Chapter 11 · Old Debts, Burning Steel

The lights cut out.

I grabbed Claire's arm and we both froze. Complete darkness. The kind that pressed against your eyes and made your ears amplify every sound. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Archer's did too. I heard the faint vibration even from where he stood three feet away.

"Don't move," Archer said. His voice was calm. Too calm. The kind of calm that meant things were very not calm.

I pulled out my phone. The screen lit up my face and Claire's. She looked pale. Blood on her temple from where Ivy had hit her. The message on my screen was from an unknown number.

*Three minutes. The building has enough C4 to level the block. Run.*

"What the hell," Claire whispered.

Archer was already moving. I heard his footsteps, fast and sure even in the dark. He knew this warehouse. Of course he did. Ivy had brought us here. Ivy worked with him. Ivy who just told me my mother destroyed her father. Ivy who helped kill mine.

"Stairs are blocked," Archer said. "She would've rigged the main exit."

"How do you know?" My voice came out sharper than I meant.

He didn't answer.