Chapter 15 · The Price of Remembering

"Get your hand off the lever before I break your wrist."

Mara’s voice sliced through the static of the archive room. Rowan didn't flinch. His fingers stayed clamped onto the cold iron of the terminal. The machine wasn't just vibrating—it felt like a heartbeat skipping under his palm.

"We don't have time for threats, Mara. The soldiers are chewing through the door right now," Rowan said. His voice sounded thin. Pathetic.

He looked back. The reinforced bulkhead was buckling inward. A slow-motion scream of steel under pressure.

Mara stepped into his space. She didn't just stand near him; she crowded him, her shoulder pressing against his, forcing him back into the console. She smelled like ozone and old gunpowder.

"You're shaking," she whispered. Her eyes scanned his pale face, too close, too sharp. "You just found out your 'gift' is a detonator for the whole city, and now you want to play hacker? Give me the override key."

"I can't," Rowan breathed.

He stared at the screen. No password prompt. No login. Just one sentence: *Input Memory Fragment to Unlock Sector 7.*

"What is it? What's it saying?" Mara reached around him.