Chapter 11 · The Seventh Door

"You're not touching that door." Ada's hand locked around my wrist before I could reach the handle.

"Let go."

"Not until you tell me what you see."

I looked at the door again. Plain steel. No markings. But the panel beside it showed two heat signatures inside the frame. Both mine.

"Two of me," I said. "Behind the door."

"That's not possible."

"This place doesn't care what's possible." I yanked my arm free. "The map led here. You saw it."

She stepped between me and the door. Close enough I could feel the heat coming off her jacket. "The map marked a death memory. Not a door. Not you."

"Maybe I'm the memory."

"Stop talking like that."

"Why? You've died here six times. I've died seven. Maybe one of those deaths stuck." I moved to go around her. She mirrored me. "Move, Ada."

"No."

"I'm not asking."

"Good. I'm not offering." Her eyes locked on mine. "That door wants something from you. That's how this place works. It doesn't give. It takes."

The panel beeped. New text scrolled across: INSTANCE DECISION REQUIRED. TWO ENTITIES. ONE VESSEL. SELECT OR FORFEIT BOTH.

"See?" Ada said. "It's a trap."

"Everything here's a trap."