Liam’s nostrils flared. Something hung heavy in the air—the stench of the other world. Rot and blood and pain. He looked past the officer to the pair of guards who flanked him. Darkness clung to the corners of their eyes. They held themselves unnaturally, dangling as if from puppet strings, their joints sharp and raw.

They weren’t shadow-consumed. Not completely. But the shadow had gotten its hooks in them and was eating them from the inside out. The warning trill in the back of Liam’s mind was blaring now.

“My name is Jozef Kreutzer. But I believe you already knew that, yes?”

Liam’s tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth. “I . . .”

“Liam Doyle.” Kreutzer tucked his hands behind his back with a smirk. “Graduated from Princeton just short of your eighteenth birthday. Pursuing a master’s in theoretical physics . . . A real shame about your mother, though. And they never did find your father to bring him to justice? So tragic.”

A commotion in the doorway—more soldiers were joining them. Wrestling someone into the room. Liam swallowed down a cry. Daniel.

“I owe you some thanks, I believe, for your astounding work revealing the path to the shadow world. But your research was limited by a pitiful lack of imagination, Herr Doyle. You fling the shadows around like a child with paint. But I . . . I have the power to create a masterpiece.”

Kreutzer approached one of the soldiers and caressed the man’s cheek. Wisps of darkness followed his gloved fingertips as the man stared straight ahead, unblinking, his body rigid and strained.

“I can merge the shadows with man to create the perfect soldier. Perfectly obedient. Empowered with a raw, limitless energy that can devastate and destroy far beyond what any single soldier should be capable of. It took a great deal of trial and error to reach this point, but finally, I’ve perfected my technique.” Kreutzer narrowed his eyes at Daniel. “Shall I give you a demonstration?”

Daniel met Liam’s gaze with those dark, storm-cloud eyes of his, mouth opening. Liam squared his shoulders and dug his nails deeper into his palm, let the salty warmth build there, let the pain in his shoulder, his hand, his heart take root. Damn whatever waited on the other side—he had no choice. He faced Daniel and tried to convey meaning in a single look: Do you trust me?

Daniel tipped his head forward in a nod.

“Your methods of harnessing the energy are way too sloppy,” continued Kreutzer. “You can barely keep control of yourself, much less the creatures you try to command.”

Liam started to stand up, fists clenched. But Kreutzer rushed forward and shoved him back into the chair with a firm grip on his bad shoulder. Kreutzer’s smirk deepened as he drove his thumb right into Liam’s wound.