Chapter 25 · Dead Man Walking

"Do not touch him!" Lena slammed her palm against my chest and shoved me away from the open sigil-core.

The force sent me into a steel cabinet. My shoulder cracked against the corner. Behind her, the engine screamed.

Not made a sound. Screamed.

Blue-white lines ripped across the floor, racing toward Bram's body where it lay tangled in broken cables. Every gear in the chamber spun at once. Bolts jumped from the walls. A chain snapped overhead and whipped through the air.

"Lena!" I pushed off the cabinet. "Get out of the circle!"

"You first."

"I am not leaving Bram."

"Then stop acting like an idiot and listen to me!"

She caught my coat before I could reach the core. Her fingers locked in the fabric, hot and shaking. A dark line of blood ran from her temple down the side of her face.

I stared at it. "You are bleeding."

"Congratulations. Your eyes work. Move."

"What hit you?"

"The wall. Because someone dragged me in front of a collapsing engine."

"I did not drag you."

"You grabbed my hand and ran straight into the kill room. That counts."

The floor bucked beneath us. Lena lost her balance.