Chapter 23 · Eleven Seconds Before Reset

"Pick one," Calder said. "The people behind that door, or me. You don't get both."

Mara slammed both hands against his chest. The impact should have moved him. Calder barely rocked back.

Behind him, the vault door stood open on a room packed with frozen bodies. Guards hung in the middle of reaching for weapons. A woman had one hand over her child's mouth. Even the dust above the floor had stopped falling.

Every face was turned toward Mara.

Every clock in the vault showed the same thing.

Eleven seconds.

"Don't make this sound noble," Mara snapped. "You dragged me here. You knew the reset was coming."

"I knew the contract would wake up. I didn't know it would trap the district."

"You always know more than you say."

His jaw tightened. A dark line of blood slipped from beneath his collar and ran down his throat. Mara saw it. So did he.

He wiped it away with two fingers.

"And you always steal what isn't yours. We all have habits."

"I stole eleven seconds from a bullet. That's why you're still breathing."

"And the contract used those seconds to tie me to you."

"Then break it.