Chapter 24 · Play Dead

The ring burned so hard I nearly dropped it.

Not warm. Not hot. Burned.

The cracked silver band bit into my palm like it had teeth, and every dead thing packed into the subway station screamed through my skull at once.

Gate.

Gate.

Gate.

“Shut up,” I gasped.

Micah grabbed my elbow before I hit the tiled floor. His fingers were freezing. He looked worse than he had ten minutes ago, which was saying something. Gray around the mouth. Sweat shining at his hairline. His borrowed hoodie hung off one shoulder like he’d lost weight overnight.

“Nora.” He shook me once. “What’s happening?”

I clenched my fist around the ring.

The screaming cut off.

For half a second, there was only the dead station. The dead tracks. The dead emergency lights throwing red stains over cracked white tile.

Then I saw him again.

Elias.

Not with my eyes. Through the split in the ring.

He was on his knees inside that underground room, wrists chained above his head. Blood had dried black down one side of his face. His shirt had been cut open at the chest, and somebody had drawn a circle over his skin in dark red ink.