Ethan's hands moved on instinct, sliding around Nora Vance's waist.
She let out a soft, delicate hum.
Whoosh…
A beam of white light burst from the center of Ethan's brow. It shot straight into Nora's forehead and exited clean through the back of her skull.
"You…"
Nora froze, eyes wide in disbelief.
The next heartbeat, the woman Ethan was holding dissolved into a wisp of white mist and vanished.
Ethan's lips curled into a bitter smile.
"Why her… sigh…"
He shook his head, a dry, self-mocking chuckle escaping him.
The world around him began to distort. Buildings bent and twisted; colors bled into each other. And then—everything shifted.
He was standing in the heart of a concrete jungle. Towering skyscrapers clawed at the clouds, and the air was thick with the smell of exhaust and the blare of supermarket loudspeakers. People bustled past, jostling along the crowded sidewalks.
