Chapter 18 · What the Bone Key Opens

The train rattled so hard I could feel it in my teeth. Kade sat across from me in the empty car, the bone key between us on the scratched plastic table. It looked older than dirt. White, carved with symbols I couldn't read, and Theron's name in letters that seemed to shift when I wasn't looking directly at them.

I hadn't said a word since we got on. Neither had he.

But I was done waiting.

"You're going to tell me what that thing does," I said. "And you're going to tell me why you didn't mention it before."

Kade's eyes flicked up. Still that faint gold glow around the edges, like the wolf was right there under his skin. "I didn't know it existed."

"Bullshit."

"Lena—"

"Don't." I leaned forward. "Don't do the 'I was protecting you' line again. The Well almost killed you. Theron's people are hunting us. And this key just happens to float up with his name on it? You don't get to keep me in the dark anymore."

He stared at me for a long moment. Then he picked up the key, turning it over in his palm. "The Well keeps records. Not just names.