Chapter 24 · The Spare

"You're not supposed to see this part."

The voice punched through the key and into Ivy's skull. Her knees buckled. Her fingers locked around the metal while seventeen chains overhead snapped dark.

"See what?" Ivy gasped. "Let go of me."

The key stayed fused to her palm.

The chains flashed back on, one after another, pulsing hard enough to make her teeth hurt. The core had stopped screaming. Now the curved wall behind it filled with a gray, shaking image.

A date appeared in the corner.

September fifteenth. Three years ago.

"Watch," the core said.

"I don't take orders from a rock."

The image sharpened.

The anchor room looked new then. No cracks split the stone. No dark liquid leaked from the broken chain above the core. A silver spell circle covered the floor, and a boy stood inside it, swaying on his feet.

Dark hair. Expensive coat. Sixteen, maybe.

Leon.

Not the Leon Ivy knew. This boy still had softness in his face.