Chapter 11 · Her Mother's Other Face

The woman in the burned blue coat lifted one hand, and every light in the station went white.

Nora's knees nearly gave out.

"Mom?"

Caden caught her elbow with one burned hand. His skin was split across the knuckles, black at the edges, and the smell of cooked blood hit her hard.

"Don't go near her," he said.

The woman smiled. It was her mother's smile. The tiny pull on the left side. The soft crease beside her mouth. Even the silver pin shaped like a moth was stuck through the collar of that ruined blue coat. Nora had watched that pin melt into a puddle twenty years ago.

"Take the ring off him, Nora," her mother said. "Before he remembers what he did."

Caden's grip tightened.

"Nora, look at me. Not her. Me."

"You said you didn't know where my brother was." Nora yanked her arm free. "You said Milo only sent you one message. You lied."

"I know."

"You knew about my mother."

"I knew she might still be here."

"Might?"

The crack behind the woman pulsed. Red light crawled through it like blood under skin. Heat rolled over Nora's face, hot enough to sting her eyes.