Chapter 21 · The Gate's Daughter

Micah looked straight at me from inside Elias's old memory, wearing the face of an eight-year-old boy.

His eyes weren't eight.

They were my brother's eyes now. Hollow. Green light crawling under his skin.

"Nora," he said, and the whole memory buckled around his voice. "Get out. Right now."

Young Elias was still running down the service tunnel ahead of us, sneakers slapping wet concrete. He was crying so hard he could barely breathe. Behind him, Vera's voice rang out through the dark.

"Elias! Stop running!"

The sound hit me like a fist.

I spun toward Micah. "What did you say?"

His small hand pressed flat against the rusted service door. Green fire leaked between his fingers.

"It knows you," he said.

The tunnel lights popped one by one.

Not off.

Gone.

Each bulb burst overhead, raining hot glass across the floor. Young Elias screamed and covered his head. Then the memory started pulling apart at the seams. The walls bent. The tracks twisted upward. Vera's footsteps came from every direction at once.

Micah kept looking at me.

"You're not supposed to be here," I said. My voice came out thin. "This is his memory."

"I know." His mouth tightened.