60
White light seared through the room. Sassy’s scream drowned in its brightness.
The halo above her crackled with electricity, pain stinging her scalp even before it touched her skin. Across the room, the second halo engulfed Benji—forcing him to the floor, body convulsing in violent spasms.
The Elder watched with clinical fascination.
“Fascinating,” he noted. “He shows early signs of Protector resonance. Trauma-born loyalty. Very strong potential.”
Sassy thrashed against the restraints until her wrists bled.
“STOP hurting him!” she screamed.
The Elder didn’t even look at her.
“Adjust output point-seven.”
A technician slid a dial.
Benji arched in agony, jaw clenched so tight it looked like bone might crack.
Sassy’s voice broke.
“BENJI! LOOK AT ME! BENJI—PLEASE!”
And he did.
His eyes found hers through the haze of light and in that moment, he wasn’t bending, breaking, or rewriting. He was fighting. He mouthed something across the room—
Run.
Sassy’s breath released into a small sob.
“No,” she said. “Not this time.”
She twisted harder, sharper. Her left wrist sliding against the metal restraint just enough to loosen it. Pain radiated down her arm. She gritted her teeth, pushing through it. Behind her, alarms blared again.
“Unauthorized breach in Sector Five.”
“Containment compromised.”
The Elder tapped a wrist device. “Seal all lower levels. Begin purge protocols.”
Sassy froze.
Purge?
The walls shifted—metal shutters sliding across doors, locking corridors, sealing rooms. Somewhere out there—Wren, Levi, Colton—were trapped in the facility’s tightening jaws.
But first she had to free Benji.
And then Jimmy.
And then get them all out alive.
She yanked her left wrist once more, felt something tear, and the cuff popped open. Her hand was free. She didn’t hesitate. She grabbed the descending halo device above her head and ripped it sideways. Electricity snapped, pain shooting down her arm—but the apparatus jerked off its mount, slamming into the floor. Sparks flew.
The Elder turned.
Surprise flickered across his face.
“That was unexpected.”
“Get away from him,” Sassy snarled, ripping her right arm free.
The Elder pressed a button on his wrist. Two automated defense turrets unfolded from the ceiling, targeting her.
She dove forward.
The first turret fired. A beam grazed her shoulder—pain exploding in a white-hot streak. She hit the ground, rolled, grabbed the abandoned baton from earlier, and hurled it at the turret.
Sparks.
A short-circuit.
The turret powered down.
The second turret adjusted.
Benji rose.
Barely.
Shaking.
Drenched in sweat.
But rising.
He grabbed the turret’s barrel before it could fire and slammed his weight into it, wrenching it sideways until the mount cracked. Electricity coursed through him, but he didn’t let go.
“BENJI!” Sassy cried.
He grunted and twisted. The turret snapped off the ceiling.
The Elder stepped back in genuine alarm.
Benji staggered, knees buckling.
Sassy ran to him.
He fell into her arms, breath shallow but alive.
“Sassy,” he rasped, voice trembling, “you gotta… you gotta get Jimmy before they… before they finish rewiring him.”
She cupped his face. “Benji, I’m not leaving you.”
He shook his head, dazed. “Don’t worry… I’m still me. Mostly.”
Mostly. She didn’t have time to process that.
The Elder’s voice broke the moment.
“You cannot save them both.”
Sassy turned sharply.
The Elders were regrouping near the sealed door, speaking into synchronized comms panels.
“Activate secondary protocol,” the old man ordered. “Separate the assets.”
Assets. Not people. Not lives. Assets.
Sassy stood, fists clenched. “I’m not your asset.”
“No,” the Elder said, “you are our outcome.”
He touched his wrist device again. A screen on the wall flickered alive showing Jimmy’s chamber.
Jimmy was strapped upright, head angled down. Still unconscious. Still not moving. Behind him a door opened. Two masked technicians stepped inside, carrying syringes. The Elder narrated softly: “Phase Two is simple. We erase his autonomy. Strip his identity. And prepare him for the bond.”
“No,” Sassy yelled.
“Once he is compliant,” the Elder said, “you will be brought to complete the link. If you refuse—”
He pressed a button.
Jimmy jerked violently as electricity surged through his restraints.
“—we let him break.”
Sassy’s scream tore from her chest.
“ENOUGH!”
She lunged.
Benji grabbed her wrist. “Wait. Sass, think.”
