Aris didn't slow down even as the smoke in the air had thinned, and the roar of the collapsing school had faded behind her.
She wouldn't be able to fight anymore enforcers. Not after the tonic-infused monster she'd just dealt with. She'd been lucky enough to survive that.
While she wished that she could stay and fight until her last breath, there was still more she had to do.
Aris was moving faster than ever through the Slums.
Then she pushed harder. She had to make it back to her home before the enforcers found the boy concealed there.
She vaulted over a collapsed cart, slid beneath a dangling sign, and cut through a narrow passage no enforcer would ever notice.
The passage between two buildings forced her to walk sideways, but this shortcut back would save her time.
She reached the opening on the other side and continued down a maze of shortcuts that would soon lead her back.
The Slums around her had changed tremendously.
It wasn't just the fires that now lit up the night sky. It was the silence between it.
Doors were shut. Windows dark. The usual murmurs, coughs, whispers, and low argument had completely vanished. People were hiding. They knew what this attack meant.
Thorne's boots had finally stepped into a place they weren't meant to come.
Aris took three sharp turns, then dropped into a stairwell half-swallowed by shadow. She moved on instinct, on muscle memory carved in over years of running, stealing, and surviving.
Whether she liked it or not, the Slums were her home. And she knew it better than any other place in the city.
Thoughts ran rampant in her head. Worries for the boy she had just met. They were after him, for some reason, though she wasn't sure why.
What about him was so important that Thorne needed him so badly? What experiments did he still need the poor child for?
The kid was in danger. If the enforcers found the boy before she got to him, he wouldn't last a minute. Not against this kind of raid.
She burst out onto the street that led toward the ruined hospital and didn't stop running.
The boy will be safe, she prayed.
He had to be.
*******
I stayed completely still, listening for any sounds up above. Something was wrong. Something in the very atoms of my metal told me there was danger nearby.
I had to wake the boy.
With every atom of my being, I tried my connection with him. As soon as I felt the tether between us snap in place, I screamed into his dreams.
WAKE UP!!!
The boy inhaled and sat up, his heart racing.
Oh good, I thought. The idiot lives. I was starting to worry I'd have to find another.
"What…where am I?" He asked, looking around the room.
"Do you not remember?" I asked, concerned.
"No…I do. Aris. That was her name, right? She took us to her place. I don't remember falling asleep."
I continued listening to the sounds coming from above. "Something is going on up there. If I had to guess, Thorne has sent soldiers down here in search for you."
The boy groaned. "Why me? Why can't he just let me go?"
"Not that I enjoy the attention," I said, "But I think Thorne now knows of my existence. They're after both you and me now."
The boy swung his legs off the bedroll, wincing as he stood. "Then we can't just sit here," he said. "If they're tearing the Slums apart because of me, I need to see what's happening."
"No," I said immediately. "You need to stay exactly where you are and not become a moving target."
He ignored me and started up the stairs.
At the very least, he had recovered from his Aether depletion. That was good.
"Fantastic," I muttered. "You're injured, half-conscious, and now rebellious. You're really hitting all the milestones for one of my worst wielders."
"I can walk," he snapped, though his knees betrayed him on the third step. He caught himself on the wall, breathing hard. "I won't just hide while people get hurt because of me."
Before I could respond with something appropriately scathing, a sound reached us from above.
Footsteps.
Fast. Uneven. One person. Injured?
I prepared myself for a fight as the plywood at the top of the stairs moved to the side.
Just above, lit by the moonlight, was Aris.
She froze when she saw us on the stairs, green eyes narrowing. "Good, you're still alive," she said.
The boy swallowed heavily. "What's going on up there?"
She seemed to be out of breath, as if she'd run across the entire city. "Thorne has sent enforcers into the slums. They're destroying everything in their path until…until they find you."
"Called it," I said with grim satisfaction.