Chapter 48

[Elena's POV]

The vibration of the engine had become a part of my bones.

For hours, we had been one entity fusing with the machine.

By the time the sun began to bleed into the horizon, the adrenaline had faded, leaving behind an exhaustion so deep it felt like bruising.

Noah had veered off Route 9 somewhere near Peekskill—or at least, that's what the blurred green signs suggested. We cruised through a town that time seemed to have forgotten. A main street with cracked pavement, a gas station with dim yellow lights, and a silence that felt heavy.

Up ahead, a neon sign flickered with a dying buzz:...