Chapter 14 · The Other Jace

"You want the rest of your name?" Gideon's voice came from above me. "Come get it."

I took the stairs two at a time. My ribs screamed. Blood from my cut palm streaked the railing, tacky and dark beneath my fingers.

The top floor had one room and no door. Beyond the archway, the air pressed against my skin. The lines I'd been seeing all week covered the walls, thicker here, knotted together, pulsing behind my eyes.

Gideon stood to the left.

Mina knelt in front of him with her hands zip-tied behind her back. A knife rested against her throat. It wasn't cutting. It didn't need to.

"You look like shit," she said.

"You look busy."

"He's being dramatic," she added. "The knife's for show."

Gideon smiled. "It's for incentive. Look across the room, Jace."

I looked.

A man stood in the center of the chamber. Same height. Same build. Same face.

Not a mirror image. A better version. His shoulders were straight. His eyes were clear. He wore my face like he'd never had to earn it.

"Who the hell is that?"

"That's you," Gideon said. "The part that stayed behind when the tower closed. You were split.