Chapter 9 · The Gate Knows My Name

Micah's fingers locked around my wrist hard enough to grind bone against bone.

I tried to pull back. He didn't let me.

His face was still my brother's face. Same crooked nose from when he fell off his bike at twelve. Same dark lashes. Same tiny scar under his chin. But his eyes had gone flat and black, like somebody had poured old oil over them.

"Nora," he said.

Except his mouth barely moved.

The voice came from everywhere else.

It crawled out of the dead train car. Out of the cracked ceiling panels. Out of the dark windows where our reflections stared back at us and didn't quite match.

"Nora Vane. You finally came back."

My stomach dropped so fast I almost threw up.

Elias shoved himself between us, one hand pressed to the blood soaking through his shirt. He was pale under the emergency lights. Pale and sweating and trying way too hard not to look like he might fall over.

"Let her go," he snapped.

Micah's head turned toward him with a slow little tilt.

Then he smiled.

It wasn't Micah's smile.

"You don't get to give orders here, Morrow boy."

Elias's jaw clenched.