I step between them. “Jace, stop. Talk to us, man.”
He finally looks at me and I feel like he’s seeing nothing. Not me, not Luca. Just obstacles.
“This is bigger than both of you, bigger than the Guild.”
“Jace... are you working with him now?” I ask.
Jace’s stare turns glacial. He turns away without a word. We watch as he disappears into the fog below. And for the first time since Isobel vanished, I feel something cold spread through my chest.
Not fear. Something worse.
The sinking suspicion that we’ve already lost him.
Luca stands frozen on the catwalk long after Jace disappears, fists clenching and releasing like he’s trying to hold on to something slipping through his fingers.
I’m the first one to break the silence. “We can’t just let him go alone.”
Luca turns towards me, eyes blazing. “Damn right we can’t.”
He pulls out his phone, scrolling with shaking hands.
“I’m calling Kellan.”
“Kellan? Luca?—”
“Do you have a better idea?” He hits call and puts the phone to his ear.
I listen to the waves crashing below while Luca paces.
“Kel? Yeah, we need you at the east port. Now. Bring Felix. And whatever the hell you have in that weapons locker you pretend you don’t keep under your bed.”
I hear Kellan’s muffled curse through the speaker.
“No time,” Luca snaps. “Chop chop.”
He hangs up and immediately hits another number.
“Felix. Port. Heavy weapons. Jace is doing something stupid.”
Felix says something I can’t make out, but Luca’s reply is clear.
“Then we’ll be stupid together.” He ends the call and shoves the phone into his pocket.
I exhale as adrenaline buzzes beneath my skin. “Luca…what if interrupting this—whatever it is—gets Jace killed? If this is something Gideon ordered him to do?—”
Luca spins on me so fast I don’t even have time to flinch. “He’s alreadyin danger. Look at him, look at what’sleftof him. He’s disappearing right in front of us.” He runs a hand through his hair, pacing again.
“If we let him go through with this? He won’t come back the same. If he comes back at all.”
His voice drops, softer but rough.
“We have to save him from himself.”
I swallow hard. “And if he doesn’t want to be saved?”
Luca’s jaw sets. “Then we drag his ass out anyway. I’m not losing him, either. Not like this.”
The fog rolls in thicker around the container yard, swallowing containers. The whole port feels eerie and hollow.
