The North District smelled of salt and ozone. It was a place where the city met the sea. and the sea usually won. The buildings here were squat and heavy. held together by layers of peeling paint and rusted iron. It was the perfect place for a dead man and a marked girl to lose themselves.
Clara and Vane found refuge in an old lighthouse that hadn't seen a flame since the Great Blackout. The interior was a spiral of damp stone and rotting wood. At the top. the lantern room offered a panoramic view of the skyline. The Zenith Tower looked like a broken bone from here. jagged and pathetic.
Clara sat on a wooden crate. She was staring at her hand. The silver metal had cooled and hardened. turning her palm and fingers into a shimmering. inflexible claw. It didn't hurt anymore. but it felt heavy. It felt like a reminder of the energy she had touched.
"It is moving." she said.
Vane looked up from a pile of maps. "The silver?"
"No. Under the skin." Clara traced the edge of the metal. "It is like it is trying to find a vein. Julian's ledger wasn't just mercury. Vane. It was a parasite."
Vane walked over to her. He moved slower now. His back carried a slight stoop. and his hair had streaks of grey that hadn't been there a week ago. He took her hand in his. His touch was warm. human. and increasingly fragile.
"Julian didn't just want to rule the city." Vane said. His voice was gravelly. "He wanted to infect it. If that silver is moving. it means the broadcast didn't just fail. It changed its target."
A sudden. sharp whistle cut through the air.
Vane and Clara both froze. It was a low. two-tone sound coming from the base of the lighthouse.
"Jax." Clara whispered.
They descended the stairs. Vane leading with a heavy iron pipe he used as a cane. At the door stood Jax. He looked like a shadow of himself. A thick bandage was wrapped around his head. covering one eye. He was leaning heavily against the doorframe. clutching a small. black box.
"You guys are hard to find." Jax rasped. He stepped inside and slumped against the wall. "I had to use three different bounce-signals just to get a lock on your biometric ghosts."
"You should be in the clinic." Clara said. She helped him to a chair.
"The clinic is gone." Jax said. He opened the black box. Inside was a tablet with a cracked screen. "Elena Vance's old guards. the ones who didn't turn to ash. they are calling themselves the Purge. They are going door-to-door. They are looking for anyone who shows signs of the blue fire."
"And the fire is spreading?" Vane asked.
Jax nodded. He tapped the screen. showing a series of grainy videos. People in the market districts were collapsing. Their eyes weren't turning blue. but their skin was turning to silver. They were becoming statues. frozen in the middle of their daily lives.
"It is the parting gift." Jax said. "Julian didn't win. so he is turning the city into a graveyard. He called it the Stasis. Once the silver reaches the heart. the person becomes a living transmitter for his frequency."
"He is still alive." Clara said.
"I do not know." Jax replied. "But the Silver Ledger is still broadcasting. I tracked the signal. It is coming from the wreck of the Vesper yacht. The Obsidian. It is grounded on the reefs three miles north of here."
Vane looked at the window. The sea was churning. a storm brewing on the horizon. "He is using the water. The salt in the sea is a natural conductor. He is turning the ocean into a battery."
"There is more." Jax looked at Clara. His one good eye was wide with fear. "I found a file in the Zenith backup. Silas didn't just have two sons. Vane. He had a blueprint. The twins were meant to be two halves of a single key. One for the blood. one for the spirit. If Julian is alive. he needs you to complete the final sequence."
"He does not have me." Vane said.
"He has her." Jax pointed at Clara's silver hand. "The silver in her skin isn't a parasite. It is a compass. It is pulling her toward the Obsidian."
As if on cue. Clara's hand began to glow. A soft. rhythmic blue light pulsed beneath the metal. She gasped as her arm jerked toward the north. A sharp pain shot through her shoulder.
"He is calling the debt." Clara said. Her voice was tight with pain. "Vane. he is inside me."
Vane grabbed her. holding her steady. "We have to cut it out."
"No time." Jax said. He stood up. swaying. "The Purge is right behind me. They have a tracker on my deck. We have ten minutes before this lighthouse is surrounded."
