A figure clambered through the gap in the wall.

  “Ba!” Maia’s voice cracked with terror as she called for her father.

  Maia saw the spear was tethered by a shimmering chain of ephemeral light to the newcomer’s hand. This wasn’t her father’s power. The chain rippled as the stranger yanked on it, and the spear recoiled, flying back to their grasp. The faint blue glow illuminated their face for just a moment—it was the woman from earlier. She’s a scrav!

  The Hollow shifted, and the soul-tugging pull on Maia grew stronger. She cried out, crumpling to her knees, her lifeforce being drawn faster now. The air around the creature warped and pulsed, a dissonant vibration radiating outward. A sound clawed at Maia’s ears, like a thousand screams trapped inside a bell jar, an unnatural pitch humans weren’t meant to hear.

  The woman darted forward, unfazed by the pulsing.

  Her spear glowed brighter, then split into two shorter weapons, each connected by glowing chains. She flung both at the Hollow with precision. One missed, clattering against the far wall, but the second embedded itself in the creature’s shoulder. The Hollow let out another deafening screech as the woman yanked on the chain, pulling it toward her with terrifying strength.

  “Stay down!” the woman barked at Maia.

  The Hollow surged forward, a writhing mass of darkness that didn’t move—it poured. Its form rippled like ink spilled in water, lashing out in tendrils.

  The woman met the charge head-on, twin blades already snapping into her hands, their chains coiling and twisting like living things. She sidestepped the first strike, the shadow tendril smashing into the ground where she’d been standing, sending chunks of stone spraying into the air. She slashed upward, severing the tendril with a flare of blue light, the severed piece evaporating with a hiss.

  The Hollow shifted again, its form distorting into something vaguely human, a shadowed figure with too-long limbs and a face that flickered between expressions. Rage to joy to sadness and everything in between.

  “Run!” the woman barked over her shoulder. It took Maia a moment to realise she was shouting at her.

  Maia stumbled back, watching as the Hollow lashed out again, three tendrils at once. The scrav twisted and ducked. One tendril caught her shoulder, spinning her around, but she used the momentum to whip one of her blades forward, the chain snapping tight as it impaled the creature in its center mass.

  The Hollow let out another guttural screech that rattled Maia’s teeth.

  The scrav yanked hard, pulling the blade free and sending the creature stumbling. She hurled the second blade without missing a beat, the chain whistling through the air before the blade buried itself in the Hollow’s shifting form.

  She didn’t stop moving, closing the gap in two swift strides, gripping both chains tight, and yanking the creature toward her.

  The Hollow surged against the pull, its body convulsing, more tendrils sprouting and thrashing wildly. One caught the scrav in the ribs, doubling her over, but she held firm on the chains. She took another step forward. The chains glowing brighter as she pulled harder, dragging the creature toward her like an anchor hauling a shipwreck.

  Maia couldn’t breathe.

  She felt like the air was being pulled right out her lungs.

  The creature shifted again, its form narrowing, twisting, and snapping back into something more horrifying, like a mass of writhing worms. Two burning pits where eyes should be turned toward her, and she swore it grinned.

  “Shit!” Maia stumbled away from it, her overlays flashing warnings in her vision.

  The Hollow jerked toward her, ripping free of the scrav’s chains with a sound like shattering glass. It moved fast, its dark tendrils stretching impossibly far towards Maia. She raised her hands instinctively, but before the strike landed, the scrav slammed into the creature from the side, her blades plunging into its form and driving it off course.

  The creature turned its attention back to the woman, and the scrav met it with a spin of her chains, the blades slicing through the air in glowing arcs.

  The creature was relentless. Every time it lost a tendril, another grew back. Every time it faltered, it surged forward with more force. The scrav was fast—faster than Maia thought possible—but the Hollow was faster still. It lunged, catching her off guard, slamming her into a rusted beam with a sickening crunch.

  “NO!” Maia screamed, her voice raw.

  The scrav pushed herself off the beam, blood dripping from her lip, and hurled one of her blades again, the chain following in a jagged arc. It struck the creature in its core, the blue light flaring brighter than before, the Hollow’s form shuddering as if it were coming apart.

  “Now would be a great time to help!” the scrav snapped at Maia.

  Maia didn’t think. She grabbed the other chain where it dangled on the ground, her scrav-powers sparking to life as her hand closed around it. The chain pulsed green for a moment, the color shifting to match the glow of the blade still embedded in the Hollow. With all her strength, she yanked the chain, pulling the creature toward her.

