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Chapter 10
Jayden did not move.Behind the bathroom door, the tap ran again. Summer's voice dropped lower, too soft to catch. He stood in the living room with his hand wrapped around the pendant in his pocket, and for the first time since he had woken up in this life, he wanted to kick down a door.He did not.Instead, he walked quietly out of the apartment, closed the front door without a sound, and drove to a stationery shop across town.Rule one, he reminded himself. Trust no one.He bought a thick black notebook with a hardcover and a ribbon marker, the kind a man buys when he plans to keep records for a long time. Then he sat in a quiet café with a mug of coffee and a pen.The first page stayed blank for ten minutes.He had thought it would be easy. He had lived through it, after all. But memory was a strange animal, and when he tried to grab it, it ran.He closed his eyes and let himself remember the night the sky turned red.It had begun as a smear of pink above the rooftops, thin as a br
Chapter 9
Jayden slammed back into his body so fast that he nearly fell over.The closet snapped into place around him. The carpet. The coats. The faint smell of cedar. His knees were stiff, and his mouth still tasted of tea.Summer stood in the doorway with her phone in her hand."Jay?" she demanded. "What the hell are you doing?"He closed his fist around the pendant and pressed it against his thigh."Meditating," he answered."At two in the morning? In the closet?""The therapist told me it might help with stress.""You don't have a therapist.""The internet does."She studied him. In the glow of her phone, her face seemed pale and strange."Dana's place was boring," she announced at last. "I came home early. And I find my husband sitting on the floor of a closet with his eyes closed, mumbling to himself.""I wasn't mumbling.""You were. You mentioned something about 'steaming.'"He swallowed. "I was dreaming.""Whatever." She stepped closer, and her gaze dropped to his closed fist. A thin g
Chapter 8
Summer's voice floated down the hall."Jay? Are you home?"Jayden slipped the pendant into his pocket and shoved the box back onto the shelf. He had about five seconds. He closed the closet door, smoothed his shirt, and walked out with the calmest face he could manage.Summer stood in the doorway with a small overnight bag over her shoulder. Her cheeks were flushed, and her mascara was slightly smudged."There you are. Why are you sitting in the dark?""I was resting my eyes.""Weird." She walked to the counter and dug through a drawer. "I forgot my charger. Dana's party is going late, so don't wait up.""Okay."She found the charger and turned. Then she hesitated, tapping the cord against her palm."Actually, Jay, I need a favor."Here it comes, he thought."Dana's friends are going to a club tomorrow, and I need a new dress. Can you transfer me two thousand dollars?""No."Summer blinked. "What?""No," Jayden repeated, in the same gentle tone. "Use your own money."The room went ver
Chapter 7
"Mom!"The word bounced off the walls and came back to him unchanged. The green light pulsed, steady and silent, as if it had never spoken.Jayden pressed his palms against the circle. It was warm, and it hummed faintly under his skin."Say something," he whispered. "Please."Nothing.He leaned his forehead against the wall and waited until the shaking stopped. Whatever his mother had left in this stone, it was only a fragment. A few seconds of a woman who had known she was dying.He wiped his face and stood up straight."Fine. Then I'll figure it out myself."He walked the perimeter of the room. Ten steps along the first wall. Ten along the second. Ten along the third. Ten along the fourth.No door. No window. No crack for the air to come through. And yet the air was cool and clean, with a faint sweetness, like the inside of a new refrigerator."If I die in here," he muttered, "I'm going to be so annoyed."He touched the circle of green light again, and it widened like a ripple on wa
Chapter 6
The red cloth was soft with age.Jayden lifted it out of the box with both hands, the way a person carries something that might wake up. It was heavier than it appeared. Slowly, he unwrapped the folds.A pendant lay in his palm.It was jade, the color of deep water, about the size of a walnut. It was smooth as a river stone, with a thin silver loop at the top and a cord so old that it had frayed to threads. A tiny crack ran down one side.That crack was the reason his mother had always called it lucky."A flaw means it's been through something," she used to say. "And it still holds together."He turned the pendant over. On the back, in lines so fine he had never noticed them as a child, was a pattern of small circles joined by a single curving line. It resembled a constellation.Or a map.He ran his thumb across the carving, and the stone felt warm. Not warm like a rock left in sunlight. Warm like skin."That's not possible," he whispered.He set it on the carpet and pulled his hand a
Chapter 5
Jayden watched the message until the screen dimmed.I know you came back.His blood turned to ice. He grabbed the phone and called the number back, but it rang four times and went to a robotic voicemail with no name.He raised his eyes to the hotel.Trevor was gone. Summer was gone. The sidewalk was empty except for a pigeon pecking at a crust of bread.It could be nothing. A wrong number. A prank.He searched the number online, and nothing came up. No name, no address, no social profile. He tried reverse lookup apps and two directories. The number had been activated that same morning.He sat very still, running through the possibilities.One. A coincidence. Somebody else's mistake.Two. Trevor Russo, who had studied him far too long.Three. Someone else who had died and come back, and who was now watching him the same way he was watching everyone.He did not like any of the three.But the words had been precise. Came back. Not "came home," or "came to the hotel." Came back.He presse
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