Chapter 21 · The Anchor Ignites

"Rowan!"

Lyra's voice cut through the thunder, sharp enough to pull me back from the edge.

I looked over my shoulder.

She stood on the cracked platform with one hand pressed to her ribs. Her coat was torn. Her silver investigator's badge was blackened at the edges. In her other hand, she held a folded document sealed in royal red wax.

The arrest order.

"Give me the anchor schematics," she said.

"They're in my head."

"Then tell me what you need."

"Three minutes."

Lyra glanced at the burning numbers carved into the sky above us.

02:21

Her jaw tightened. "You have two minutes and twenty-one seconds."

"The master anchor's under the orchard."

"The dead one?"

"The dormant one."

"The one that was supposed to be impossible to restart?"

"Most useful things are impossible until someone stops reading the instructions."

A violent crack split the air. The southern ridge lifted six feet, exposing the tangled roots of the old apple trees. Pale light poured from beneath them, revealing a circular metal hatch buried under stone and dirt.

I pointed. "There."

Lyra sprinted first.

I followed, boots slipping in wet soil.