CHAPTER 25 NORA #2
"He keeps trying to make me a door," I said. "Doors open from the frame. Daughters answer from the blood."
Cormac inhaled over the comm. "Nora, repeat that as command language."
Vale's eyes widened.
I lifted Thomas's ring toward my own chest instead of the case. The chain trembled against my fingers. Rain blew over my face, cold and stinging.
"Daughter route answers from Brooks blood," I said. "Thomas Brooks token remains with daughter. Guardian ring refuses separation. Mercer case holds no family status, witness status, heir status, or command authority. Mercer case is storage only."
The case shrieked.
The sound drove into my teeth. Red light spilled out across the concrete, and every name on the screen flared white.
MERCER CASE ASSERTS HOLD.
DAUGHTER ROUTE ASSERTS BLOOD PROXIMITY.
TOKEN LOCATION: DAUGHTER.
CASE STATUS: STORAGE ONLY.
PURGE COMMAND CONTESTED.
Vale lunged for me.
Declan hit him first. Injured ankle, torn wrist, burned palm, and still he met Vale in the middle of the red spill with a violence that shook the gurney.
They crashed against the ambulance bumper.
Vale drove his elbow into Declan's ribs.
Declan grunted, caught Vale by the collar, and slammed him down so hard the case jumped.
The hospital band slipped from Vale's hand and landed inside the open case.
INFANT ROUTE PURGE TOKEN DETECTED.
PURGE CONFIRMATION IN PROGRESS.
"Stop," I breathed.
Declan pinned Vale with one knee, but Vale laughed through blood. "There. There. There it is. You stopped one door and opened the old nursery. Thomas should have burned it all."
The case began to close.
My body moved before thought could catch it. I shoved my bleeding hand between the case lid and the sensor plate. Pain ripped up my arm as metal teeth clamped around my wrist. Thomas's ring struck the inner lip, still in my fist, still with me.
Declan roared my name.
"Do not pull me," I cried. "Don't pull me."
The case ground harder. Blood ran over the sensor.
TOKEN CONTACT PARTIAL.
DAUGHTER BLOOD CONTACT ACTIVE.
INFANT ROUTE PURGE PENDING.
"Nora!" Isabella screamed.
My knees hit the wet concrete. Pain burst behind my eyes.
I could hear Declan fighting Vale, Maeve shouting, guns moving, boots skidding, but all of it came through water.
The case had my wrist. The system had my blood.
Thomas's ring was trapped inside my fist, half in, half out, exactly where a door wanted a hinge.
Marian's voice threaded through the comm, weak as torn silk.
"Daughter," she whispered. "Come home."
Home.
The word did not look like Nora's apartment anymore.
It looked like Isabella sobbing into a comm while refusing to stop talking to our mother.
It looked like Gabriel's command holding a ruined building together while sickness tried to eat him.
It looked like Maeve with blood on her shoe and fury in her eyes.
It looked like Declan choosing my mother first because I had trusted him with her.
It looked like a man on the floor beside me, fighting his father's old use of him with every breath.
I curled my fingers tighter around Thomas's ring.
"Brooks daughter route denies hinge function," I said through my teeth.
"Token remains in living hand. Daughter blood confirms living return.
Infant bands are proof. Mothers are living persons with names and bodies.
Children are living persons with names and bodies.
Mercy storage is revoked. Mercer storage is revoked. Saint Brigid storage is revoked."
The screen juddered.
COMMAND LANGUAGE EXPANDING.
PURGE COMMAND INTERRUPTED.
DAUGHTER ROUTE OVERREACH WARNING.
"Let her go," Declan snarled.
The case tightened again. A scream tore out of me before I could stop it.
Declan's hand covered mine where the lid trapped my wrist. His burned palm pressed against the Mercer edge. I felt him shake from the pain, felt his breath crash against my cheek.
"Red witness confirms," he said. Each word sounded dragged out of fire. "Living protection extends to daughter route. Red witness refuses use of daughter blood for lock, purge, sale, inheritance, or death command. Reeve blood shields Brooks blood."
Blue light struck red.
The case bucked under our hands.
Vale screamed something behind Declan, but Maeve's voice cut him off. "Put him down."
A body hit the floor. Hard.
Then Gabriel spoke through the comm. "Nora. The system is listening to you. Finish it."
"I don't know how."
"Yes, you do," Isabella said. Her voice shook, but it held me tighter than the case did. "You always knew when Dad was being lied to. Say what this is. Say it plain."
Rain slid down my face. Or tears. I did not care which.
I looked at the hospital bands inside the case. Tiny loops. Faded names. Proof of babies who had been treated as exits and debts and future handles for men who could not make life without owning it.
My voice steadied because anger found the place fear had emptied.
"This is kidnapping," I said. "This is attempted murder.
This is medical abuse. This is concealment of living mothers and stolen children.
This is evidence under Thomas Brooks guardian testimony, delivered to Isabella Brooks Stone, Nora Marian Brooks, Gabriel Stone command, Cormac Doyle legal protection, and Siobhan Quinn medical authority. This case holds evidence only."
The bay lights blew out.
For one black second, the only thing I felt was Declan's body over mine and his hand crushing mine around Thomas's ring.