She was trying to reverse us. To start the timewind without me.

I doubted she could. Maybe someday, but not today. Not under these conditions.

But Quanta was trying.

She hadn’t given up. I shouldn’t either.

Not until the end.

I steeled myself against what was to come and tried to send my thoughts to her. If there was a window—any chance at all that we could survive—I believed she’d find it.

All I could do now was put my trust in her.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

QUANTA

I’d been truth-serumed more times than I could remember and I’d never slipped a word I didn’t want to say.

Until today.

Now secrets flowed from my lips as Darren worked Tair over, shooting him up with who knew what chemicals that made him scream, and slicing him until blood ran everywhere, and—

Tears blurred my vision.

I told Darren where to find Eva and spilled the names of every single Red I knew. I would’ve written down their coordinates if it made Darren stop.

It wouldn’t.

It didn’t.

And I all I could do was watch.

I wanted to look away, but I owed it to Tair to remember every second. Sometimes dry-heaving and other times thrashing against my ties, I engraved his pain into my soul.

Desperate, I scrabbled for the pages of time, but I couldn’t find the book, let alone my place in it.

Despair wracked my chest. My eyes stung and every breath ached in my lungs. It wasn’t fair. I’d never given a shit about fair or right or anything before because I knew better than anyone that the world didn’t work like that, but this…

This wasn’t fair.

Darren finally wiped his hands and moved to the door, leaving Tair alone and probably making his way toward me. Tair’s gaze still held mine. His eyes cleared the littlest bit now that it was over; distress made their color dark brown, but I could tell he was looking at me with some kind of hope. Like I could do something to stop him from being all bloodstained and suffering and out of it.

My heart tore for his pain and this terrible path. Most of all for my own freaking stupidity. I’d brought us here and I couldn’t do a thing.

I reached for him with just my fingertips. His eyelids fluttered back at me.

It was the best we could do. I didn’t know what I’d say if I could speak to him, but I wanted to say something while I smoothed back his rumpled hair and put those stupid glasses back on his nose. I wanted to say I could make it better.

Darren’s footsteps echoed on the tile. “Did you learn anything from that?”