Chapter 18 · Pain flashed white. I hissed. “That supposed to

Pain flashed white.

I hissed. “That supposed to make me trust you?”

“No. It’s supposed to make you listen.”

“Then talk.”

Sloane stared at the brass door. Her jaw tightened once.

“Door two isn’t a room,” she said. “It’s a passage.”

“To where?”

“The city’s central gear.”

I looked at the black gear stamped into the lock. “The Heart.”

“Below the Heart.”

My father’s warning came back in his voice, rough and impatient. Never open a door you can’t close.

I had been ten when he said it. He’d smacked my hand away from a cracked engine and then made me explain why the pressure gauge was moving backward.

I shoved the memory down before it could soften me.

“Why hide a passage below the city’s power core?” I asked.

“Because the Archon doesn’t want anyone seeing what keeps Augusta alive.”

“You’ve seen it.”

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“I’ve seen the outer chamber. Not what’s behind that door.”

“But you know what’s there.”

“I know what disappeared there.”

The words scraped out of her.

I stopped fighting her grip.

Sloane noticed.

“What disappeared?” I asked.

“People.”

“How many?”

“Enough.”

“That’s not a number.”

“It’s the number that matters.