The Hollowborn wearing Nia's face tilted its head, the skin around its too-wide smile splitting with wet, tearing sounds. Black fluid oozed from the cracks, dripping onto the spongy floor where it hissed like acid.
"Kael," it crooned in his sister's voice, but wrong—the cadence just slightly off, the way a predator mimics prey. "You promised you'd protect me."
Kael's Mark flared white-hot, shadows writhing around his forearm. His vision swam with half-remembered images—Nia braiding his hair, Nia laughing, Nia shoving him into the bunker as the first Hollows breached their street.
"Don't listen," Veyra growled, wiping blood from her split lip. Her bandages had torn completely now, revealing the glowing fissures crawling up her arms. "It's just wearing your grief like a skin suit."
Lyss pressed her back against Kael's, her breath coming in short, panicked bursts. "There's another one behind us," she whispered. "Smaller. Faster."
Kael didn't turn. He kept his eyes locked on the Nia-thing, watching the way its fingers twitched—three jerky movements, then stillness. A pattern.
"You're not her," he said, forcing his voice steady. "The real Nia stutters when she lies."
The creature paused.
Kael struck.
Not with the shadow-blades that drained his memories, but with the broken pipe Lyss had dropped. He lunged low, jamming the jagged metal into the Hollowborn's knee. It shrieked, the sound morphing mid-cry from Nia's voice to something guttural and wet.
Veyra moved in tandem, her Bloodecho-enhanced fist slamming into its ribs. The creature staggered—then lashed out with terrifying speed. Its arm elongated, bones cracking as it reshaped, and backhanded Veyra into the pulsing wall. She hit with a crunch, her left arm bending the wrong way.
Lyss screamed, her Voidecho sparking wildly. The air around her hands shimmered as she unleashed a haphazard blast of energy. It went wide, scorching the ceiling.
The smaller Hollowborn—a twisted thing with too many joints—scurried from the shadows, its needle teeth glinting.
Kael's mind raced. The Nia-thing was still recovering from the pipe wound, its leg knitting itself back together with grotesque pops. The smaller one moved in erratic bursts, but always paused for exactly two seconds after each lunge.
"Lyss!" he barked. "When I say 'now', blast the floor between us!"
She nodded, trembling hands raised.
Kael feinted toward the Nia-thing, then pivoted at the last second, kicking a chunk of broken concrete toward the smaller Hollowborn. It dodged instinctively—right into the path of Lyss's next blast.
The Voidecho struck true this time, sending the creature skittering back with a high-pitched screech.
"Veyra! The vein!" Kael shouted.
She understood instantly. Gritting her teeth, she slammed her good fist into the pulsing wall. The obsidian vein ruptured, spraying black fluid across the Nia-thing's face. It howled, clawing at its eyes as the liquid burned like acid.
Kael didn't hesitate. He dove forward, his Mark flaring as he focused the Fade ability into a single hand. His fingers phased into the creature's chest, grasping blindly until they closed around something cold and jagged.
The Echo Core.
He pulled.
The Nia-thing's scream cut off abruptly as its body collapsed inward, dissolving into a pool of viscous black sludge. In Kael's hand, the core pulsed—a shard of dark crystal with something shadowy writhing inside.
Silence.
Then—
"Well done, little thief," the whisper in his head murmured. "Now let's see what else you can steal."
Kael's left hand had gone completely numb, the skin pale as death up to his wrist. Worse, when he tried to recall Nia's face, he found only smudged features and a voice that wouldn't come clear.
Lyss stared at the core, her silver eyes wide. "It's... alive?"
Veyra spat blood, cradling her broken arm. "We're delivering fucking Hollowborn larvae to them."
Above them, the ceiling rippled. Dozens of shadows detached, skittering downward like spiders.
The whisper laughed, low and delighted.
And from somewhere deep in the facility, something enormous began to stir.