Chapter 28 · Log Off Under Moonlight

I sat in the dirt twenty feet from the collapsed Moonwell and opened the streaming app.

My hands shook. Mom's blood was still wet on my knuckles. Leah was somewhere behind me breathing hard but I didn't look back. I looked at my phone. Two hundred and thirteen followers. That was it. That was my weapon.

I hit Go Live.

"Hey." My voice came out hoarse. "It's me. Ivy. IvyPlaysScared. I know it's—" I checked the time. Four thirty-seven AM. "I know it's weird. I'm not at my desk. I'm not playing anything."

The viewer count ticked up. Twelve. Nineteen. Thirty-one.

"I need to tell you something. My real name is Ivy Chen. I'm twenty-four. I live outside Seattle. And three hours ago my mom died trying to close a door that's been open for twenty years."

Sixty viewers now. The chat started moving.

what the hell is this

ivy you okay??

where are you

is this an ARG

"It's not a game." I tilted the camera. Showed the woods. The crushed hillside where the Moonwell used to breathe. "There's things out here. Under the ground. They make people into—into what I am."

Leah's voice came from behind me. "Ivy.