Chapter 24 · His Sister in the Core

"Don't touch her." Rowan's hand shot out and caught Mara's wrist before she could reach the chains.

"I wasn't going to," Mara said. Her voice was too steady. "Look at the lock."

Rowan looked. The chains wrapped around his sister's arms weren't iron. They were black glass, humming low enough to feel in his teeth. Elara's eyes were closed. Her chest moved. Shallow. Too shallow.

"She's breathing," he said. "Why is she breathing?"

"Because someone wants her awake when the bell rings," Mara said. She pulled her wrist free and stepped closer to the glass cylinder holding Elara upright. "These chains aren't standard issue. They're resonance locks. Break one, the rest tighten."

"Then we don't break them."

"We don't have tools to unlock them either."

"So what do we do?" Rowan's voice cracked. "Leave her?"

Mara turned and looked at him. Her jaw was tight. "You tell me. You're the one who's died six times trying to fix this."

"Seven," Rowan said. "Seven times."

"Then tell me what happens if we pull her out."

Rowan opened his mouth. Closed it. His hands were shaking again. He shoved them in his pockets.

"I don't know," he said.