Chapter 24 · Dad Left a Trap

The key bit Jonah before he even got it into the reader.

He hissed and jerked his hand back. A thin red line opened across his thumb.

"Okay. Cool. Great. Your creepy blood key has teeth now."

"It didn’t bite you," I said.

Jonah held up his thumb. "Mia. I am actively leaking. I think that counts."

The old iron key sat on the folding table between us, ugly and wet-looking under the station’s emergency lights. It had slid out from under the maintenance door five minutes ago. Maybe six. Time had gotten weird after Carson’s wrist started bleeding black.

My brother’s name was carved into the key.

Not Jonah Mercer. Not even J. Mercer.

Just Jonah.

Like whoever made it knew him well enough to skip the last name.

Behind the sealed maintenance door, something hit the metal again.

Bang.

The whole frame jumped.

Carson’s hand clamped around my elbow before I could move. His fingers were freezing. His face had gone too pale, which was saying something because he usually looked like he’d been personally insulted by sunlight.

"Don’t," he said.

"I wasn’t moving."

"You were thinking about it."

"That’s not illegal yet.