Page 89 of Stay Scared

“Then you tell me what I’m opening.”

His eyes stay on mine.

“If we get separated, you do not guess.”

“I won’t.”

“If Rook gets close enough to take it, drop the key before you let him use you to open anything.”

I close my fingers around his wrist. Ash stops talking. His pulse moves beneath my thumb.

“I understand what the key is for.”

I turn his fist upward between us.

“Open your hand.”

His fist stays closed while the countdown keeps changing behind him. Then his fingers loosen beneath mine.

The key settles against my palm, cold steel resting over the warmth of his skin. His hand remains beneath mine. I leave mine there too.

The cord slips between our wrists as I take it from him slowly, drawing the black material across his knuckles until the last piece leaves his fingers. His empty hand closes once after mine is gone.

I pull the cord over my head. The key disappears beneath my torn jacket and settles against my chest. Ash’s eyes follow it. Cade catches the movement. So does Owen.

For the first time since entering Crimson Night, the person carrying its last mechanical authority is someone Rook never expected to have it.

Owen spreads the original park plans beside the renovation map.

“The west projection route reaches the theater basement beneath the arcade. It crosses an original compression corridor.”

Ash moves to the desk but stays near enough that his shoulder almost touches mine.

“Rook designed that section.”

“Was it taken out of service?”

“We stopped using it.”

I look at him. Ash corrects himself.

“The machinery was never removed.”

Of course it wasn’t.

Cade taps the route with one blood-marked finger.

“Then that’s our way in.”

The monitors change before we can move. Rook appears again with the theater expanded behind him. Mark’s right hand is nearly free.

I keep my eyes on the beaked mask.

“You wanted Ash without control.”

“I wanted him to understand he never had it.”

My fingers close around the key beneath my jacket.