She whipped around, tears streaking down her face. “If I don’t go now, they’ll fry what’s left of him.”
Benji stared into her eyes, bleary but determined.
“We’ll get him together.”
Her breath shook. “Benji—if they rewired you—if they changed anything—”
“They didn’t,” he said. “They tried. But I had something stronger than their programming.”
“What?” she said.
He leaned closer, voice almost breaking.
“You.”
The room trembled as distant explosions rocked the facility again.
“No time,” Benji said. “We need a route.”
Sassy scanned the room and spotted the ventilation panel halfway up the wall.
“Help me up.”
Benji braced against the wall. Sassy climbed onto his shoulders. She kicked the vent
once, twice, and then the grate broke free. A tunnel. Narrow. Rugged. Leading deeper into the facility. Toward Jimmy. Sassy crawled inside, turning back just long enough to extend a hand to Benji. He grabbed it.
The last Elder in the room shouted: “SECURE THE BLOOM! DO NOT LET HER REACH THE PROTECTOR!”
Sassy hissed through her teeth:
“Watch us.”
And they disappeared into the ducts. The tunnel air was warm, stale, humming with machinery. Benji crawled behind her, shaking but still strong.
“Sass… when you saw your dad in that vision… did it feel like a memory or a trick?”
She paused.
“It felt real.”
Benji nodded grimly. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
She turned, heart pounding. “Why?”
He took a breath that shuddered in his chest. “Because your father didn’t just run from the Garden.”
He met her eyes.
“He started a rebellion.”
Sassy froze.
“What… what rebellion?”
Benji swallowed.
“The one we’re in right now.”
Light flickered ahead—another room opening up. And the sound of approaching footsteps.
The Elders weren’t done. Not even close.
61
The vents narrowed as Sassy crawled, metal scraping her elbows and knees. The heat from the facility’s machinery throbbed through the ducts, making every breath feel thick, claustrophobic.
Benji breathed heavily behind her, still shaken from the Elder’s attack.
“Benji…” she whispered. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Not even remotely.”
She stopped, twisting enough to see him in the dim glow.
He forced a grin. “Still me, though.”
Her chest tightened. “I’m not losing you too.”
“You won’t,” but his voice wavered. “We just gotta get Jimmy and then get the hell out of this rat maze.”
Sassy nodded and crawled forward.
The duct bent sharply, revealing a grated opening overlooking a hallway below lit by harsh white lights. Two armored silhouettes marched past. Their steps were unnervingly synchronized.
Benji stiffened. “Elite Sentinels.”
Sassy swallowed. The Garden’s most trained loyalists. Humans as conditioned as the
Protectors.
Unbreakable.
Unquestioning.
Unforgiving.
Benji leaned close, voice barely audible. “They’re not supposed to be here. Sentinels only deploy for two reasons: rebellion… or retrieval.”
Sassy asked quizzically, “Retrieval of who?”
Benji met her eyes. “Sassy… of you.”
Her blood chilled, but she pushed it down. No time for fear. They needed to move. She pointed down the duct.
“This way. Jimmy’s chamber is on the west wing. There’s an auxiliary drop near bio stabilization rooms.”
Benji blinked. “Since when do you know this place?”
“I don’t,” she said. “But… something in me does.”
A pause. Benji didn’t argue. Just nodded. Because they were far beyond the point where explanations mattered more than survival. They crawled deeper.
“Benji, tell me what you meant earlier. About my father,” Sassy asked looking for information but also any distraction from the treacherous path they were on.
The duct creaked under their weight as they turned another corner. Benji exhaled shakily.
“Sass… I didn’t know the full story. Just pieces. The memories feel like a dream. Or dreams. I don’t really remember them happening but they’re in my head. Like they’ve always been there.”
Sassy stopped to stare at Benji. Understanding more than he did about what was happening. But she needed to know what he was remembering.
“Tell me,” she whispered.
“I don’t really know,” he stammered. “I have faint memories of my grandpa muttering about ‘the Ghost.’”
“The Ghost?”
Benji nodded.
“That’s what they called him. Something about the only Garden heir to ever turn on them and disappear. Just… gone.”
Her pulse quickened. She saw again the memory the Crucible forced on her. A man with her eyes whispering into the night that they’d never have her.
“What did he do?” she asked.
Benji swallowed.
