I gasped as the world faded from pure light into a colorful stone room. I still felt almost floaty for a moment. Then the weight hit—not just mine, but Syrin’s too as his legs gave out. It was so unexpected that I went crashing to the ground with him.

  Heat flared through me, and I bit back a scream, rolling to the side. It was like my insides had become a furnace. Syrin heaved in a breath beside me, and the heat plunged away, leaving me feeling nauseous. Had Syrin lost his connection somehow? Why was this—

  My nerves screamed. They’d just been on fire, but now it felt like I’d traveled to an Alaskan winter and hiked outside without a coat. Shivers wracked my body.

  “Trina!” Mom’s voice was edged with panic. Then someone was shoving me towards something. A warm body, but it all felt wrong. Like I was watching a movie that was somehow sensation instead of sight, feeling it all secondhand.

  Shaking arms wrapped around me. The temperature inside dropped again like a shadow had just covered the sun. I gasped. The arms tightened again, and blossoms of warmth appeared, curling through me like vines that slowly shoved the cold back.

  “Trina?” Syrin’s voice.

  I let out a whimper. Finally, the cold receded, but I still felt wrong. Too disconnected from my body.

  “Trina?” This voice was sharper, more panicked. Mom.

  “I—” I forced myself to breathe, shoving my eyes open. “Still here.”

  Mom’s gaze flicked to Syrin, who had me cradled in his arms on the floor. “Did you—Does it know?” she said sharply.

  He shook his head weakly. “No. I— The cuffs—” He bit his lip. “It shouldn’t know.”

  “Trina, can you stand?” Mom asked.

  I nodded numbly. I reached down to steady myself on the ground, but as soon as I saw my fingers, I almost cried out. The tips were black. Not like they were dirty. Like they were turning into shadow.

  I took a deep breath. I couldn’t panic. Not here. Not now when we were probably going to be hunted. The infection had to know we were in the tower. Didn’t it?

  Still, the darkness of my fingers wouldn’t leave the backs of my eyelids. I lifted my hands and whispered, “Syrin?”

  His arms tightened again momentarily. “I know,” he said tightly. “I can reverse it. Promise.”

  I clenched my fists and shoved my hands into my armpits so I couldn’t see them. It was fine, almost like a weird tattoo. Better than the cold, right?

  I shifted again, pulling away from Syrin’s arms to get to my feet. Syrin yelped. “Trina! You can’t—” he took a deep breath. “I need to stay touching you, just for now. Please.”

  I froze. So, this was going to be a stand-while-staying-connected thing? Like those weird employee teamwork retreats? Memories of the heat and cold flashed through my mind, and I pressed closer to Syrin.

  “Hold hands,” Mom ordered. She stared at Syrin. “Is that enough?”

  He gave a sharp nod and held out a hand. I stared at the ceiling as I took it, not wanting to see my shadow fingers. His hand was warm in mine, right up to my fingertips. Syrin’s skin felt uncomfortably hot against the shadowy surface.

  I forced that thought to the side and let Syrin pull me to my feet. He was trembling almost as much as I was. Was that just the effect of the portal? Or was it fighting the shadow?

  Mom moved to the door. “Do you want to stay here?”

  My brows furrowed. Stay?

  Syrin just nodded, and Mom disappeared, the door clicking shut behind her. A weird anger filled me. They were pushing me out, making all the decisions. I was just an afterthought. A nuisance.

  I shivered, pushing those thoughts back. Mom had been absolutely panicked a second ago. She went into business mode when she was worried. That was all.

  I focused on the walls instead. Spirals of blue and yellow filled them in all sorts of semi-repeating patterns. It reminded me of pictures of Muslim mosques, all patterns and swirls, no images.

  “What is this place?” I whispered.

  “A meditation room,” Syrin replied. He tugged me towards a window and pulled back the curtain, revealing a city below us, full of red and emerald green roofs. It was a cloudy day, but off in the distance, the ocean still sparkled as the sun broke through sections of cloud.

  Something in Syrin seemed to relax as he looked out over the city. I did not relax. We were very high up, maybe the 25th floor. I’d never even seen a building in Kirath that tall before.

