Chapter 24 · The Mark Under Moonlight

The red key's still burning in my palm when Darius grabs my wrist.

"Don't touch it," he says, but he's already too late. The light's crawling up my arm now, tracing lines under my skin like veins filling with fire. It doesn't hurt. That's the part that scares me.

"What the hell is this?" I try to shake him off but his grip tightens. His eyes are full gold now, no green left, and his breathing's gone shallow.

Kyle steps between us and the street where the lights are still out. "We need to move. Now. If Vivienne's people saw that—"

"They saw it." Darius cuts him off. He's staring at the key like it's a live grenade. "Everyone in a ten-mile radius saw it."

The light fades. Just sinks back into the metal, leaves the key looking like any old piece of junk except for the wolf head stamped into it. My arm stops glowing. I can still feel it though, humming under my skin, warm and wrong.

"What did my mom hide?" I ask. My voice comes out steadier than I feel. "And why do you look like you've seen it before?"

Darius doesn't answer.