Page 37 of The Hollowed

A heavy sigh escaped Myra as her shoulders fell. “So that’s it? There’s nothing that can be done?” she asked.

Doc’s gaze softened, but his tone remained urgent. “There is something you can do. Take Jace. Intercept Luci before she either dies out there or worse — makes it to AZ-7. Because if Prometheus gets their hands on her, she’ll disappear, and the work she’s done will disappear with her.”

Myra’s throat went dry as she pictured Jace’s pale face, his thin arms, the tubes tethering him to machines. “But where? Where do we go?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

“There’s a place across the border in Sonora, Mexico,” Doc replied. “There are people there — scientists and doctors who aren’t under Prometheus’s will. They can protect Luci and they can help Jace in ways this place never will. It’s the only chance any of you have left.”

For a moment, the office felt smaller, as if the walls were pressing in around her. Myra had never been afraid of danger but this required something else from her entirely. To do this, what she needed was faith, and Prometheus had beaten the ability to be faithful out of her a long time ago.

Still, when she met Doc’s eyes, there was no mistaking it. He was telling her the truth and with it came a choice she could never undo once she took it.

Myra let out a harsh laugh, shaking her head. “I could survive something like that on my own, but how the hell do you expect me to drag a sick kid across half the country? He can barely make it through a dialysis session without collapsing. He won’t make it.”

Doc folded his hands on the desk once again. He seemed calmer than before. “That’s where you’re wrong. Jace is stronger than you think, and with the right care, he can survive the journey.” He leaned forward. “I’ll give you precise instructions. What medications to administer, how to keep him hydrated, what signs to watch for. If you follow them exactly, he’ll make it.”

Myra swallowed hard. “Okay, and how the hell am I supposed to get the both of us out of here without anyone seeing?”

Doc’s gaze didn’t waver. “You have friends…people who you trust and who can help you...”

Her breath hitched and for a split second, Cipher’s face flashed in her mind and then the chill set in. Prometheus knew. Of course they did. They knew everything: who she saw, who she trusted, who she loved — even if she hadn’t admitted it to herself yet.

“You’ve been watching me?”

Doc’s silence was enough.

Myra felt sick as everything settled in her stomach. Take Jace, find Luci, and run. It sounded so simple, but if she did this, she would be crossing a line that couldn’t be uncrossed. It wasn’t just her life Prometheus would come for if she failed. It would be Jace’s, Cipher’s.

But Prometheus had already made their choice about Jace. Taking him off the transplant list was a death sentence. They were going to let him rot in that bed until his body gave out.

Her fists curled against her knees as a thought seared through her.

If I do nothing, Jace dies anyway.

The idea of becoming a kidnapper, of betraying the only system she’d ever known felt suffocating and yet…what other option did she have? Every path led to danger, but at least this one held a chance that Jace might live, that Luci might succeed. Thatsomething good could come of all the blood she’d ever spilled.

Slowly, she lifted her gaze to Doc. The war raging in her mind quieted into a single, terrible truth.

There was only one path forward.

Her tone was certain when she finally spoke. “Okay,” she said. “Tell me everything I need to know.”

Chapter 16

Lucilla

Ayawn slipped from Luci’s lips as she forced her heavy eyes to stay focused on the long stretch of road ahead of them. They’d stopped only a handful of times to let Luna out and to shake the stiffness from their legs, but nearly six hours behind the wheel without rest had drained her to the bone. Her focus was fraying with each mile, and beneath her desperation lurked the knowledge that their car could stop at any moment.

“Is there a fuel station close?” Luci asked, glancing at Alex. He looked worse than she felt. His shoulders were slumped, and his jaw was slack with exhaustion. Still he’d declined the opportunity to rest his eyes every time Luci had assured him that she could drive without his company.

They hadn’t left Illinois yet, they still had to get through Missouri, Oklahoma, a sliver of Texas, and New Mexico before Arizona even came into sight.

Alex rubbed at his eyes then fumbled to open the map. He traced the last mile marker they’d driven by with his finger and followed the faded lines until he tapped at the map. “Looks like there’s a truck stop a few miles up the road,” he said. “Do you think we can make it that far?”

Luci tried to run the calculation quickly but her brain felt sluggish. Besides, by all logic their car should have given outmiles ago. “Worst case,” she sighed, “we walk the rest of the way. It’s still daylight. We should have a few hours before the sun goes down.”

The words were meant to soothe, but even she could hear how hollow they sounded in the silence that followed.

According to the clock on the dash, they managed another ten minutes on the road before Luci felt the inevitable. The car was dying, no matter how heavy her foot pressed on the gas. The engine gave one last groan, lurched forward, and then sizzled into silence.