Chapter 30 · Down the Blackglass Line

"Get to the roof or we burn with the car."

Calder's claws scraped against the cargo car's metal wall, his weight pulling me toward the corner where smoke already curled through the seams. The cuff bit into my wrist, hot enough to sting.

"Roof's locked," I said. "And your wing's shredded."

"Then we make a door." He shoved past me, dragging me with him, and slammed his shoulder into the hatch overhead. It didn't budge. The car lurched, metal screaming against the rails, and I caught myself against his chest. His heart hammered under stone skin, fast and hard.

"Move," I said, shoving him back. I pulled the audit rod from my belt and jammed it into the hatch seal. The ward-lock sputtered, spitting blue sparks that smelled like burned copper. "Seraphine's got trace wards all over this line. The second we break through, she'll know."

"She already knows." Calder's voice was tight. "Look at the rails."

I twisted, squinting through the smoke. The tunnel wall blurred past, but I caught it—glowing lines crawling along the track like veins, pulsing in time with the car's vibration. Audit wards. Fresh ones.

"She's herding us," I said.

"Or trapping us.