The square still smelled of ozone and burnt thread.
Arielle stumbled over fallen confetti, her vision swimming. The Pride Parade banners that had lined the street were shredded, fluttering like torn wings in the midnight wind. All around, people groaned as they stirred — the lucky ones whose bonds hadn't been severed entirely.
Selene limped beside her, blood seeping from a deep gash along their ribs, though their expression remained as controlled as ever. "Keep moving," they said through gritted teeth. "The coven will be here any second."
Arielle glanced back at the center of the square. The black tether still pulsed in the sky, a wound in the stars. The threads surrounding it bent toward it like flowers toward sunlight, their glow unnaturally dim.
She swallowed, pressing her palm against her chest. The hum was different now — sharper, louder, constant. Even when she blinked, even when she wasn't touching a thread, the sound resonated in her bones like a second heartbeat.
"Selene," she whispered, stumbling to match their pace, "the hum… it's not stopping. Even with no threads near me, it's just… there."
Selene slowed, their silver eyes narrowing slightly. They touched the side of Arielle's throat, as if feeling for a pulse beyond the physical one. "You're changing," they murmured. "The weave is starting to anchor through you directly. It's feeding on you… or maybe feeding with you."
Arielle froze. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Selene said, glancing up as distant shadows shifted — the coven's scouts sweeping the rooftops — "that the coven will see you as a liability. They'll cage you, or worse. Draven will see you as an heir. And I…" They hesitated, the first crack in their composed tone. "I may not be able to protect you from either."
Before Arielle could respond, a flicker of movement caught her eye. A figure crouched on a rooftop two blocks away, their silhouette framed by the tether's unnatural light. A coven scout, their needle glowing a cold blue.
Selene grabbed her wrist. "We split. I'll draw them off. You get to the Hollowed District — the place where Draven consumed the most bonds. Find anything you can about what he left behind."
Arielle's grip tightened. "No. You're bleeding. You won't—"
Selene met her gaze, their expression softer than she'd ever seen. "You've felt the hum, Arielle. It's yours now. You can do this without me. Trust yourself, or the city's already lost."
And before Arielle could argue, Selene slipped into the shadows, their silver glow fading into the maze of alleyways.
The hum in Arielle's chest rose, as if in warning. Or maybe in hunger.