Then another violent crash.
The rink was falling apart.
Good.
Maybe it deserved to.
Years of memories lived inside these walls.
Most of them are rotten.
The stairwell twisted upward sharply.
Emergency lights flashed red against cracked concrete.
And somewhere ahead—
Footsteps.
Fast.
Rowan.
I pushed harder.
The cold water soaking my clothes dragged at me, but adrenaline burned hotter.
I heard him laugh.
That same laugh.
And suddenly—
I wasn’t in the stairwell anymore.
I was back on Frost Night.
Music blasting.
Students crowded the rink.
Snow outside.
Ava standing near the bleachers.
And Rowan—
Watching her.
Watching us.
I forced the memory down.
Not now.
The stairwell opened into an upper corridor.
I burst through the doorway.
Empty.
My breathing sharpened.
N
