Chapter 17 · The Ring Comes Back First

The ring hits the floor before anything else.

Silver band. Scratched all to hell. It rolls twice and stops against Ivy's boot.

She doesn't move. Neither do I. The red door is open now, just a crack, and the air coming through smells like rust and burnt hair and something I can't name. Something that makes my walls itch.

Ivy drops to one knee. Her hand shakes when she picks it up.

"Eli," she says. Just that. Just his name.

I want to tell her to get back. I want to slam the door shut. I can feel the hinges, the frame, the lock that Vex just cracked open with Ivy's blood, but I can't make it move. The door is old. Older than me. Older than the mall. It doesn't answer when I push.

"Ivy." I try to keep my voice steady. "We don't know what else is coming through."

She doesn't look up. She's turning the ring over in her palm. There's an engraving on the inside. I can see it from the ceiling camera, barely. Initials. E.R.

"It's his," she says. "I gave it to him when he made sergeant."

Her voice is flat.