“I remember them saying he didn’t just run. He stole something from them.”
“What?”
Benji hesitated. A wave of panic swept over his face.
“You.”
Sassy’s breath left her body.
“The Ghost is your father,” Benji said quietly. “He stole you out of the Garden before you could be indoctrinated. Before they could claim you as the next leader.”
Her chest tightened. “He—he fought for me.”
“I remember my grandpa telling my father he built an entire splinter group,” Benji said. “A rebellion. People who wanted to bring the Garden down from the inside. But somewhere along the way, something went wrong.”
Sassy felt cold.
“They said the Ghost had one weapon the Garden feared more than anything.”
“What weapon?” she asked.
Benji met her gaze through the dark.
“I think it’s you.”
A metallic clang echoed from deeper in the duct. Sassy froze.
Benji tensed. “They’re sweeping the vents.”
Sassy crawled faster, heart racing. They turned another sharp corner—and stopped. The duct ahead split three ways.
Left.
Right.
Forward.
She closed her eyes, forcing herself to breathe.
Think. Think. You know this place. You’ve been here before. Even if you don’t remember it, your body does.
A faint vibration drifted through the metal from the left path. A rhythm. A pattern. Her pulse synced to it.
“Their machines,” she said. “The stabilization generators. Jimmy’s chamber is near them.”
Benji nodded. “We go left.” But then—
THUD.
A Sentinel landed in the duct behind them.
Sassy whipped around.
The armored figure crouched in the metal shaft, mask gleaming, posture impossibly still. Slowly, it tilted its head at her like it was studying prey.
Benji swore softly. “Keep going,” he yelled. “I’ll slow him—”
“No,” Sassy said, grabbing his arm. “We stay together.”
The Sentinel lunged. Sassy shoved Benji down the left duct and scrambled after him. The Sentinel followed in a blur of motion, faster than either of them could crawl.
Ahead—
a grate.
A drop.
Sassy kicked the grate out with both feet—metal tearing free—
“Benji, DROP!”
They fell.
The Sentinel dove after them. They crashed onto a steel platform. Sassy rolled hard, pain shooting up her spine. The Sentinel landed on its feet. Benji raised a metal pipe he’d grabbed mid-fall. “Come on then—”
But Sassy grabbed his sleeve.
“NO—WAIT—”
Because down the hallway beyond the platform a door was open. A chamber she recognized instantly. Jimmy’s chamber.
Wires glowing. Screens flashing. A figure inside. Standing. Alive. Eyes open.
Jimmy.
Except his eyes were glowing gold. Just like in the Crucible trials.
Sassy’s heart split.
“Oh god,” she whispered.
Jimmy stepped forward. The Sentinel immediately dropped to one knee.
Benji stiffened. “What the hell—?”
Jimmy’s voice was soft.
Cold.
Unfeeling.
“Bring her to me.”
The Sentinel rose.
Sassy felt her knees weaken.
“Jimmy… no…”
He didn’t blink.
“You are the Bloom,” he said. “I am the Protector. We complete each other.”
Benji positioned himself between them. “Over my dead—”
Jimmy didn’t even look at him.
“Move.”
Benji lifted the pipe. “Make me.”
The golden-eyed Jimmy tilted his head.
“You cannot stop me.”
And Sassy felt the truth of it like a punch. This wasn’t Jimmy. This was the Garden’s version of him. Her Jimmy was somewhere buried under the programming.
Sassy’s voice cracked. “Jimmy… look at me.”
His eyes flickered. Just once.
Brown.
Human.
Terrified.
Then the gold surged back. He whispered for a fraction of a second—“Sassy… run.”
The Sentinel lunged.
Jimmy followed.
And the hallway erupted into chaos.
62
The hallway exploded into motion.
The Sentinel launched itself forward—a blur of armored limbs and crushing force. Benji swung the metal pipe with all his strength, but the Sentinel caught it midair, twisted, and ripped it free like snapping a twig.
Benji stumbled back.
“GO!” he yelled to Sassy.
But she didn’t run. She couldn’t. Not with Jimmy advancing behind the Sentinel, eyes blazing gold. The Protector. The Garden’s weapon. But also—the boy who loved her.
“Jimmy!” she cried. “STOP!”
