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"You're lying." Daniel was out of his chair before Lucas finished speaking.
Two strides. Then Daniel had Lucas pinned against the wall, one forearm across his chest. Lucas's shoulders hit hard enough to rattle the framed group rules behind him.
Mark shot to his feet. "Daniel, get off him."
"His timeline's wrong." Daniel didn't even glance at Mark. His voice had gone flat and cold. "His details don't match. And he flinched when I said Kael'thar."
Lucas shoved at Daniel's arm. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't." Daniel leaned closer. "I spent four years on the other side. I know what a handler's plant looks like."
Amy stood too. "Daniel. Back up."
"He's not one of us." Daniel's hand dropped to his side. Mark couldn't see a weapon, but the air around Daniel's fingers bent like heat over pavement. "He's here to watch us. Report on us. Maybe clean up if someone talks too much."
Mark stepped between them. His burned hand throbbed under the bandage. "Everybody sit down. Now."
Daniel's eyes snapped to him. They were hard and far away, the same eyes Mark had seen three years ago, right before Daniel told the Summoner to go to hell.
Right before everything went bad.
"He's dangerous," Daniel said. "You want to help survivors? Fine. But Lucas isn't one. He's the reason we need help in the first place."
Lucas pushed off the wall. "I'm leaving."
"No, you're not." A blade shimmered into Daniel's hand.
Amy swore. Mark's pulse kicked.
"Put it down," Mark said.
"Not until he shows us his mark." Daniel raised the blade. "Everyone who gets summoned has one. If he's clean, he has nothing to hide."
Lucas backed into the wall again. His face drained of color. "I can't."
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't." Lucas swallowed. "If I show you, they'll know I broke cover."
Daniel's mouth tightened. "Who are they?"
Lucas shut his eyes. "My sister."
The room locked up around those two words.
Mark lowered his voice. "What about your sister?"
Lucas opened his eyes. He looked younger now. Scared enough to forget the act. "They have her. She's still there."
Daniel's blade lifted another inch. "There it is."
"Daniel," Amy warned. "Put the weapon away."
"He just admitted it. He's working for them."
"I haven't reported anything." Lucas's voice cracked. "I was ordered to sit in, watch the group, and stop anyone from organizing. That's it."
Mark stared at him. "Stop us from doing what?"
"Trying to go back. Opening a door from this side. Telling other people how the summoning works."
Amy's expression sharpened. "And if someone gets too close to the truth?"
Lucas didn't answer.
"You stop them," she said. "However you have to."
"I never hurt anyone."
Daniel gave a humorless laugh. "Not yet. How many groups are you watching, kid?"
"None. Just this one."
"Who sent you?"
"I don't know." Lucas rubbed both hands over his face. "I got a message. Do this, or my sister doesn't come home. She's been there for three years. I get one message every six months proving she's alive. That's it. One message. Then silence."
Mark's stomach turned. "And you believed them?"
"You didn't see what they can do." Lucas looked at Daniel. "You got out. Most people don't. They get stuck because they said the wrong thing, crossed the wrong handler, or failed a quest. My sister failed. They kept her alive because she was useful."
Daniel's grip tightened around the blade. "So what's stopping me from ending this?"
"Daniel—" Mark started.
Lucas moved first.
One sharp word left his mouth. Mark didn't recognize the language, but he recognized the result. Daniel dropped as if someone had cut every string holding him up. The blade vanished before his shoulder struck the floor.
Amy lunged at Lucas. "What did you do?"
"Command word." Lucas backed away, breathing hard. "Compliance lock. It'll wear off in a few minutes."
"You used a slave command on him." Amy grabbed Lucas by the shirt and slammed him against the door. "You said you never hurt anyone."
"He was about to attack me!"
"That blade can't hurt anyone here." Amy shoved him harder. "You just proved Daniel right."
Lucas's face twisted. "I didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice."
Mark knelt beside Daniel. Daniel's eyes tracked him, but his body stayed rigid. His breath came fast through his nose.
"How long?" Mark asked.
"Five minutes. Ten, maybe." Lucas's voice shook. "He'll be fine."
"You'd better be right."
Mark's phone buzzed.
He ignored it.
It buzzed again. Then a third time.
Amy released Lucas and turned toward him. "Answer it."
Mark pulled out his phone. Three missed calls stared back at him. All from Amy's number.
He looked at her. "You called me?"
"No."
A voicemail notification appeared beneath the calls. Mark tapped it.
Amy's voice filled the room, tight and breathless.
"Mark, something's wrong. I'm at the hospital. There's something in the ER. It shouldn't be here. I can smell sulfur and burned meat. It's looking for something. I think it's looking for me. If you get this—"
The message cut off.
Amy went still. "That isn't possible. I've been here the whole time."
"The message is twenty minutes old." Mark held up the screen. "You didn't make these calls?"
She snatched her phone from the table and checked the call log. Her thumb slipped once. Then again.
"No," she whispered. "I didn't."
Lucas pushed away from the door. "Play it again."
Mark hit replay.
The voice sounded exactly like Amy. The fear. The rough breathing. Even the tiny pause before the message ended.
When it finished, Lucas backed toward the exit. "That's not her."
Amy rounded on him. "Then what is it?"
"A lure." His hand found the doorknob. "They know the group is compromised. They're cleaning up."
Mark rose. "What does cleaning up mean?"
Lucas looked at Daniel on the floor, then at Amy, then at Mark. "It means they're coming for all of you."
Mark's phone buzzed again.
Another voicemail. Same number.
"Don't play it," Lucas said.
Mark stared at the screen. "Why?"
"Because it won't be talking as her this time."
Mark tapped the message.
His own voice came through the speaker.
"Mark. Don't trust her. She's not who she says she is. Check her left wrist, under the bracelet. You'll see what I mean. And whatever you do, don't let Lucas leave that—"
Static swallowed the last word.
Amy's eyes dropped to her silver bracelet.
Mark heard Daniel grunt behind him. The compliance lock was weakening. Lucas's fingers tightened around the doorknob.
"What did it say?" Amy asked.
Mark didn't answer.
"Mark." Her voice softened, but her shoulders stayed tense. "What did it say?"
He pointed at her wrist. "Take it off."
Amy's mouth parted. The distance between them felt suddenly too small. Mark could see the faint pulse in her throat, the quick rise of her chest beneath her sweater.
"You don't want to do this," she said.
"Take it off."
"If I do, you can't pretend you don't know me anymore."
Mark's burned hand began to shake. "I don't know you. That's the problem."
Daniel dragged one knee under himself. "Mark... don't let her—"
"Quiet," Amy snapped without looking away from Mark.
The command stopped Daniel long enough for the room to hold its breath.
Amy lifted her left hand. Her fingers brushed the bracelet's clasp, then stopped.
Lucas twisted the doorknob. The lock clicked.
Mark caught his wrist. Lucas flinched at the contact, but Mark didn't let go.
"You stay," Mark said. "If she shows us a mark, you tell us what it means."
Lucas stared at Amy. "You really don't remember?"
Amy's eyes flashed. "Remember what?"
"The first time you wore that bracelet."
Mark's grip tightened. "Lucas. What are you talking about?"
Amy's fingers finally opened the clasp.
The silver bracelet slid down her wrist, exposing a black symbol burned into her skin.
Mark's bandaged hand flared with pain. The mark on Amy's wrist answered with a dull red glow.
Daniel got one foot beneath him. "Mark, move away from her. Now."
Amy looked at the matching light on Mark's hand, and all the color left her face.
"That's not a mark," she whispered. "It's a key."
The symbol pulsed again.
Somewhere inside the wall, a lock began to turn.