Chapter 20 · The Second Death

The thing on the ladder climbed with Kieran’s voice.

“Eve,” it called from below. “Don’t wake up.”

The words rose through the maintenance shaft one rung at a time, carried on the metallic breath of the old exchange station. The midnight train shuddered around them. Dust sifted from the ceiling. Somewhere beyond the sealed carriage doors, the Meridian recovery crew hammered against Sora’s locks, each impact ringing through the train like a second heart.

Kieran stood between Eve and the ladder.

Blood darkened the bandage wrapped around his ribs. One hand clutched the edge of a support rail; the other hung at his side, fingers twitching beneath the black brand burned into his palm. The mark looked almost alive. Thin red lines crawled from it up his wrist, disappearing beneath his sleeve.

“Tell me that isn’t you,” Eve said.

His jaw tightened. “It isn’t me.”

The voice below laughed softly.

It was Kieran’s laugh too.

Eve’s skin prickled. The old maintenance hatch gaped behind them, its iron ladder descending into a darkness that swallowed the carriage light. The black-glass key in her pocket had turned cold enough to hurt through the fabric.