Chapter 27 · Don't Choose for Me

The blade was cold against my palm. Just one cut. That's all it would take.

"Layla, don't."

Kira's voice came from behind me, rough and out of breath like she'd just sprinted across town. Maybe she had. I didn't turn around. My eyes stayed locked on the rift, on the shadow that wore my mother's face, on the heartbeat I'd heard three seconds ago before it twisted into laughter.

"She's in there," I said. My voice sounded flat even to my own ears. "You heard it too."

"That wasn't her."

"You don't know that."

"I do." Footsteps. Closer. I could feel Kira moving toward me, could sense the heat of her even though she was still a few feet away. "Layla, listen to me—"

"No." I pressed the blade harder. Not enough to break skin yet. Just enough to feel the edge bite. "You've been lying this whole time. Why would I listen now?"

Silence. The kind that feels like someone just got punched in the gut.

The rift pulsed. It looked like a crack in reality itself, all jagged edges and wrong colors that didn't have names. Purple that wasn't purple. Black that somehow glowed.