Chapter 10 · Dad Wants a Deal

The thing in the moon gate hit the other side hard enough to crack the control room wall.

Dust rained over the panels. Jonah swore and grabbed the console before it could tip on him. Carson shoved me behind him, one hand clamped over the silver cut in his side.

Then Dad's voice came through the gate again.

"Mia. Mercer Square. Bring Jonah. No Vale guards. No Council rats. You have six minutes now."

I stared at the black glass hanging in the broken wall.

"You don't get to tell me where to go." My throat hurt. I hated that my voice shook anyway. "You were gone for ten years. You don't get to call up through a murder mirror and start giving orders."

The gate rippled.

For one second, I saw nothing but my own reflection. Blood on my cheek. Grease on my jacket. Carson's hand braced against my shoulder.

Then a man's face pushed through the dark.

Older. Thinner. Gray cutting through black hair at his temples.

My father.

Gideon Mercer looked exactly wrong.

He had the same crooked nose he broke falling off a fire escape when I was eight. Same sharp cheekbones.