Page 180 of Stay Scared

“You liked her fighting you.”

Rook’s shoulders pull tight. “That was the attraction.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

I step closer to the glass separating us.

“That was you.”

His fist strikes it. The whole panel shudders. A crack branches through the woman’s recorded face.

Rook disappears from the reflection.

Footsteps move fast.

I turn, but the passage behind me is empty. Another footstep hits to my right, then left. The maze throws him everywhere.

I back toward the center mark. My pulse is too loud inside Ash’s mask. The leather has gone damp against my cheeks.

A shadow crosses one exit.

I spin, but nothing is there.

Rook laughs somewhere close. “You wanted danger until it stopped obeying you.”

His hand appears from behind a mirrored panel and catches the strap of Ash’s mask.

The jerk snaps my head sideways.

I grab the mask before he can rip it from me.

Rook pulls, the leather cutting across the back of my skull as his other hand clamps around my forearm and yanks me into the narrow passage between two mirrors. My shoulder strikes cold glass. Pain flashes through the bruise.

No camera stands between us now, only the scratched beak inches from my face. Rook breathes hard behind it.

“You keep wearing things that belong to other men.”

I shove my palm against his chest. He barely moves.

“You keep stealing them.”

His grip tightens. The mask strap bites deeper as Rook leans closer until the beak almost touches my cheek.

“I built the Voice before Langston knew how to use one.”

“Then why does everyone know his?”

His hand slams my wrist against the mirror before the last word is fully gone. Glass knocks against bone, and pain shoots into my fingers.

Rook’s breathing changes.

I found the nerve.

He drags Ash’s mask from my face. The strap catches in my hair before snapping free, and cold air hits me.

Rook looks down at the black shell in his hand.

For half a second, his attention leaves me.