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It doesn’t even occur to me that, with Ash and Callie staying behind, I can create a portal and hop through it with Nine. I blame it on the adrenaline and the fear coursing through me.
Nine follows close behind me. I can sense him at my heels, the whisper of his hand against the small of my back as if he’s pushing me toward the elevator. I jam my thumb into the down button. Because the elevator is still on our floor, the doors open right away and the two of us file in.
“Come on,” I mutter under my breath, hitting the doors close button again and again until the ancient steel doors begin to inch their way closed.
It seems to take a hundred years. I let out a sigh of relief right as the doors finish sealing shut—and that’s when I hear the female scream.
No.
I jab the doors open button with my thumb even though I know I’m too late. The car is already moving down.
That’s okay. I start pushing the 14 key, hoping that the elevator will bring me back to our floor as soon as possible.
The scream settles it. I don’t know what the hell compelled me to think it was a good idea to leave them behind. I can’t abandon them up there if someone—or someones—is making my mother scream.
Nine has been inspecting the elevator panel the entire time we’ve been inside. I know he’s never been in here before—even now, trapped in the iron cell, he’s looking a bit sickly and sallow—but you could’ve fooled me. He immediately shoots out his hand, one long, slender finger reaching right for the red knob that reads pull emergency stop.
&nb
sp; He pulls it.
The elevator grinds to a sudden halt.
What?
“No,” I yelp, slapping at his pale hand. “I’m going back up there.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
Like hell he can’t.
What is wrong with me? I’m being a complete moron. I’m the Shadow, right? Might as well prove it.
I don’t need the elevator to move to get back to the apartment. Not when I can create a portal with my shadows.
Nine sucks in a breath, his cheekbones jutting out from his otherworldly face as his cheeks hollow. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” I snap. “You won’t let me take the elevator back up? I’ll find another way.”
“No, Riley. You shouldn’t—”
He’s right. I probably shouldn’t—but I have to.
I continue to pull the shadows toward me. It’s hard, and the iron lining the elevator’s wall might not affect me, but it’s also not doing my power any favors.
Frustration overwhelms me as my pocket slowly begins to form. Slow. So, so slow. If Callie is already screaming, that means the soldiers already got to her, right?
“Ninetroir, please.” I clench my fists, pleading up at him as the wisps fill the corner of the small room. “You’ve got to help me. I have to go back!”
His eyes flash, darkening to a deep gun-metal grey for a moment before they’re gleaming again.
“It doesn’t work with mates,” he tells me. “You can’t compel me with my true name.”
I wasn’t trying to. “I don’t want to force you. I’m asking you for your help. Please. Help me.”
His expression softens. “Don’t beg me. That’s even worse.”
Am I begging? I might be. “They lost twenty years trying to save me. I shouldn’t have left them behind.”
