Page 124 of Stay Scared

Then Ash makes a sound I have never heard from him, sharp and raw, pain without the Voice smoothing it into authority.

I move.

Owen catches my jacket again. “Salem, stay here.”

“Let go of me.”

His grip opens.

I follow the rope through the dark until my hand finds Ash’s boot, then his shin and shoulder.

“Ash, tell me you’re conscious.”

“I’m here.”

His voice comes rough and close.

The mask hangs broken from one clasp. A jagged edge has opened the skin near his temple.

I reach for the fastening.

Ash catches my wrist.

His bare hand closes hard enough that my fingers curl against my palm. The mask is cracked open between us, his breathing uneven. Cade and Owen are somewhere in the dark, and I am touching the thing Rook just broke off his face.

His grip tightens.

“Ash.”

“I heard you.”

His hand stays locked around my wrist.

I find the broken clasp with my free hand. “Then let me take it off.”

His fingers flex around my wrist, then loosen enough for me to move.

I pull.

The mask comes free.

Ash sucks in a breath as the broken edge drags past the cut.

A thin emergency marker flickers on when Cade strikes a wall switch.

Red light spills across the floor.

Ash is suddenly bare-faced beneath it, blood running from his temple across one cheek.

The Voice is gone.

Rook has left him on his knees in front of Cade, Owen, and me with no black shell, no distortion, and no control panel waiting for his hand.

Ash sees me looking.

His hand slides from my wrist to my forearm and yanks me closer, bringing my knee down beside his thigh.

His other hand closes hard against my waist, firm enough to make the demand clear without hurting.