The motel room exploded into chaos.
Her mother threw herself at Micah again, her hands clawing at his chest, her body thrashing with a fury Amara had never seen in her before. She wasn't graceful, wasn't trained, but she was desperate and desperation had always made her strong.
Micah didn't flinch. His body absorbed her blows as though she were striking stone. He caught her wrists easily, his long fingers wrapping around them like manacles.
"Do you still believe you can keep her from me?" he asked, his voice calm, mocking.
Her mother spat in his face. "I'll die before I let you touch her."
Micah's smile sharpened. "Then you've learned nothing."
He flung her across the room. She crashed into the dresser, wood splintering beneath the impact. Amara screamed, surging forward, but the tether yanked her back down, crushing her to her knees.
Her mother dragged herself up, her arm bent at an unnatural angle, but she didn't stop. She stumbled forward again, grabbing the broken lamp from the floor and smashing it across Micah's shoulder. Sparks spat into the dark.
For the first time, Micah's head jerked to the side. The smallest pause. A moment of proof that he could feel.
"Mom!" Amara cried.
"Run, Amara!" her mother shouted back, her voice ragged. "Now!"
But Amara couldn't move. Her body was a warzone her mind screaming to flee, her chest burning with that tether, pulling her closer instead of farther. Micah's eyes locked on hers, and she froze under their weight.
"You see?" he said softly, ignoring the blood trickling from his temple. "Even now, she cannot run. She feels me. She knows me."
Amara clutched her chest, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Stop… please, stop!"
Her mother lunged again, this time jamming the broken lamp's jagged edge into Micah's side. He staggered, a hiss of pain escaping his lips. The sound electrified the room it was real. He could bleed. He could be hurt.
Her mother grabbed Amara's wrist, yanking her toward the door. "Go, go, go!"
They crashed through the doorway into the night air, rain pelting their skin like knives. Amara stumbled barefoot across the cracked asphalt, her mother dragging her toward the car. Her chest felt like it was being ripped open, the tether screaming in protest with every step she took away from Micah.
Behind them, the motel door slammed open. His silhouette filled the frame, taller than the shadows around him, eyes burning like embers in the storm.
"Amara," he called, and the sound of her name was almost enough to drag her to her knees.
"Don't listen!" her mother shrieked, shoving her toward the passenger seat. "Get in!"
Amara collapsed inside, clutching her chest as her mother slid behind the wheel. The engine coughed, stalled once, twice before finally roaring to life.
"Go, go!" Amara cried, her nails digging into the seat.
Her mother slammed the gas. Tires screamed as they tore out of the parking lot, rain streaking the windshield. The mirror caught Micah's figure still standing outside the motel, watching them vanish into the storm.
But even miles down the road, Amara could still feel him. The tether hummed, stretching impossibly across the distance, a constant reminder that she hadn't escaped. Not really.
Her mother's hands shook against the steering wheel. Blood soaked her sleeve where the broken lamp had cut her, and her face was ashen with pain.
Amara turned toward her, chest heaving. "Mom… we hurt him. I saw it. He's not invincible."
Her mother's jaw tightened. "He's stronger than anything we've ever faced. Hurting him isn't the same as stopping him. You have to understand that."
Amara swallowed hard, but the words felt hollow in her mouth. Because deep down, she already knew the truth. The tether didn't care how far they drove, how much they fought. It only grew tighter. Stronger.
She whispered the thought she'd been afraid to speak aloud: "What if I don't want to fight him?"
Her mother's eyes flicked toward her, wide with horror.
And in that silence, Amara realized something that chilled her to the bone.
Her mother was fighting to save her.
But a part of her the part that burned every time she heard his voice wasn't sure she wanted to be saved.