Chapter 10 · The Sinner in the Archive

"Hands off the terminal."

Nia had the knife out before the voice finished.

Elias didn't move. He stood with his palm flat against the archive console, red light crawling up his wrist like a живое thing.

"Step back," she said.

"Can't."

"Try."

"System won't let me." His jaw locked. "It's scanning."

Behind them, the black door knocked again.

Three slow hits. Not loud. Not rushed.

Kellan flinched against Tavi's shoulder. Tavi's hand went to the blade at his belt.

"Don't open it," Elias said.

Nia didn't take her eyes off him. "Already the plan."

The door knocked a fourth time.

This one sounded like a fist hitting bone.

Kellan's voice whispered through the family district screens behind them. Thin. Stretched. Wrong.

*Don't trust the man who came back.*

Nia grabbed the front of Elias's coat and yanked him off the console. He stumbled. The red light snapped off his hand.

"Tell me what's behind that door."

His head knocked the archive pillar. He didn't fight her.

That scared her more.

"I don't know."

"Try again."

"I don't know, Nia."

"You knew the door would open."

"I knew the lock was tied to the summit archive."

"That's not what I asked."