Chapter 17 · Mom's Voice Behind the Door

"Don't touch it."

Kael's hand stopped an inch from the black line threading out of the vault door.

"I'm serious," I said. "That thing just spoke in my mother's voice and told me not to let you inside."

"Your mother's dead."

"Missing. And that's her voice."

Kael pulled his hand back, but his eyes stayed locked on the line. It pulsed faint red at the edges, like a vein under too much pressure. The vault door stood open maybe three inches. Just enough to see darkness on the other side. Just enough for that thread to slip through and hang in the air like a tripwire.

"Recorded message," Kael said. "Triggered by biometric scan. Your print opened the door. Hers programmed the warning."

"Then why's it moving?"

The line was drifting left, slow, like something underwater. Kael stepped closer. I grabbed his wrist.

"What part of don't touch it are you not getting?"

"The part where we're running out of time." He didn't pull away, but his pulse hammered under my fingers. "Milo's decrypting the last file. Selene wants me at the exchange point by midnight. We need what's in that vault."

"We need you alive."

"Same thing.