Chapter 28 · What Came Back With Her

The rift didn't close. It tore wider, spitting out cold air that tasted like iron and rot. Evira hit the floor hard, the new mark on her ribs screaming hot enough to make her vision white out. Marcus was yelling something but the sound got swallowed by the roar of the thing opening up in the hallway.

Serah stepped through. Or the thing wearing Serah did.

She looked wrong. Her skin had that gray undertone corpses got after a few days, and her eyes were black all the way through, no whites left. But she moved smooth, too smooth, like her joints didn't work the way human joints were supposed to. She tilted her head at Evira and smiled, and that was worse than the eyes.

"Marcus." Her voice sounded layered, like two people talking at once. "You kept looking. That's sweet."

Marcus was on his feet, one hand braced against the wall. He looked like he'd been gutted. "Serah. Don't—"

"Don't what?" She took another step, and the rift pulsed behind her, sending cracks spidering through the floorboards. "Don't come home? Don't finish what we started?" Her gaze slid to Evira, and the smile widened. "Oh. You found her.