Chapter 42 · The Vault of Ash

"Don't touch the key." Mira's hand clamped around Reid's wrist before the metal teeth reached the first star-line.

Her fingers were warm. Too warm for someone standing beside a blue-lit altar that had already tried to tear three people apart.

Reid looked down at her grip, then at the silver key between his fingers. "Let go."

"No."

"Leo is trapped."

"I know."

"Then move."

Mira stepped between him and the altar. Her shoulder brushed his chest. The contact lasted half a second, but he caught the clean bite of her soap, the sharp heat of her breath, and the way her pulse jumped under his thumb.

She knew he felt it. Her jaw tightened.

"That key isn't a key," she said. "It's a trigger."

Behind her, Leo screamed.

The blue hand rising from the altar closed around his ankle. Light crawled up his leg in thin bands. He kicked hard, but the bands only tightened.

"Mira!" Leo shouted. "Get it off me!"

"I'm trying!"

"Try faster!"

The voice inside the vault answered for her.

"The child opens the door. The thief returns the Current. The witness is unnecessary."

Reid's skin prickled beneath the black mark on his palm.