Chapter 23 · The Name in Red

"You're not getting off that easy." The thing wearing my face lunged before I hit the ground.

I rolled left. Its fist cracked the marble where my head had been. The floor split like ice.

"Cade." Iris's voice cut through the ringing in my skull. "Don't let it touch you."

"Little late for that." I shoved to my feet. The double was already coming again, moving like it knew every step I'd take before I took it.

Because it did. It was me. Every reflex. Every tell.

It feinted right. I blocked left. Its knee drove into my ribs and I went down hard, tasting copper.

"Stop thinking," Iris said. She was pressed against the wall, blood running down her arm from where the train's door had caught her. "It reads you the same way you read a mark."

"Great advice." I spat red onto white marble. "I'll just stop thinking."

The double smiled. My smile. "She's lying to you," it said. "She's been lying since the day she cursed you."

I didn't answer. I was watching its feet.

"Ask her why she picked you," it said.