Chapter 13 · His Voice, Her Mouth

Knox is inside her.

I know it the second Rowan's blade stops shaking. The tremor dies. Her hand goes steady. Her eyes lock on me like I'm a target, not a person.

"Rowan." I keep my voice low. My pulse is hammering so hard I can feel it in my teeth. "I know you're in there."

She doesn't blink. The blade tilts. Light runs down the edge, cold and sharp.

Jessa's hand closes around my wrist. "Nia. Back up."

"No." I pull free. My legs won't move backward. They won't. "He's using the link. He's in her head."

"Then she's not in control."

"She is." I have to believe that. I have to. "She got out before. She can do it again."

Rowan takes a step forward. Her boots scrape the floor. The sound echoes in the empty room, all concrete and steel beams and nowhere to run. We're in some kind of storage unit Jessa found, two blocks from the theater. No windows. One exit. I thought it was safe.

I was wrong.

"Bring the key back," Rowan says.

Except it's not her voice. Not entirely. There's a flatness to it, a cadence that doesn't fit. Knox.