Chapter 11 · The Living Lock

"Nora."

The voice came from under the tracks.

She jerked back. The metal platform shook under her boots.

Samuel caught the wall. Blood soaked through the bandage at his side. "Tell me that wasn't the station."

"It wasn't the station," Tarin said.

Nora spun on him. "You knew."

His mouth tightened.

That pause told her everything.

She crossed the platform in three steps and slammed him into a dead ticket machine. The glass cracked. Dust fell.

"You knew what was down here."

"I knew there was a chamber—"

"You knew my mother came here."

"I knew she'd been here, yeah—"

"And you knew that thing could speak."

Tarin lifted both hands. "I didn't know it would wake up."

Nora pressed her forearm against his throat. Her ribs screamed. Her shoulder burned where the bullet tore through her coat. That second heartbeat in her chest knocked in time with the pulse under the rails.

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

Behind her, the hunting automaton stood silent, brass head tilted toward the tracks. Its rifle arm had lowered, but the barrel still glowed red.

Samuel eyed it. "Is that thing helping us, or waiting for a clean shot?"

The automaton clicked.

"Great," Samuel muttered.