  “Do you not like heights?” Syrin asked softly.

  I shook my head, but my voice came out strained. “Doesn’t this mean we have to go down a million stairs? Why land up here? Won’t they be hunting us?”

  “Probably,” Syrin admitted. “But hopefully not here.”

  “Hopefully? Please tell me there is an actual plan.”

  Syrin let out a long breath. “You and I are going to have to hide while your mother goes for help,” he leaned against the wall, looking almost guilty. “It’s the only way I could think of to make this work. The lower floors are busier. This area is mostly for Keepers.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I stiffened. Hide? He was so stupidly calm; why wasn’t he—

  The strange temperature gradient inside me shifted again, the heat rising, even as cold pooled below my ribcage. “Trina? What’s wrong?” Syrin said, moving closer.

  “Won’t they find us!? If I know where we are, won’t the bad guys know too? Wasn’t that the point of the secret plan? I thought we’d be sprinting away by now!”

  “Trina, calm down! It’s not—They don’t know.”

  I felt my heartbeat speed up. “But how can you be sure?”

  Footsteps sounded from outside, and we both froze. My heart felt like it would beat out of my chest, but the footsteps just continued right past the door.

  Syrin let out a long breath and stepped closer, but I sidled away as far as his grip would allow. “Syrin,” I whispered. “I can’t—Please tell me what’s going on.”

  He grimaced but squeezed my hand. “This will get uncomfortably warm for a moment,” he warned.

  What was he—

  The pressure inside me shifted again, and the warmth became almost oppressive.

  Syrin looked me right in the eyes. “I’ve been blocking the connection. The shadow infection hasn’t been able to transmit anything for hours, but it doesn’t know that. That’s why this tower wasn’t flooded with searchers the moment we arrived.”

  My hand clenched tighter as anger flared through me. “You didn’t—”

  “I couldn’t tell you because then the shadow would also know,” Syrin said firmly. “Now that information is less dangerous, but ideally we’ll avoid speaking about it if possible. Okay?”

  I nodded slowly. The pressure inside me melted back to the warmth from before, like Syrin was releasing his grip inside me.

  I took a deep breath, trying to force the anger down. He was probably right, but it still hurt. This would be easier if I could just let go of him. Even for a second. If I could get away from that horrible heat.

  I flinched in horror at the thought. Wrong. That thought was wrong.

  Syrin turned to stare out at the city. Ignoring me. Of course, he was. He was so—

  No. He looked… worn down. Lights, I was being sort of awful. I hated this, but he’d just come back to the place that was supposed to be his home, only it wasn’t.

  I shifted closer, leaning on the wall next to him. “So, Mom isn’t coming back soon?”

  “No, she is,” Syrin said. “She’s just getting something from down the hall. Then we’ll all go to a room where you and I can hide.”

  “So this room isn’t safe?” I said, running my thumb along his hand.

  “Safe is relative. There shouldn’t be any guards around now, but people do occasionally use this room. I just—” He bit his lip, looking at me for a few moments.

  “So, why this room?” I asked softly.

  “I could only teleport us somewhere that my cousin, Serelyn, had been recently. That limits the options a great deal, and since the timing needed to be unpredictable, and we left even earlier than I anticipated…”

  “This was the best option,” I finished.

  Syrin nodded.

  I shifted closer. “Are you okay?”

  He blinked. “Me?”

  “Yes.”

  “I—”

  Footsteps sounded again, and Syrin shifted closer to me, his glow flickered white for a moment. I blinked. He… he had barely been glowing, hadn’t he? How had I not noticed that?

  We both tensed as the footsteps stopped at the door. It swung open, and Mom appeared. I gasped in relief.

  “Let’s go,” she said, waving us forward. She was wearing a strange white and gold tunic now, with a blue sash that crossed her body. She still had her satchel, and another bag under her arm that I assumed held her other clothes.

  “It’s a healer’s uniform,” Syrin whispered as he tugged me forward into the hallway. Mom went ahead, checking intersections. We walked fast, threading through halls and descending staircases. This part of the tower seemed weirdly deserted, just cream-colored walls with the occasional door and a floor of rosy pink, polished stone that I didn’t recognize.

