Chapter 21 · My Brother Says Don't Trust Dax

"Get away from him, Mara! Run!"

Leo’s voice ripped through the air, raw and terrified. He wasn't a ghost. He was right there, shaking, clothes smeared with the same grey ash that coated the ruins of the clock vault. He grabbed my wrist—his grip bruising—and yanked me back into the shadows of the collapsing corridor.

"Leo?" I gasped. My heart hammered against my ribs. "You're alive. You're actually—"

"He's lying to you!" Leo screamed. He pointed a trembling finger at the silhouette at the end of the hall. "Every word is a trap! He didn't save us, Mara. He's the reason we're in this hell!"

I froze. The air felt thick, charged with the static of a dying loop. Then, Dax stepped forward.

The flickering lanterns caught the edge of his judge’s ring. It glinted like a predator's eye. He didn't look angry. He looked exhausted.

"He's not himself, Mara," Dax said. His voice was low, steady—too calm for someone facing a ghost. "This isn't Leo. It's a fragment. A residue. If you listen to him, you're walking straight into a void."

"Shut up!" I snapped, stepping closer to Leo. "He’s my brother. My only brother.