Chapter 22 · The Girl in the Moonwell

Leah's on the floor when I kick the door in.

Not passed out. Not dead yet. Just bleeding slow from her side, one hand pressed there like she's holding her guts in. The other hand's got her phone. She's scrolling something. Doesn't even look up.

"Ivy." She says it flat. "Took you long enough."

I can smell the blood from here. It's wrong. Too sweet. Too much like mine.

"Cole said you had a key." I stay in the doorway. "The Moonwell facility. He said you'd have access."

Leah laughs. It comes out wet. "Of course he did."

"Leah—"

"You know what's funny?" She tilts her phone so I can see. It's surveillance feeds. Eight little boxes. My apartment's one of them. Dennis's shop is another. Cole's truck. "I've been watching you for six months. Every coffee run. Every late stream. I knew your reset password before you did."

I take a step in. The room's tiny. Some kind of storage unit converted into a safe house. Cot in the corner. Protein bar wrappers everywhere. A wall of monitors, half of them dead now.

"Where's the key."

"You don't want it." Leah shifts and her face goes white. "Trust me."