End of the World, Start of My Empire novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: Three More

The cuff closed on Hallie's left forearm with a sound.

She did not scream.

She went white and locked her teeth.

She held her arm out while the grey metal shrank and sealed itself against her skin.

Then it lit a soft green, and she let out a shaky laugh.

"It's warm," she said. "It's, Nolan, it's like a hand."

"Does it hurt?"

"Only a little. Like a stitch pulling." She turned her wrist and watched the light slide.

"It's reading me. I can feel it listening to my pulse."

On the second pedestal the cuff gave a faint, impatient click.

Bria had slept through all of it with her face in the blanket.

Now she sat up, rubbed her eyes, saw Hallie's arm, and said a word I will not write down.

"Don't," Hallie said. "Don't you dare."

The second cuff lifted off its stone by itself.

It drifted across the floor in the pale air, and Bria held very still.

"Okay," she said. "Okay, that's not fair. That's cheating."

It settled onto her wrist.

It was amber, with a flicker running through it.

She stared at it.

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