Chapter 6 | You Were Always Mine (2)

Her hand went to her chest on instinct. It was hot there, a strange heat seeping up from the bone, and it brought back the pine-snow scent she'd caught when he leaned close. She was sure she'd never smelled that smell. But her body remembered it.

As if she'd been waiting for it a long time.

She knelt and picked up a shard of the Scotch bottle that had fallen in the scramble, held it to the light. In the glass she saw her own eyes. Deep in the pupil, a thread of pale gold — gold she'd never seen on herself before — flashed once, and was gone.

She blinked. It was gone.

"Hungry-people hallucination, probably." She said it to the room.

Her phone buzzed. She looked down. The message was from someone she never expected to hear from.

Mia: Sister, I heard you met Mr. Kane Voss in SoHo tonight? He's a very big crocodile, you know. Be careful he doesn't swallow you whole. 🐰

Attached: a rabbit hugging a carrot.

Luna stared at the message, and her back went cold, inch by inch.

How did Mia know?

She hadn't told a soul. Not Jasper, not the livestream, not the woman at the fabric shop. She'd put on a thrifted blazer and walked to a black door on a side street, and somehow, within an hour, her adopted sister knew the name of the man who'd walked out of it.

The message had the certainty of a snake in the dark that already knew everything. He's a very big crocodile. As if Mia had studied him. As if she had a file.

She looked up at the door. The black card lay on the bar like an invitation with no face turned over.

Her phone buzzed again. This time: Jasper.

Jasper: Luna, I just saw the news. Don't be scared. I'm here. Tomorrow noon, that old coffee shop we used to go to. My treat, best cinnamon croissant in the city. Let me look at your business plan — I may not be rich like you, but I know spreadsheets.

Luna stared at it, and her eyes went hot.

She typed and deleted, deleted and typed, and finally sent one word.

Okay.

Then she set the phone down, leaned against the wall, and looked out at the New York sky, and smiled a small smile.

Kane Voss. Who are you? She said it to herself. You wait. I'll read your whole hand first. Then I'll decide whether you get a seat at my table.