I notice something on the stone and step closer. There's a mark on the mother's arm.
A symbol. Black smoke on water.
The Ferryman's mark.
He branded the dead.
"Z," I say.
"Yeah." Her voice is thin now.
"Get a visual from Nick's feed."
A second passes. "Holy shit. Fucking Christ."
"He's sending a message," Nick mutters.
"This is so much more than that. It's a performance." I crouch, ignoring the way soot coats my boots and hands. It gets under my nails and into the cuts on my knuckles.
Ewan Calder wanted me to walk into this room and think it was Keira and my son turned to stone. Does he know about me?
Did he send the lockbox?
"Break into the back end and find the fire pattern," I instruct Zara. "I'm sending you a code."
She's immediately on it. "Listed as an electrical fault from five years ago. No casualties. No bodies recovered."
"Bullshit. This was done days ago."
"He marks everything he considers his. This has to be one of his houses," Zara adds.
Not anymore.
Now I'm standing in his warning.
"It's not Keira," Nick repeats. He's saying it like he's trying to convince both of us. "It's not them. You said so yourself."
"I know."
"But you thought it for a second." I can feel his eyes on me, but I don't look at him. I can't.
"You both need to pull back," Zara demands.
Nick ignores her. "He knew you'd come. He wanted you to walk into the grave."
He wanted to break me.
What he doesn't realize is that I've already been broken, and whatever's left doesn't shatter so easily.
"Hello?" Zara snaps. "Did either of you hear a word I just said?"
A chill crawls up my spine, and it has nothing to do with the cold.
I scan the road, the tree line, the buildings. Nothing. No movement. No sound but the wind.
But still, I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched.
"Someone's here."
