look at him in bewilderment. “My sister, Jace. I’m after my sister.”

He averts his gaze to scan the shadows. I’m so damn tired of him looking away every time things get real.

“What are you afraid of?” I demand.

He stands too still. I understand by now how dangerous that is, but he’s a big red button I can’t help but push.

“You could’ve walked away a dozen times.

You could’ve tied me up and dragged me back to your little colony, where apparently Zoey and Emily are waiting for me.

But you didn’t. You stayed. You helped. And you treated my wound like it mattered more than your own hands.

” My breath shakes, but I keep going. “You act like you despise me, but here you are helping me search for my abducted sister. Again.”

His jaw clenches again, and he looks at me. His voice is strained when he speaks. “Don’t do this, Autumn. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re still deciding if I’m worth it, when we both know I’m not.”

Something cracks in me at those words. I don’t even know if I’m furious or hurting for him. Maybe both.

I step in close, and his shoulders stiffen. The storm rolling off this man is unmatched. I lower my voice. “You’re worth a lot more than you think you are, no matter how stubborn your stupid ass gets.”

A small smile tugs at his lips, but it disappears when his jaw tightens. He turns and starts walking again, thinking this conversation is over.

It’s not.

I open my mouth to press him further, when a shadow shifts to my right. I spin around to face it head on, but I’m already too late.

A man steps out from behind the rusted shell of a vending machine, and the first thing I see is the gun in his hand. The second thing I notice is he’s pointing it straight at my head. I suck in air, but I can’t seem to get my vocal cords to work.

“Purple hair,” the man rasps out. One side of his mouth lifts into a half-snarl-half-smile. “We’ve been looking for you.”

Every part of me locks up. My blood runs cold, and my breath sticks in my throat, but Jace moves fast. He shoves me behind him before grabbing the man’s wrist and jerking the gun upward.

The shot goes off with a thunderous crack and punches a hole in the ceiling.

Crumbling plaster rains down around us like white ash.

Jace twists the man’s arm behind his back and slams him down face-first into the filthy concrete until blood pools around the man’s lips. The gun skitters across the floor and beneath the vending machine. Jace jams his knee into the man’s spine while twisting one arm behind his back. “Talk. Now.”

“You’re not going to get my reward,” the man wheezes.

“I don’t give a shit about any reward. Who sent you?”

“The ones working with the G.L.” The man coughs and sputters, but his eyes are gleaming.

“Who the hell is that?”

The man laughs, but it’s a sick, wet sound. Something rustles overhead. Jace hears it a second too late.

A figure drops out of the shattered plaster ceiling above and lands on the man with a wet snarl.

A rotter.

Gray, soaked, and hungry.

It sinks its teeth into the man’s cheek. His scream is animal, guttural. He thrashes, but it was already over the moment the rotter broke skin.

Jace jumps back and yanks me behind him. I stumble, frozen in horror, while I watch the nightmare before me .

Blood sprays across the tile and into the crevices of the wall. Choked gargling takes the place of words. Screams transform into wet gurgles.

“Do something,” I gasp, voice shaking.

Jace doesn’t move. He stands there, blade at his side, and eyes hollow while he watches the scene unfold. He doesn’t take his eyes off the horror in front of him, not even to blink.

Only when the screaming stops does he move. One clean thrust of the blade through the rotter’s skull and it collapses.

I stare at him in disbelief. “Why did you wait so long? You could have saved him.”

“He was already turning while the rotter was eating him. There was no further questioning I could have done.”

“You don’t know that,” I argue, even though I know it’s true.

Jace turns to me and his gaze meets mine. His eyes are empty, colder than I’ve ever seen on anyone before. A shiver runs down my spine, punctuated by the chill in his voice. “He was already a dead man the second he pointed a gun at you.”