He didn’t. He strode forward with chilling calm, each step deliberate, powerful, inevitable. The Sentinel lunged for Sassy. Benji intercepted, throwing himself between them, tackling the armored figure back into the wall. The impact reverberated through the hallway. Sassy crouched, grabbing a piece of the broken grate for a makeshift weapon. The Sentinel rose again with mechanical precision.
Jimmy raised a hand.
“Stand down,” he commanded.
The Sentinel froze. But not for her. For him.
Jimmy turned those glowing eyes on Sassy.
“You should not be resisting,” he said, voice devoid of warmth. “You should be ready.”
Sassy’s chest fractured. “Ready for what?”
“For the bond.”
Benji staggered to his feet, wiping blood from his lip. “You’re not touching her.”
Jimmy didn’t acknowledge him.
“You belong with me,” he said softly—softly enough it almost sounded like him. “You were designed to.”
Sassy’s throat tightened.
“No. I choose who I belong with.”
Jimmy paused. A flicker. His jaw clenched. Then the gold in his eyes pulsed violently. He stepped toward her.
“Sassandra,” he said, tone deepening with command, “come to me.”
Something inside her shuddered like her bones recognized the pull. Like something engineered inside both of them was activating.
“No,” she said.
His brow furrowed. A crack in the programming.
“Sassy…”
And for a moment. Just a moment—the brown of his eyes broke through.
Human.
Hurting.
Jimmy.
She stepped toward him instinctively. Then the Sentinel lunged again. Benji shoved her aside as the armored figure swung. The blow hit him full force, knocking him into the wall so hard the metal dented. Sassy screamed, scrambling toward him. Jimmy moved faster. He grabbed Sassy’s arm—firm, unyielding. Her breath caught. His hand was warm.
Her Jimmy.
His warmth.
His breath.
His pulse.
But his grip was controlled. Programmed.
“Sassy,” he softly muttered, golden eyes scanning her face with consuming attention. “Don’t fight me.”
She stared back, tears blurring her vision. “I’ll fight anyone who tries to take you from me. Even you.”
His breath hitched. Another glitch. A crack.
“Sass…” His real voice surfaced—fragile, drowning. “Help me…”
The Sentinel turned toward them again. Benji lunged—bloody, limp, but unbroken.
“LET—HER—GO!”
He swung the broken pipe again. The Sentinel caught it, shoved him back—but Benji didn’t fall this time. He planted his feet. He stood between Sassy and death. Jimmy’s head snapped toward him.
“Benji Fallon,” he said flatly. “Stand down.”
Benji spat blood at the ground. “Make me, Jimmy.”
The gold in Jimmy’s eyes pulsed brighter. He stepped forward.
Benji squared himself, shaking but resolute.
“Come on,” he yelled defiantly. “If you’re really gone, prove it.”
Sassy screamed, “STOP! JIMMY—DON’T—”
Jimmy froze. Sassy grabbed his hand with both of hers.
“Look at me,” she begged. “Not them. Not the programming. Me.”
Jimmy trembled. His fingers tightened around hers. But not in dominance. In desperation.
“Sass…”
The Sentinel lunged again. And everything collapsed. Benji dove, tackling the Sentinel sideways. Sassy yanked Jimmy with her toward the wall. Jimmy stumbled—disoriented—his programming fracturing. Sparks flew from overhead panels as the battle crashed into the wall.
And then a voice crackled from the security speaker overhead. A voice Sassy had never heard in the flesh. But one that lived in her bones.
“Sassandra. If you can hear this, it means the Elders failed to contain you.”
Sassy froze.
Benji froze mid-struggle. Jimmy lifted his head, eyes flickering. The Guardian Sentinel paused, head tilting toward the speaker like a confused animal. The voice continued—low, steady, full of defiance:
“I am the Ghost. Your father.”
Sassy’s breath shattered.
Jimmy blinked, something sparking in his expression.
The voice pressed on.
“Your mother hid you from the truth. The Garden hid you from the world. But I built this message into the circuitry before I vanished. The day you reached the Crucible; this system was programmed to activate.”
Benji stared at Sassy in stunned silence. The Sentinel took a step back, processors confused—this was not part of its protocol. Jimmy’s hand tightened in hers. Her father’s voice grew quieter.
“Sassandra… you were never born to lead the Garden.”
Silence.
“You were born to destroy it.”
The hallway lights flickered. The facility hummed with disruption.
Sassy’s pulse roared.
