Chapter 8 · That's Not My Brother

The train hit the tunnel wall with a scream of metal, and Elias grabbed the back of my coat hard enough to choke me.

“Don’t,” he said.

I ripped free. “My brother is on that train.”

Another shriek rolled through the dark. Not brakes. Not wheels. It sounded like somebody dragging a knife across a hundred steel doors.

The blood message Vera had left on the wall started to run.

MICAH IS THE KEY.

The letters slid down the tile in thick red trails, then disappeared into the cracks between the floor tiles.

Elias swore under his breath. He had one hand pressed against his side. Blood soaked through his shirt, dark and wet. His other hand held that black metal ring of his so tightly his knuckles looked gray.

“The train can’t stop here,” he said.

“Cool. Then make it stop somewhere else.”

“Nora.”

“No. You don’t get to use my name like that and expect me to stand still.” I pointed at the tunnel where the sound was coming from. “You said you knew this place. You said you’d been here. So tell me how to get my brother off that thing.