The voice outside the basement borrowed Ty's throat.
Jade knew it before the second word finished. The sound pushed through the sealed stairwell door, through Kieran's gold lines, through Waddell's shoulder braced against the bent frame, and through every frightened person packed between the pantry shelves and the milk coolers.
It carried too many old things with it.
Rain on Ty's jacket. A joke half-swallowed because he had laughed first. The apartment window that never closed right. The cheap dinner bag he had held in one hand while promising the next one would be better.
"Jade, open the wrong door for me before they make you choose."
The boy with the broken dinosaur began crying into his sleeve.
Tyree moved before Jade could answer, putting his body between the children and the stairwell while keeping his lit hand low enough to avoid frightening them worse. He had the look of someone who wanted to ask whether the voice was real and already knew the answer would ruin the room.