“But…” the Ghost added softly, almost like a father telling a secret to his child—
“You cannot destroy it alone. You must save the Protector.”
Jimmy gasped—his knees buckled. He clutched his head, the golden glow flickering violently. Sassy caught him, holding him upright.
“Sassy—” he choked, “Sassy—they’re inside—they’re—”
He screamed. The speakers shut off abruptly as alarms blared:
SYSTEM OVERRIDE DETECTED
SECURITY PURGE INITIATED
Benji grabbed Sassy’s arm.
“We have to MOVE—NOW!”
Sassy dragged Jimmy up with her, her father’s voice echoing in her skull.
Save the Protector. Save Jimmy.
Because if she didn’t The Garden would use him or destroy him and she would lose the only real thing she ever had.
Footsteps thundered down the hall. Benji pulled his rifle from the floor. Jimmy stammered through the pain, clutching her hand:
“Sass—I don’t know… how much longer I can hold them off.”
Sassy wiped his face with trembling fingers.
“You don’t have to hold them off.”
She lifted her chin as another explosion ripped through the facility behind them.
“We fight them together.”
63
The hallway strobed red as alarms blared above them:
SECURITY PURGE IN PROGRESS
ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE
PROTECT THE BLOOM AT ALL COSTS
The words echoed off the metal walls in a sickening rhythm. Sassy tightened her grip on Jimmy’s arm. He staggered with every step, breath ragged, eyes flickering violently between familiar brown and glowing gold. Benji limped ahead of them, rifle raised, blood streaking down his temple. The ground trembled. Lights blew out in bursts overhead.
“This wing’s going down,” Benji shouted. “We need the tunnels—now!”
Jimmy stumbled, clutching his skull. “Sass… they’re inside—pushing—”
“Stay with me,” Sassy begged, cupping his face.
He shut his eyes, jaw clenched, fighting an enemy in his own head.
Then—Footsteps. Shouting. Benji spun, rifle leveled. But the figures bursting through the smoke were familiar.
“BENJI, DON’T SHOOT!” Wren shouted, skidding beside them. She was bleeding from her shoulder, eyes wild but alive.
Levi clambered in behind her, dragging a dented metal case, wheezing. Colton followed last, gripping a wrench like a medieval weapon. Sassy nearly broke with relief.
“You made it!”
Benji exhaled sharply—relief, frustration, and renewed fury.
Wren stared at Jimmy’s flickering eyes.
“Oh shit,” she breathed. “He’s halfway switched.”
Jimmy looked away, ashamed.
Levi wiped blood from his chin. “We found the server rooms. The whole system’s imploding.”
Sassy’s heartbeat surged. “My father…”
Wren grabbed her arm. “He planted some sort of self-destruct mode. And he left messages—breadcrumbs. One of them triggered when things started collapsing.”
She pointed down the hallway. A large security monitoring station flickered erratically—screens shaking in and out, some broken, others filled with static. One central monitor sparked, the glass cracked like a spiderweb. And on that cracked screen a face appeared.
Grainy.
Shadowed.
Broadcast like a hijacked security feed.
A man with her jawline.
Her cheekbones.
Her eyes.
Sassy stopped breathing.
Her father. The Ghost.
The feed glitched, lines running through his image, but his voice came through steady and calm. “Sassandra. If you’re seeing this, then the Elders failed to contain you.”
Sassy’s hand flew to her mouth.
Jimmy looked up sharply, something in him snapping toward awareness.
The Ghost continued: “This isn’t live. But it is real. I embedded myself into their system. Every camera. Every server. I left traps, timers… and warnings.”
The screen flickered showing Jimmy bound and screaming earlier. Sassy recoiled.
Jimmy flinched like he’d been punched.
“The Garden built a weapon,” her father said. “The Protector. But they never understood that the real threat… was the Bloom.”
Sassy felt the floor drop beneath her.
Wren screamed, “Holy hell…”
Benji stepped beside Sassy protectively, blocking part of her from view as if the Garden could see her through the screen.
“You were not born to lead them,” the Ghost said. “You were born to end them.”
Jimmy’s breath stuttered.
Levi wiped sweat from his brow. “That’s… one hell of a parenting choice, man.”
But the Ghost wasn’t done.
“The Garden will attempt to complete the bond. If they do, your Protector becomes their weapon. Not yours. Not his. Theirs.”
His image glitched, but his words cut through: “Save him, Sassandra. Save the boy. The world changes only if he survives with you—not with them.”
