Chapter 23 · The Tower Names Its Bride

"Nia."

The woman in the pool has my mother's voice.

I don't move. Can't. The seven wolves around the blood are locked mid-shift—jaws open, claws out, frozen like someone yanked the plug on their bodies. The woman's face breaks the surface. Her eyes are black all the way through.

"Nia," she says again. Same pitch Mom used when I missed curfew. Soft. Disappointed. Like she expected better.

Rafe's hand clamps on my shoulder. "Don't answer it."

"It's not—" My throat closes. It's not her. I know that. My body doesn't care. My feet want to go forward.

Jonah moves in front of me. His face is pale. "That's not Mom."

"I know." Steady voice. Shaking hands.

The woman tilts her head. Water runs down her neck—except it's not water. Too thick. Too red. She's standing in blood, and it clings to her skin like oil.

"You opened the door," she says. Still soft. Still wrong. "Good girl."

Something in my chest twists hard.

Rafe pulls me back a step. "We're leaving."

"You can't." The woman lifts one hand. The door behind us slams shut. The sound punches through the tunnel, through my bones.