Chapter 19 · His Mentor's Mouth

Haleon's mouth stretched wider than any human jaw should go. The yellow eye inside didn't blink. It rolled in the dark of his throat like something looking for a way out.

Cole's hand was already hot. Fire crawled up his wrist before he even thought the words. His blood was still wet on the stone door, still dripping, and now his mentor's face was pushing through the crack like something being born wrong.

"Stop." The voice came from Haleon's mouth but it didn't come from Haleon. Too flat. No breath behind it. "Stop or I close this door with him still inside."

Cole froze. The fire in his palm sputtered and spat.

Haleon's face twitched. His eyes—his real eyes, the brown ones Cole remembered—rolled up into his skull. Only the yellow one stayed fixed. Staring. The stone around the door crack groaned and more of Haleon's body slid through. Shoulders. Chest. His robes were rotted through, stuck to skin that looked like it hadn't seen sun in years.

"You going to kill me, Asher?"

The nickname hit like a fist to the gut. No one had called him that in six years.