The room tilted, then lurched, a world spun off its axis. The taste of metal filled my mouth , blood, or bile, I couldn't tell and the hum in my ears was louder than the man's frantic curses. I felt Celeste's hand on my arm, pleading, slippery with sheets and tears, but I couldn't make out her words. All I could see were the tattoos on his forearm, black ink like a map of someone else's territory, and the way his eyes didn't look away from me when I hit him. That thought was like salt in an ...