Chapter 22 · Untitled Chapter

"Stop." Mina's hand slammed over the folder before I could open it. Her fingers were cold, and they still shook from whatever she'd seen in the tower's copper eye.

"You brought it here," I said. "Move your hand."

"Nope. Not happening." She pulled the file toward her. "You read that, and you don't get to pretend you didn't."

The label screamed LINEBREAKER INCIDENT / CLEARANCE RESTRICTED. My name was scrawled beneath it in red ink.

"What's inside?"

"A family lie."

"Then let me read the lie."

"Jace—"

I yanked the folder free. It struck the table hard enough to spill Mina's coffee, and the copper letters on the cover smeared across my vision.

The room tipped sideways.

"Shit." I caught the table. "Mina, don't—"

The safehouse vanished.

I was thirteen again, standing somewhere I had no business being. Burnt metal coated my tongue. Old blood stuck in my throat. My hands were smaller, shaking around a cold piece of metal that hummed against my palms.

A key.

No. A shard.

The same shard I'd pulled from the tower two days ago—only this one was whole.

Someone screamed behind me.

"Jace, don't!"

A girl backed toward the tower's core.