Chapter 9

• The silence that followed the swarm wasn't peace. It was the ringing in your ears after an explosion, a hollow space where chaos had been. My muscles screamed from the strain of Kinetic Shielding, a deep, cellular exhaustion that the adrenaline couldn't touch. My skin, once hard as stone, now felt thin and raw.
• Ash sat near the barricade, his crossbow across his knees. He wasn't looking at the door; he was looking at me. His expression was a mixture of awe and something else I couldn't read.
• Anna was in the corner with Eli, her movements jerky as she checked a scrape on his arm. Every few seconds, her eyes would flick over to me. She’d seen what I did. They all had.