The sound that tore me from sleep was so heinous, so terrifying, that I awoke with a pounding heart and a burst of sweat. It was screeching, ear-piercing torture, so excruciating I was certain my ears were bleeding and my eyes would soon follow. A low groan sounded beneath it, heavy and hollow, rattling the floor under me and making my whole body shake.

I bolted upright.

“Lokos!” I shrieked, panic seizing me by the throat and almost rendering me mute.

He was already on his feet, clothed and ready for battle. His feet were spread apart enough to maximize balance, and his arms were raised slightly with fists already curled. A sharp, jagged blade was held in one hand, a long swooping one in the other.

“What happened?” I cried. “What’s going on?”

“The Novai are here,” he said through unmoving lips.

Every organ inside my body seemed to drop, pummeling toward my feet and leaving me feeling sick and empty. I scrambled for my clothes, yanking them on with no care for neatness or composure, trying to hold back the powerful urge to vomit.

“It’s still night!” I wailed, darting a glance to one of the small, dusty windows.

“It is just before daybreak,” Lokos contradicted tightly. “We fell asleep.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” I stumbled up to a shaky stand, reaching for the nearby counter for support. My legs refused to hold me properly, and I wobbled. The floor was trembling too, but I was certain it was from an outside force rather than me. The screech hadn’t ceased; rather, it grew louder and louder until I became accustomed to it and heard a sharp buzzing instead.

Lokos glanced at me over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the only door the cabin had. “We need to get you back to the bunker.”

I gaped at him and exclaimed, “What? How? We have to stay here!”

He didn’t look at me as he said incredulously, “Do you feel the house shaking? It could collapse any minute. We cannot stay here.”

“There’s no way we can safely take that boat back to the city to get to the bunker!” I protested. “And I’m sure they closed everything off!”

He turned toward me, and there was a mask of horror on his otherwise handsome face.

“What?” I asked, dread blossoming all over again.

“The gates are closed,” he said in disbelief. “We are unable to get in.”

The screeching had become so loud that I had to watch his lips form the words in order to understand him. When I realized what he was saying, the dread exploded into shards of hopelessness, and I lost all sensibility.

“We need to go,” I said, ripping the drawer in the counter open in search of a weapon. “We need to go now. We can still get there in time for them to let us in before the Novai move in, and you can come down in the bunker—”

“Celine.”

His voice was calm, frighteningly calm, and I somehow managed to hear it over the wailing screech and booming groan outside. I didn’t want to turn around because I would see a truth on his face I didn’t want to accept, so I continued fishing through the drawer for anything I could use to protect myself.

He crossed the room to me, grabbing my hands out of the drawer and turning me to face him. Even after our night together, he still smelled of woods and snow, and I couldn’t help but breathe him in deeply even in the midst of my panic. His index finger curled under my chin and lifted my face to his, forcing me to see him.

“It is impossible to get back to the bunker,” he said seriously. “And, even if it were possible, I could not join you.”

“So, what do we do?” I asked, my voice quaking as tears started billowing in my eyes.

He leaned in and lowered his lips to mine in a gentle, loving kiss. I wanted to drown myself in him, to envelope myself in his strength and feel safe in his touch, but the incessant screeching of the descending Novai kept my gut knotted and my breath shallow. I blinked, sending two tears rolling down my cheeks that slipped between our mouths and coated my tongue with saltiness.

Lokos pulled back, stared me deep in the eyes, and said, “We fight.”

For some reason, his answer soothed me. It was an answer—a vague one, yes, but an answer, and an answer gave me something to cling to for hope. And to hear him say “we” rather than “I” was like receiving an injection of confidence. We would fight. I would be beside him as we battled the Novai. I would know his fate one way or the other instead of sitting in the dank depths of the soil with fear gripping my heart, and I would have the chance to make sure we both walked away after it was over.

I nodded, swallowing back the lump in my throat and squaring my shoulders. “Okay.”

He closed the drawer with an effortless push and released me. “Do not bother trying to find something here to use,” he said as he started feeling around his weapon-laden belt. “The Novai will be armed well beyond anything in this house.”

His hand closed around a knife as long as my forearm, and he tugged it free. I reached for it as he extended it to me, gaping at its broad blade and sharp, pointed tip.

“Do not touch the end,” he said, jerking his head toward the tip I was ogling. “If it pierces you, it will magnetize the iron in your blood.”

I whipped my head up to look at him. “What? What does that mean?”

“It means you will die.”

The response was simple, but it was enough for me to turn the blade away from my body gingerly. “Just from one poke?”

“That is all it takes.” He had shoved his jagged dagger back into his belt and now held only his swooping sword. “We must go.”

As if on cue, the entire house rocked violently, almost throwing me off my feet. I grabbed for the counter, but, before I could reach it, Lokos snatched my hand and pulled me to the door.

“Hold on!” he shouted over the bellowing noise.

His arm wrapped around my waist, and we jumped.