I’m two steps down the hallway before wrath turns my blood molten. William is on the far side of the school already—I sense him preparing to shatter another window and escape—his glee ringing along the invisible cord between us. Gunnar may be content to let him go, but I’m tired of being lied to and walked on.

“Stop,” I whisper. Reaching my thoughts across the distance of the school, following the thread that connects us, I sink back into William’s mind before he knows to resist. The smell of the far stairwell rises around me, his senses becoming mine … and I pull.

Maybe my control isn’t total, maybe I can’t force him to work for me against his will, but I’m puppet master enough to make him dance tonight. He fights, and sweat rolls as I fight back, but my hooks are far too deep for him to cast them off. Despite his struggles, I have him, and step by halting step, he makes his unwilling return.

When he reappears at the bend in the hall, a tall shadow with fiery, golden eyes, his tone is equal parts curiosity and resentment. “I am impressed.”

“You’ve got no idea what I’m capable of,” I snarl, because it’s true. Even I don’t know what I’m capable of anymore. “Now, I’m giving you one last chance: Help me save my parents, and you might live long enough to see the Ascension.”

William shakes with silent laughter, his eyes bright stars in the darkness. “You may be the Corrupter’s vessel, but that’s all you are—a filthy cup not worth the blood that fills it, a brat throwing a tantrum because it’s bedtime and he doesn’t want to go.”

“Sorry—I can’t hear you with my boot on your neck,” I snarl, breathing harder. William is still fighting me, and holding him in place is more difficult than I want to admit, his mind a nest of snakes that wriggle and squirm in my grasp.

“Save your threats.” He makes a dismissive gesture, claws spread. “Even if I could do what you wish, I wouldn’t. I will never work against the Master—I would die for him!”

My fingers close into fists, my head whirling as rage spills from my heart. “Then die!”

I don’t know what I’m doing as I plunge deeper into the channels of his brain, as I find new strings to pull—only that each choice seems obvious and inevitable. Somehow, it’s as easy as breathing, an instinct that’s harder to resist than obey. William’s expression changes as the blood in his veins starts to vibrate, as his undead body begins to warm. At first, he’s excited, the memory of being alive flooding back; he thinks it’s a gift from the Corrupter … but I’m not done with him yet.