She tilted her head. “You’re not a normal empath anymore either, are you? I bet you haven’t been since March.”
Reece gritted his teeth. He wasn’t going to think about March right now. “It was a bad read.”
“And you walked away with nightmares you can’t shake,” Cora said. “Did you get any new powers too?”
Reece went cold. “No.”
But Cora grinned. “Liar.”
Reece stilled. “What did you say?”
“You’re lying.” She tapped her ear. “I can hear it now. It was the first new thing I could do, and how I knew there was no going back to who I was.”
No going back?No—no, she had to be wrong.
“So what can you do now, Reece?” she asked. “What are you hiding?”
Reece took deep breaths and didn’t answer.
“That’s all right,” she said patiently. “I’ll find out.”
He watched her swing her feet, knocking the side of the boat like blood wasn’t starting to trickle down Whitman’s cheeks only inches from her hands. “What do you want with Jamey?” he bit out.
“I could tear this city apart on my own,” she said thoughtfully. “But I’ve always been more of a team player.”
Chills erupted over Reece’s skin.
“Of course, in your current state, you’re worse than useless,” she went on. “But I feel certain your sister’s coming, and she’s going to help me evolve you too.”
“No,”Reece said, and stepped forward. “I can help you.”
As the words left him, he blinked.
That hadn’t been a lie.
Before he could think on it further, the door at the far end of the dry dock creaked.
“Reece?” Jamey’s voice echoed off the warehouse walls.
“Get out of here, Jamey!”
“Reece!” He heard relief and concern in his sister’s voice, heard her break into a run, light steps that echoed so quickly they could only be hers.
As she came up on their boats, Cora held up a hand. “That’s close enough.”
Jamey stopped. Her gaze flicked from Reece to Cora to Whitman.
“Briony St. James.” Cora’s once-sweet voice now twisted Jamey’s name into something chilling. “Just the girl I want to see.” She cocked her head again. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Really?” Jamey gestured at Whitman’s bloody face. “What’s wrong withme?”
Cora laughed. “You’re different. Everyone else I can feel, like hot little suns of emotions burning around me. You, though—you’re cold. Barely there. Like a ghost.”
“A ghost can’t throw your tiny ass clear through the wall of this dry dock,” Jamey said flatly. “Your murder spree stops now.”
Cora only smiled. “Stop this.” She put a hand on Whitman’s face—and Whitman screamed.
The pain and terror in Whitman’s voice drove like an ice pick into Reece’s heart. He was stumbling forward without thought. “Don’t don’tdon’t—”