Jimmy’s knees buckled.
Sassy caught him as his body shook violently.
“Sassy,” he said, panicked. “They’re coming back—inside my head—they’re coming—”
She held him tight. “Fight it. Please, Jimmy. Fight it.”
On-screen, her father’s image leaned forward as if he saw her through time.
“There is a way out. They hid it, but I rewired the purge indicators to guide you. Follow the red pulsing lights—they lead to the incineration shaft. The only exit not under Sentinel control.”
Colton grimaced. “We’re escaping through a giant oven? Awesome.”
But Levi shook his head. “It’s decommissioned. Abandoned.”
The Ghost’s final words came through, glitched but strong:
“Sassandra… my little star…if you make it out, you become the one thing the Garden could never control.”
The screen fizzled. Static overtook his face. A final spark burst the monitor entirely. Darkness swallowed the hallway. Sassy felt a sob choke her chest. Jimmy leaned against her, trembling violently.
“I’m losing myself,” he whispered. “I can’t stop it…”
Benji grabbed his other arm. “You’re not losing anything. We’ve got you.”
Wren pointed her knife down the hall. “Sentinels incoming. Lots of them.”
Levi sealed the Ghost’s device in the metal case. “Then let’s go before the purge wipes the last exit.”
Colton swung his wrench. “Finally. Some cardio.”
The facility trembled again as doors slammed shut behind them.
Sassy took Jimmy’s face in her hands. “Listen to me,” she said. “I’m getting you out. I don’t care what they put in your head. I’m not leaving without you.”
For a flicker—
just a flicker—
his real eyes surfaced.
“Sass…”
His voice broke.
“Please hurry.”
And together—with Sentinels closing in and the purge countdown echoing—the group ran toward the only exit her father left behind…
Into the incineration shaft. Toward the Garden’s collapse.
64
The purge sirens screamed as Sassy, Jimmy, Benji, Wren, Levi, and Colton sprinted down the collapsing corridor. Every few seconds the lights flickered, the floor quaked, and sparks rained from overhead.
Ahead, lit by intermittent red pulses, a massive circular hatch towered before them.
INCINERATOR ACCESS 07 – DECOMMISSIONED
Yes. The exit her father described.
Wren gripped the hatch wheel and strained. “It’s stuck—”
Benji shoved her aside, braced himself, and twisted. The metal screamed—then gave. The door slammed open, revealing a downward spiral staircase into darkness.
Colton whistled. “Yeah. Definitely looks like a place we shouldn’t go.”
“Perfect,” Levi muttered.
Sassy turned to Jimmy, who leaned against the wall, trembling, eyes flickering between gold and brown.
“You with me?” she asked.
He nodded but didn’t speak. That scared her more.
Behind them, the Sentinels’ metallic footsteps thundered closer.
Benji grabbed Jimmy by the arm. “No time. MOVE.”
They descended. The hatch slammed shut behind them, Benji turning the wheel but not locking it.
“Why not seal it?” Wren yelled.
“Because if it locks,” Benji said, “we’re trapped with no other exit.”
No one argued.
The shaft was a hundred feet tall, narrow, and claustrophobic. Old scorch marks stained the walls. Cables hung like dead vines. But the purge lights pulsed along the path—a breadcrumb trail left by her father.
They followed it through a tunnel into a massive chamber.
Benji’s jaw dropped.
“This is an escape port,” he said while scanning the walls. “Some kinda old launch system.”
Sassy stared at the strange machinery, rusted rails, and transport crates.
“We can escape,” she said. “We just need power—”
CRASH. The hatch above burst inward. Sentinels poured in.
Benji raised his rifle.
Wren lifted her knife.
Colton swung his wrench.
Jimmy stepped in front of Sassy—Eyes gold. Voice shifting.
“I’ll hold them back.”
Sassy grabbed his wrist. “NO! Jimmy, you can’t—”
He turned toward her. For a heartbeat his brown eyes returned.
“Sass,” he said, “if they take me, I won’t be me.”
He leaned his forehead against hers.
“You made me human, Sass. If I have to fight them… I’ll fight as myself.”
She gripped his shirt. “Then don’t die. That’s all I’m asking.”
He smiled faintly—achingly real.
“No promises.”
And Jimmy lunged at the Sentinels. The battle for the last exit began.
