(Mirabel's POV)
The city's heartbeat stopped.
Not metaphorically.
Actually stopped.
For three terrifying seconds.
Every light froze.
Every bell fell silent.
Every person in every street looked toward the horizon.
Toward the figure standing beyond the fracture.
Toward the man who had come to discuss Tomorrow's ending.
Then—
The heartbeat returned.
Violently.
Like a gasp.
Like panic.
Like a city remembering how to be afraid.
The Last Reader smiled.
Not cruelly.
Not triumphantly.
Politely.
As though he'd merely commented on the weather.
"I see the city still reacts dramatically."
Memory looked exhausted.
"You tried to end it."
The Last Reader considered that.
Then nodded.
"Yes."
A pause.
"To be fair, it was being very symbolic."
The city dimmed in outrage.
Severa
