Chapter 16 · The Second Heart

"Let go of me."

Samuel's hand twisted tighter in the back of Nora's coat. The platform dropped another six inches. Stone split beneath her boots.

"Not happening," he said.

"I said—"

The floor gave out.

Nora grabbed for the wall. Her fingers scraped brick. Samuel yanked her back as a black pipe tore free of the ceiling and whipped across the chamber, spitting hot silver fluid. It slammed into the dead automaton's chest.

The thing's eye flared red.

"Run," Samuel said.

Nora ran.

Not away from him—she didn't have time for that. Not away from the thing under the city, either, though every step sent a pulse rattling through her bones. She ran because the chamber was falling apart and because Evelyn Crowe's voice was still stuck in her head.

*You were made for this.*

Made. Like a tool. Like a battery with a face.

The tunnel ahead buckled. Nora jumped a split in the floor as heat rolled under her boots. Behind her, metal claws ripped through old brick.

"That thing's back up!" Tarin shouted.

"Then move faster," Nora snapped.

Samuel came after them, one hand clamped to his side. Blood soaked through his shirt, darkened his coat.