Chapter 13 · Finn Is in the Grid

"Don't touch the door." Elias caught Nora's wrist before her palm reached the blood-marked lock.

His grip was hot. Not warm. Hot enough to sting through her glove.

Nora twisted hard, drove her elbow toward his ribs, and felt him turn with the hit instead of taking it. His shoulder slammed into hers. The iron door shuddered behind them.

"Let go."

"You open that, the grid takes whatever memory you give it first."

"My brother is behind it."

"And the council planted a kill-switch in the lock. Guess which one of us they expect to rush in screaming?"

Nora looked down at his hand around her wrist. Black lines crawled beneath his skin, brightening with every beat of their shared pain.

"You knew," she said.

"I suspected."

"You dragged me here knowing Finn could be trapped inside?"

"I brought you here because you're the only person the door might recognize."

She shoved him back. "Try that answer again without the part where you make me useful."

Elias hit the opposite wall and stayed there, breathing hard. His coat hung open, torn from the fight through the lower tunnels. A thin cut ran along his jaw.