Page 176 of Stay Scared

I say nothing.

“You put Shaw’s hands on you.”

Movement reaches me from the west corridor, a boot against the floor.

I keep my back to it.

Rook says, “You gave Langston control after learning what he built.”

The sound comes closer.

I pull Ash’s mask off again and let it hang from one hand. “I think you’re upset they got something you couldn’t steal.”

The nearest mirror cracks. A thin fracture runs from the bottom corner toward my reflection.

Rook’s breathing reaches a speaker and cuts off.

“You think desire excuses them.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You keep choosing them.”

“Yes, I do.”

The answer comes out before he can build another argument around it.

He gives me silence.

I look toward the cracked mirror. “I keep choosing them.”

His beaked face appears suddenly in the reflection behind me.

I turn.

The corridor is empty.

Delayed image.

Rook speaks from somewhere else. “Then you admit I was right.”

I laugh. The sound comes out sharp enough to scrape through the chamber.

“About what?”

“That this is what you wanted.”

I walk toward the delayed reflection. “No. You wanted one answer to cover everything.”

The beak in the mirror tilts.

“You want to turn every ugly thing into the same scene because then you never have to care what happened before or after.”

His voice cuts through me. “Do not lecture me.”

“Then stop asking for a verdict.”

The mirror goes dark. Another one lights behind me.