The air in Darwin’s office was always still. It didn’t matter if the heat was on or the window was cracked; the air just sat there, heavy and quiet. Today, it felt even thicker.Darwin wasn’t at his desk. He was standing in the middle of the room, perfectly still. His eyes were open, but they weren’t seeing the bookshelves or the ugly green carpet. They were fixed on something far away. His hands hung loose at his sides. A single muscle in his jaw twitched, once, twice. He was seeing something. A vision, a memory, a plan—it was hard to tell. He just stood there, frozen in place, not even breathing.The door opened.It didn’t open with a knock. It was shoved inward, hard. The handle hit the wall with a bang.Adrian stood in the doorway. He looked… bad. Real bad. His clothes were ripped in long, jagged tears, like something had taken swipes at him. One sleeve was mostly gone. Dried blood was smeared across his forehead and caked under his fingernails. He was breathing in rough, wet-soun

Bella’s fingers slipped on the phone screen. She was sweating, a cold, scared sweat. She hit the call button again. She held the phone to her ear, listening to it ring. Once, twice, four times.“Hey, it’s Chloe! You know what to do.” BEEP.“Chloe, call me back right now. It’s an emergency. Don’t go out. Just… stay inside and call me.”She hung up. Her heart was doing that bird-in-a-cage thing again, fluttering against her ribs. The old woman’s words were on a loop in her head. It’s already dreaming of your kitchen.She couldn’t sit still. She paced her apartment, the four walls feeling like they were closing in. She needed help. Not the mysterious kind. The kind with a car and a loud voice.She called Leo.It rang five times before he picked up. She could hear a murmur of other voices in the background, the clink of glasses. “Bella? Hey, what’s up?” he said, his voice low and hurried.“Leo, I can’t reach Chloe. It’s important. I think she’s in danger.”“What? Look, I’m in the middle o

The scream got stuck. It turned into a choked-off gasp. The streetlight wasn't far away anymore. It shone right on the face of the man who had her.It was Leo.He looked as scared as she felt. His eyes were huge. He was breathing hard from running. "Chloe! Hey, calm down! It's me! It's just me!"For a whole second, her mind couldn't put it together. The pounding feet. The terror. The hand like a vice. And then Leo's face, the one she knew. It didn't make sense.Then the fear left. And everything else rushed in to take its place. Waiting twenty minutes. No phone. The embarrassment. The pure, freezing terror of the last two minutes. It all came back, hot and mean.She yanked her arm out of his grip. "YOU!" she yelled. The sound bounced off the buildings. "What is your PROBLEM?!""I'm sorry! I ran the whole way! My meeting went late, and then I saw you running and I shouted but you didn't hear me—""You scared me HALF TO DEATH!" She wasn't crying. She was shaking with mad energy. She sho

Chloe came awake feeling like she’d been packed in ice. A deep, hurtful cold was in her bones. She was lying on something hard. Her head pounded.She opened her eyes. It was dark. Not pitch black. A weak, grayish light came from somewhere up above. She pushed up on her elbows. Every part of her felt sore and bruised.Where was this?This wasn’t her house. It wasn’t the park, either. This was… some kind of cave. But it didn’t look natural. The walls were too smooth. Like someone had sliced the rock with a giant blade. The air was thin and freezing. It actually hurt to pull it into her lungs.Pure panic, fresh and sharp, grabbed her by the throat. She fought to remember.Running. The monster at the door. The living room getting smashed. Running through the kitchen. The cold air of the backyard. The fence. She remembered her hands on the top of the wood, Leo’s hands shoving her up…Then, a fall. Not over the fence. A different kind of fall. In her head, she saw it again. Her foot had sli

Leo stood up. “What do we need? We’ll do it. Right now.”It wasn’t a fancy ritual. Not like in the movies. It was a sad, makeshift thing in a dirty garage.Iden told them what to get. Bella found a city map in Leo’s office. Leo brought over a shallow metal drip pan, the kind you put under a leaking engine. Iden filled it with water from the grimy sink in the corner. It looked gross.“We need something of hers,” Iden said. “Something she wore close to her skin. The more personal, the better.”Bella and Leo looked at each other. They had nothing. All of Chloe’s stuff was rubble back at her house.Then Bella remembered. Her own jacket. The one Chloe had borrowed last week when she was cold. Bella had gotten it back, but maybe…She dug through her bag, which she’d grabbed as they fled. She pulled out a worn blue hoodie. She held it to her face. It smelled like laundry soap, and faintly, underneath, like Chloe’s shampoo.“This work?” she asked, her voice thick.Iden took it. He nodded. He