  “Drag it onto the platform!” the scrav commanded.

  Maia edged for the other end of the room. The Hollow screeched—a piercing, bone-rattling sound that nearly forced her to let go—but she held firm, her feet digging into the ground.

  The light around the Fatebond Anchor flared brighter, the vortex of energy pulsing in strange, erratic patterns. It seemed alive, almost hungry, and Maia could feel the raw power of it tugging at her scrav-powers, urging her to drag the Hollow closer.

  With a cry, Maia gave another heave on the chain, her strength feeling amplified as the Fatebond Anchor’s light flared. The Hollow's tendrils clawed at the ground, leaving blackened trails across the concrete, but with the growing light of the Anchor, the tendrils were shrinking back.

  The scrav lashed out with her second chain, jumping forward snapping it around the creature’s neck-like appendage and pulling hard.

  “Now, together!” the scrav shouted.

  Maia gritted her teeth and yanked with everything she had. The Hollow’s shadowy form buckled. They dragged it onto the platform and the air around the Fatebond Anchor rippled. Distorting like heat waves as the vortex of light surged upward, spiraling in a dazzling display of energy.

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  The Hollow screeched again, its form breaking apart, the edges of its shadowy mass fraying like smoke caught in a gale. It can began to shift and writhe, and began growing in size.

  “It’s feeding on the Anchor’s energy!” Maia gasped, the realization hitting her like a hammer.

  “No,” the scrav shouted back, her voice taut with effort, “its breaking apart. Hold!”

  The Hollow twisted violently, its tendrils thrashing as if trying to escape. The light grew brighter, the spiraling energy tightening around the creature like a noose.

  Maia could feel the power of it pressing against her skin, burning her eyes with an intensity that made her want to look away—but she couldn’t. The Hollow’s form splintered further, fragments of its shadow breaking off and dissolving into the vortex.

  “MAIA!” She heard her father’s voice roaring. He was close but she couldn’t take her eyes off the creature’s rippling form.

  “Hold it!” the scrav yelled, her voice barely audible over the rising roar of the vortex.

  Maia dug her heels in, her grip on the chain ironclad. The Hollow gave one final, ear-splitting screech, its form collapsing in on itself as it was dragged into the heart of the vortex. The light flared blindingly bright, forcing Maia to shut her eyes against the searing glow.

  And then… silence.

  Maia opened her eyes, her breath ragged. The vortex was gone, the platform’s light had returned to the light swirl of light it had been before the battle. The chains in her hands started to feel lighter, and she let them drop, her fingers trembling as she stepped back. The chains shattered like shards of glass, the fragments dissolving into nothing.

  The scrav stood nearby, her blades had vanished. She looked at Maia, her expression unreadable.

  Matthias was beside Maia in an instant, his hands gripping her shoulders tightly as he scanned her for injuries. His eyes were wild, darting over her. “Are you hurt?” he demanded, his voice rough, almost frantic.

  “What the hell was that thing?” Maia breathed, her voice shaking.

  “Something that should never have existed,” the woman replied flatly, her gaze still fixed on the silent platform. She folded her arms, “a Hollow. And you’re lucky it didn’t eat you alive.”

  Matthias spun to face her, his stance shifting instantly into one of aggression. “Stay back,” he barked, stepping between Maia and the stranger. His hand moved toward the hilt of his blade, the same blade that had felled countless enemies in the wastes. “I don’t know who you think you are, but if you come any closer—”

  “Relax,” the woman said, raising her hands in mock surrender. Her expression was unreadable, but a smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. “You’re welcome, by the way. Your daughter would’ve been nothing but a hollowed-out husk if I hadn’t stepped in.”

  Matthias’s grip on his weapon tightened. “I recognize you. You’re one those Verdant scravs from Red Market.” His voice dripped with distrust, his posture rigid as if bracing for an attack.

  “So what if I am?” she said coolly, taking a step closer despite his warning. “You’re a scrav yourself. Shouldn’t we be on the same side, brother?”

  “You’re no kin of mine,” Matthias spat, his voice low and venomous. “And you’re not welcome anywhere near Maia.”

  The woman rolled her eyes, her demeanor flippant. “You really know how to show gratitude, don’t you? I save your kid’s life, and this is the thanks I get?” She turned her sharp gaze to Maia, ignoring Matthias entirely. “A little ungrateful, this one. The name’s Kallira Saren.”

