Page 116 of Burn

At first I don’t get it. That’s probably because hearing him call me by my sister’s name is a pang I wasn’t expecting. As we take the next landing, turning to head up another flight, I can’t help but gasp out, “Hallie. My name is Hallie.”

Yup. I was right. The lack of any reaction on his part tells me that Maverick was just waiting for me to come to my senses. Oh, well.

“Wait… twin? What do you mean, twin?”

“You met her,” Delilah answers. “I spoke to her the other day when I was granted a morning leave. She said you guys were coming and I should keep an eye out for you.”

“Veronica runs a collection of rogues,” explains Maverick. “I met her on my travels over the summer, and I knew she kept her base around the Pulaski Skyway. It wasn’t luck that we found her. I was looking for her.”

Of course he was. “But why?”

“Because Delilah is her twin sister.”

“I also worked with Lindsay at the NRI,” Delilah adds. “She was my best friend. I’m doing this for her.”

“Lindsay,” pipes up Chase. “Who’s Lindsay?”

“Maverick’s wife,” I tell him. “She died in the Turning.”

Chase blinks.

I pat his arm. I know, baby. It’s a lot.

Delilah scowls as she keeps an easy lead on us. “Some of us were lucky enough to get the first trial of PP-55. Lindsay… she hated shots. She didn’t get it, and by the time she did… she got the bad dose.”

“It’s my fault,” begins Maverick.

Delilah shakes her head. “No. It’s Project Phoenix’s fault. You know that, Mav. That’s why I told you, if you ever come after them, I’ll help take them down from the inside.” She pauses for amoment, and even with the sunglasses on, there’s no hiding the hurt in her face. That… that’s an expression. “I lost Jules because of them. Fuck ‘em. It’s time I finally quit, and I’m taking you guys with me.”

I don’t understand half of what’s going on here. Honestly? I don’t care. Somehow, this Delilah has led us through the stairs, shoving open a door that has brought us onto a side street.

Adarkside street.

No wonder none of the agents have bothered to come after us so far. We’re two survivors, an almost-lurker, and whatever Delilah is without a single match or a way to strike a flame. We’ll be easy pickings for lurkers—and the burnt caramel smell coming from every direction tells us that they’reeverywhere.

We try. I can’t say that we don’t. The four of us run, but we only make it two blocks away from the NRI before we run into our first horde of lurkers plodding toward us, their long, ragged cloaks dragging against the asphalt.

Somehow I’ve gotten disconnected from Chase. Staring at the approaching lurkers, knowing it won’t do any good, I take his hand in mine and give it a squeeze. I spare a look over my shoulder at Maverick, at Delilah, and I nod.

The lurkers are closing in. I’m sure the NRI won’t be far behind them.

And you know what?

Just then I swear the spirit of Xandra is hovering somewhere nearby. A whisper on the breeze causes my hair to whip around me and I can almost hear her, like always?—

“Got a light?”

And I grin.