I tried to think quickly. I had a feeling I was running out of time, which wasn’t helping.

“They would make her touch thingsliving things, Ember. Animals. People. Do you know what that did to her?” he asked. “It slowly killed her. Day by day, they killed her. And Cromwell stood by. He allowed it to happen. So think of this as me doing you a favor.”

“You’re going to kill me so I don’t kill myself?” I pulled against the pipe again. “Do you know how insane that sounds?”

He stood slowly. “I gave you the coin so I could keep an eye on you. See what Cromwell was doing with you.”

I dragged in deep, musty air. “Why are you going to do this?”

“I’m going to kill you because Cromwell has always wanted a gifted who could bring deathone who could control it. Do you know what kind of power someone could wield with that? But he failed my sister. He’s not going to have you.”

Wincing, I continued to pull away from the pipe. “Cromwell will know this was you. He’ll figure it out.”

He cocked his head to the side. “Really? You think so? Cromwell was so wrapped up in my sister when we were at the Facility, he never looked twice at me. He didn’t even know about my gifts. Only the higher-ups knew what I could do, and it was kept secret. And we’ve passed each other several times. He’s never recognized me. Not once.”

I dragged in deep, heavy breaths. “You’re crazy.”

“Crazy?” he repeated. My eyes followed his movements. He was digging around for something. “Maybe I am. My sister was everything to me. Cromwell took everything. Now I’m going to take from him.”

I laughed, and it did sound a bit insane. “I don’t mean anything to him. He doesn’t even like me.”

“No. You mean a lot to Cromwell. You’d thank me if you knew what the future held for you.”

Something metal glinted in the light. Terror rolled through my stomach. “Then tell me! Tell me!”

Theo straightened and sent an amused glance over his shoulder. “Can I ask you a question?”

Panic clawed its way through me. “Sure. Ask away.”

“How does it feel to die?”

“Let me go and I can show you.”

He laughed at that, genuinely amused. “You’ve got spirit. I like that.” He came back to me, his hands behind his back.

“Wait. Wait!” I stalled. “If the accident was just an accident, what happened to my mom? Sheshe was wiped. Who did that to her?”

“Your mom? I don’t know. Does it matter? She already thinks you’re dead,” he said. “So are you going to answer my question?”

“Go to hell.”

Theo crouched beside me. “Are you afraid to dieto really die this time? Because there’ll be no Olivia to bring you back.”