Chapter 11 · The Ledger Bites Back

"Stop touching it!" Calder's claw closed around my wrist, yanking my hand back from the ledger.

Too late. The book already had its teeth in me.

Pain spiked through my skull, white-hot and surgical. I heard myself make a sound I didn't recognize. The ledger sat open on the rusted work table, its pages rippling like something breathing.

"Mara." Calder's voice came from far away. "Look at me."

I couldn't. The edges of the tunnel were going soft. I knew my father's face. I knew it. Brown eyes. Scar through his left eyebrow. The way he'd tap his thumb against his coffee mug when he was thinking.

Except I didn't know which eye the scar was on anymore.

"Mara!" Calder shook me, hard enough that my teeth clicked. "What's it taking?"

"My father." The words felt wrong leaving my mouth. Too light. Like I was talking about a stranger. "It's eating him."

Calder swore, low and vicious. His grip on my wrist tightened. The binding cuff buzzed between us, hot against my skin.

"How much time before midnight?" I managed.

"Not enough." He dragged me closer to the table. "The ledger wants payment for what you saw. Memories for secrets.