  “Don’t care what your name is. You keep following us, and I’ll kill you,” Matthias stepped forward, his tone deadly. “Do you understand me? I don’t care what you’ve done or who you are. You come near Maia again, and you’re done.”

  Kallira didn’t flinch, didn’t even blink. Instead, she laughed softly, the sound dry and humorless. “You think I want anything to do with you or your little road trip? Please. I had business here, that’s all.” She gestured to the platform behind them. “You just happened to stumble into the middle of it. Consider this encounter a coincidence.”

  “Coincidence?” Matthias’s glare hardened, his hand still resting on his blade.

  “This is a Fatebond Anchor, brother,” she pointed at the platform, “in case you didn’t notice. It’s far more important than you or your daughter. I’d been searching for it for years.”

  “And you just happen to stumble upon it, the same day we arrived?” Matthias scoffed.

  Kallira shrugged, her smirk returning. “Whatever you say, hero.” She turned and began walking away.

  Maia stared after her, her stomach twisting. Matthias turned to her, his face ashen. “We’re leaving now.”

  “But she saved my life,” Maia said quietly.

  “And she’s exactly the kind of danger I’ve been trying to keep you away from,” Matthias snapped. “You have no idea what someone like her is capable of. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

  They made their way swiftly back to the Dame.

  “Back off!” Matthias barked at a group of scavengers who had wandered too close, their curiosity getting the better of them. They’d all heard the monstrous noises from the storage building. His hand hovered near the hilt of his blade. “Anyone steps near us, and they’ll regret it.”

  The scavengers backed off quickly, muttering amongst themselves. The tension in the air was palpable as Matthias and Maia worked to pack their supplies back into the truck.

  “Get in, Maia,” Matthias ordered. Maia climbed into the cab, her mind still racing.

  As Matthias threw the last of their things into the Dame’s storage compartment, Maia glanced out of the window. There she was, Kallira was standing at one of the campfires, the faint glow of the fires and the cracked sky outlining her form. The scrav woman caught Maia’s gaze and raised a hand in a casual wave, Maia could see her smirking.

  The truck roared to life, its massive wheels grinding against the cracked tarmac as Matthias gunned it out of Cassix Station. The road was dark and Matthias flicked on the highbeams, lighting up the wasteland ahead of them. He didn’t usually like driving at night, claiming that the lights attracted scuttlers and the like.

  Maia stared out the window, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, watching as insects would light up then zip past. She couldn’t hold it in anymore.

  “You didn’t even let me thank her,” Maia snapped.

  “Thank her?” Matthias’s hands gripped the wheel tighter, his knuckles pale. “Thank her for what? Dragging you into that mess? You could have died!”

  “She saved my life!” Maia shot back, turning to face him. “That thing came at me, it had been following me! And she stopped it.”

  “Verdant scravs aren’t like us, Maia. You don’t know what she wants. What she’s capable of. Hells, for all we know, her Fatebond could be destroy all Archon scravs.”

  “You don’t know either,” Maia countered, her voice rising. “You didn’t see her fight that thing. She could’ve left me, but she didn’t. And she knew about the Fatebond Anchor. She knew what it was, which is a hell of a lot more than you could tell me.”

  “And that’s supposed to make her trustworthy?”

  “More trustworthy than a creature that tried to eat me!” Maia’s words came out sharper than she intended, but she didn’t care. “She could help us, Ba. Don’t you think it’s worth considering?”

  “No,” he said firmly.

  “You’re not the one that thing nearly killed. And you’re not the one who keeps getting told half-truths instead of answers. You’re so afraid of everything that you won’t even let me figure things out for myself.”

  “I’m trying to protect you,” Matthias snapped.

  And there it was. She could tell from the frustration in his voice. He didn’t care about her. He only cared about his Fatebond. The one that he refused to tell her about. He needed to protect her. But not because he wanted to. She felt tears welling in her eyes, but she turned her gaze out the window, swallowing whatever comeback was forming.

  The silence that followed was heavy, the tension between them thick enough to choke on. Matthias’s grip on the wheel loosened slightly, but his face remained hard, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

  “She’s not to be trusted, Maia,” he said after a long stretched out moment. “End of discussion.”

  Maia let out a frustrated breath and turned back to the window. Fists clenched in her lap, but she kept her mouth shut.