Chapter 11 · The Bloodlock Below

"Adrian, she's bleeding out."

Theo's voice crackled through the earpiece, half static, half panic. I didn't stop moving. The tunnel dropped steep, the walls slick with something that wasn't water.

"How long?" I asked.

"Minutes. Maybe less. The lock's draining her."

Mara grabbed my shoulder, yanked me back before I hit the trip wire strung across the passage. Silver thread. Curse-laid.

"Watch it," she said. "You're running blind."

"I know where I'm going."

"Yeah? Last time you said that, half your shop blew up."

I ducked under the wire. "That was different."

"Sure it was." She followed, close enough I could hear her breathing hard. "What happens when we get there and the bloodlock won't open?"

"It'll open."

"With what? You planning to bleed yourself dry for your sister?"

I stopped. Turned. She nearly ran into me, close enough I felt the heat coming off her, the sharp edge of her breath.

"If that's what it takes," I said.

"Idiot." She shoved past me. "Then who runs the key? You'll be dead, Lia'll be dead, and I'll be stuck down here with whatever comes through."

"You could leave."

"Could've left an hour ago. Didn't.