Chapter 23 · Loopbound - Chapter 23: Mom in the Mirror

The lock clicks. Someone's turning it from the hallway side.

Mara shoves me back. Her hand's cold. Older than it should be but the grip's still fast. "Behind the mirror," she says. Not a whisper anymore. An order.

"I'm not hiding while you—"

"You want the key or you want to watch him kill us both?" She's already moving. Pulls a silver chain off her neck. The pendant's small, hexagonal, scratched to hell. "You get one chance. He doesn't know I kept this."

The door's opening. Slow. Like whoever's on the other side wants us to hear it.

She presses the pendant into my palm. Metal's warm from her skin. "Restricted section. Third vault. Your father hid the anchor log before Nolan could scrub it." Her voice cracks. Not from fear. From years. "I've been waiting for you, kid."

I close my fist around it. "Mom—"

"Go."

The mirror behind her isn't a mirror. It's a sheet of polished obsidian, ward-glass, the kind they use for scrying locks. She touches the corner and it goes soft. Ripples.

I should stay. Should fight.