ke a

the air heavy with a scent I couldn't nam

m my core, as if my very spirit had been stretched thin. It was the kin

ghtstand, and I snatched

Dad's hurt," my brother's v

haze in my mind. Still barefoot and

's SUV skidded inside, caked with mu

oo

enger seat, his face ashen and ho

ked, hauling him out. "As hot a

idn

ion, I scalded the side of my palm. The sting barely regist

tairs, just in time to see my

co

of the old iron ward-coins

, forged from blackened sil

e you two dealing

lips were sealed shut-by pai

estion in my eyes and

aid grimly. "It

bedroom door and

e, heart racing, the weight

rsed

-bound b

o wound the men in my family...

ep that night.

inside me wo

ted as

ere beneath my ribs, like a second

never reach

ear, but from within-like my blo

s tingled. M

myself in the hallwa

shadow beh

hat hadn't been there be

t it meant t

chang

aching for the blood-red ring-the one

stone. Now it pulsed, fain

was... l

ther had called

before record

d once, when he thou

t should neve

sked what

wishe

hing inside m

ng it had nothing t

e in the dark and

t, I didn

though I was-but because

dreams. The touches

it lingered lo

ling through my sheets like mist

this

without a shadow-except the kind th

. More midni

e his face. I

felt

pressing in around m

e, and for the first t

ai

ce tre

my fi

I he

ed to

pa

n't pu

dn't spea

me? I'm not your... your toy." I swallowed hard. "Yo

be

en he

, bitter, and old. Like s

he said, slowly, li

the day yo

lin

pped c

the Seal. The Key. T

ip fa

Because your ancest

racking. "Take your mark, take your cur

dn't

ds were soft

sealed in d

life ends will the Cr

nished fro

rt pounding like a d

ve to die?"

dn't

s-those cold, ancient e

needed to

sweat that didn't

eeper, something I couldn't name. My bones felt brittle, li

r d

at he lef

promise. A de

ht, the Crimson Bo

to him entirely-or I would

n-be

**

morning. My first s

roommates and majors, I was wond

ruising my collarbone. My legs still trembled. My ne

nlight look

e world had been tuned to a freq

way was

ssroom-

ple-too

real friend, Sophie, and

smug man who barely looked older than us. I'd met him

ering too long. "Late already? First

r. Low

eakly. Sai

, he asked

izing enrollment forms,"

ld've

w. And I didn't want to ex

ice was

licked shu

through a list of student ID

cl

h skimmed

.. sweet,"

fr

shed the back of my

t tou

elax. Just adm

til I spun and shoved

id do

was f

and his smile curled

y you've got those marks. Someone already

the b

gri

"Didn't take you

en the ligh

e room shifted-to

r turn

Was.

isor gasped,

orner of the room where noth

I

ld fe

y spine. The i

s wat

imi

rn