Broken

The Halls

I woke up in white.

No windows. No doors. Just white walls that hummed.

And chains. On my wrists. On my ankles.

The black ink was at my jaw now.

“You’re awake.”

Vey. Sitting in a chair. No smile.

“Welcome to the Halls, Seer. This is where we keep things that break.”

“Where’s Kade? Where’s Tayo?”

“Safe,” Vey said. “For now. The boy is in holding. The traitor is being... questioned.”

My chest hurt. “What do you want?”

“I want you to fix what you did.” He stood. Walked to me. “You tore a hole in the contract. Deaths that were supposed to happen didn’t. Now the balance is off. People are dying randomly. Cars crashing. Buildings falling.”

He showed me a screen. News clips.

A bus crash. 12 dead.

A fire. 30 dead.

All at *3:17 AM*. The time I saved Tayo.

“This is your fault,” Vey said softly. “You saved one. So the book took twelve.”

I threw up.

“Here’s your choice,” Vey continued. “You go back. You let Tayo die at 3:17 AM. We reset the timeline. Or...”

He leaned in. “We take you apart and see why the book listened to you. And we use you to write a new world.”

The door opened.

Kade.

Beaten. One eye swollen shut. But walking.

Two Reapers had guns on him.

“Kade—”

“Don’t,” he cut me off. Looked at Vey. “Let her go. Take me instead.”

Vey laughed. “We already have you, traitor.”

Kade looked at me. Really looked.

And he mouthed two words: _Trust me._

Then he did something I didn’t expect.

He dropped to his knees.

“I submit,” he said. “I’ll be Collector again. I’ll bring you Seers. Just let her and the boy go.”

Vey studied him. “Why should I believe you?”

“Because I’m tired of running,” Kade said. “And because if you kill her, the book dies with her. And then you have nothing.”

It was a lie. I could see it in his eyes.

Vey couldn’t.

“Fine,” Vey said. “Take the boy to the release point. You stay here, Veyren. As insurance.”

They unchained me.

Tayo ran to me. We hugged, hard.

As we were led out, Kade grabbed my hand. One second.

He pressed something into my palm. Cold. Metal.

A key.

And he whispered: “The bone book. Page 1001. Read it.”

Then the doors shut between us.

Tayo and I were shoved into a white room. One chair. One table.

And the bone book, waiting.

Open to page 1001.

The title at the top:

*HOW TO KILL A HALL*