"Then we go to the sea." Vane said.
They gathered what little they had. Vane grabbed a long. heavy coat to hide his aging frame. Clara wrapped her silver hand in thick leather. hiding the glow. They left the lighthouse and headed for the docks.
The air was getting colder. The rain started to fall. but it didn't feel like water. It felt heavy. like liquid lead.
They reached a small. rusted fishing boat. It was the Mara. an old vessel that Clara had used for scavenging runs in the past. She jumped onto the deck and started the engine. It sputtered and roared. coughing out clouds of black smoke.
"Where are we going?" Jax asked.
"To the wreck." Clara said. Her eyes were hard. The silver was moving faster now. creeping up her forearm toward her elbow. "If Julian wants the other half of the key. I am going to give it to him. Edge-first."
They pulled away from the dock just as the first grey tactical vehicles appeared at the lighthouse. Men in heavy armor stepped out. Their visors reflected the moonlight. They didn't fire. They just watched the boat disappear into the fog.
Out on the open water. the waves were massive. The Mara tossed and turned. the hull groaning with every impact.
"Look." Vane pointed ahead.
Through the mist. the Obsidian appeared. It was a massive. sleek vessel. now broken in half across a jagged reef. It looked like a dead whale. The white hull was covered in a network of blue veins. The water around the ship was boiling. a froth of silver and blue.
"Clara. stop the boat." Vane said.
"I cannot." Clara gripped the wheel. Her silver hand was fused to the wood. "The boat is following the signal. I am not driving anymore."
The Mara accelerated. heading straight for the jagged rocks.
"Jump!" Vane shouted.
He grabbed Jax and threw him into the churning water. Then he turned to Clara. He reached for her hand. but the silver energy lashed out. a bolt of blue fire hitting him in the chest.
Vane was thrown back against the mast. He gasped. his heart skipping a beat. The mortality was a curse now. He couldn't take the hits like he used to.
"Go!" Clara screamed. She was being pulled toward the bow. "Vane. get out of here!"
"No!"
Vane scrambled to his feet. He saw a silhouette standing on the deck of the Obsidian. It was Julian. but he was changed. He was missing an arm. replaced by a limb of pure. shimmering mercury. Half his face was a mask of silver.
"The circle must be closed!" Julian's voice boomed over the sound of the storm.
The Mara slammed into the side of the yacht. The impact threw Clara forward. She flew through the air and landed on the slick. silver deck of the Obsidian.
Julian stepped forward. He looked down at her. He didn't look angry. He looked relieved.
"Welcome home. sister." Julian said. He reached out his mercury hand. "The father is dead. The son is broken. But the legacy is eternal."
Vane pulled himself onto the wreck. blood dripping from his forehead. He saw Julian standing over Clara.
"Julian!" Vane shouted.
Julian turned. He smiled. "Brother. You look so old. Do you want to be young again? Do you want the gold back in your eyes?"
"I want you in the ground."
Vane didn't have a knife. He didn't have a gun. He had the weight of two hundred years and the rage of a man who had finally found something worth dying for.
He lunged at his twin.
The two brothers collided on the deck of the dying ship. A clash of flesh and silver. of past and future.
In the water below. Jax watched the light show. He saw the blue fire illuminate the clouds. He saw the shadow of the brothers locked in a struggle.
"This isn't a story." Jax whispered to himself. wiping the salt from his eyes. "This is an ending."
But he was wrong. The deck buckled under their weight. Julian laughed as he caught Vane's throat with his mercury hand. The silver liquid began to seep into Vane's skin. dulling his gold eyes further. Clara struggled to her feet. the leather wrapping on her hand burning away. She didn't feel like a victim anymore. She felt like a detonator.
She lunged between them. grabbing Julian's mercury wrist. The connection was like a lightning strike. The silver in her veins met the silver in his. The boat began to scream as the metal structure groaned. Julian's eyes wide as he realized she wasn't just a key. She was the lock. and she was closing.