Chapter 22 · If I Die

The knocking under my boots came again.

Three hard hits. Right below the moon mark glowing through the black tile.

Ronan jerked against the silver chains so hard the wall hooks bent. His face had gone gray under the blood smeared across his mouth.

“Quinn.”

Not my name the way he usually said it. Not bossy. Not pissed.

Scared.

I hated that it worked on me.

My palm was still open. Blood slid over my wrist, warm and sticky, then dripped onto the floor. The ring on my finger gave a tiny pull with every drop, like it had a mouth pressed to my pulse.

“Get away from the circle,” Ronan said.

“I am in the circle.”

“Then crawl.”

“Great plan. Love it.”

The room answered with another bang from below.

The old medical lights overhead blinked out. For half a second, everything went black.

Then the moon symbols carved into the walls lit up red.

Not bright red. Wet red.

The kind that made my stomach turn before my brain caught up.

Vera’s voice came through the speaker above the steel door.

“Well,” she said softly. “That is inconvenient.”

I stared at the camera in the corner.