Chapter 6 · Don't Bench Me

The vault door opened three inches, then stopped like it had changed its mind.

A line of black light cut across the concrete floor.

Carson grabbed the back of my jacket and hauled me away from it so fast my shoulder slammed into his chest. Pain burst through the bullet wound in my side.

“Easy,” I snapped, because apparently getting shot by my dead-not-dead father had not improved my mood.

“That thing is opening by itself.” Carson kept one arm in front of me. His fingers had claws at the tips now. Not all the way out. Just enough to make the point.

“I noticed.”

The old speaker above the steel door crackled again.

“Mia?”

I froze.

Jonah’s voice came through thin and choppy. Like somebody had shoved a phone inside a metal pipe.

“Jo?” I shoved toward the door.

Carson caught my elbow. “Wait.”

“Get off me.”

“Mia.” His voice dropped. “That could be bait.”

My brother made a sound through the speaker. Not a word. Just a sharp breath, then something hit hard in the background.

“Jonah!”

The black light under the vault door pulsed.

Then Jonah said, louder this time, “Don’t open it all the way. Seriously.