  Syrin looked calm, but the way he was clenching my hand told a different story. Still, I couldn’t quite make sense of it because his glow was barely there.

  Mom suddenly stopped at a hallway intersection, and Syrin quickly turned, shielding me from sight. A person passed through the intersection, barely glancing at us as they hurried on.

  I squeezed Syrin’s hand, and we ran to catch up with Mom, only to find her turning back to us with a sharp look. I slammed to a stop as someone turned the corner and almost ran straight into me. It was a younger woman, wearing a similar outfit to Mom, but her sash was green.

  “Oh!” the woman said. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

  Her eyes caught on the cuffs on my wrists, visible with how I was clutching Syrin’s hand. And stayed there.

  Syrin twisted our hands, so his fingers were visible instead of mine, hiding the shadowy tips. For a moment, I panicked. He was drawing attention. If she looked up, if she turned that sort of attention on Syrin…

  He shifted, angling himself slightly behind me.

  “What are those?” the woman said sharply, pointing to the cuffs as her eyes flicked to Mom. “Bindings are only for the cursed, and they aren’t permitted in this section of the tower.”

  “Of course not,” Mom said, voice even. “She’s not cursed, just the cuffs are. She came in with them. A traveling slaver, right?” Mom said, looking at me.

  I hung my head and nodded. “Yes,” I said softly. “I… I just want them off.”

  It hurt a little how true that was. I was beginning to despise the cuffs. They represented everything going wrong.

  “Oh,” the woman said, a blush coming to her cheeks. “Sorry, just the color...” She glanced back at Mom, who was giving her a tired look. “I—I’ll just leave you to it!” the woman finished, hurrying on.

  I tugged forward, but Syrin was still frozen. “Syrin?”

  He finally moved, and I shifted closer. “What’s wrong?”

  His shoulders hunched. “That was too close. I don’t know her well, but she’s met me if she’d looked at me before those cuffs…”

  “But she didn’t,” Mom cut in.

  Syrin took a breath and nodded slowly.

  Mom shot me a look that seemed to say, Watch him. Then she started down the hallway. I tugged Syrin forward. He followed, but his hand trembled against mine. Something was wrong. But so were a million other things.

  I just tightened my grip on his hand and continued forward. After a few hallways, the shaking finally receded, and Syrin seemed steadier.

  I didn’t like the look of the area we were in now. The doors had locks on them. Mom just strode down the hallway.

  Bang.

  I flinched as something hit the door next to us. Then a laugh sounded from inside. Syrin just kept walking, pulling me along. “Cursed,” he muttered. “With me gone, there is no one here with the skill to heal them at the moment.”

  I froze, and Syrin almost lost his grip on my hand. No way. We were hiding in… basically the insanity wing?

  Syrin gave me a worried look and tugged on my hand. We passed a few more doors before stopping in front of one. Mom removed the lock and gestured for us to enter.

  I… Was this to hide? Or were they worried that I would become something that needed to be contained? Cursed. I was infected, basically cursed. Was this all a trick? Something in my chest tightened at that thought, and an icy hatred filled me.

  Syrin tugged me forward, but I jerked back.

  Contained. Afraid. Locking me in the dark. Some reasonable part of me pushed back that Syrin was with me. Syrin was the one tugging on my hand. He was locking himself up too.

  “Trina.” Mom’s voice cut through my thoughts. “We don’t have time to think about this. I need you in that room. Now.”

  Syrin was staring at me, his brows drawn together. “Please, Trina?”

  Something inside cracked a little in that, and I let him drag me inside. It was small, but it had a bed in the corner and a little table. Three very narrow windows let light in, providing no real view of the city.

  “I’ll be as quick as I can,” Mom said.

  Syrin said something back that I couldn’t process. Not when my eyes caught on the chains on the walls. Chains made of golden light.

  Just like mine.

  Cursed. Like the woman had said. Chains like mine belonged somewhere. Maybe Syrin had decided this was where I belonged.

  Something inside me seethed, and then the door clicked shut, locking me inside with the chains and Syrin.