Chapter 10 · Bring Her Home

"Get away from her!" Evelyn shoved Cade hard enough to make his shoulder hit the iron support beam.

The vault answered with a deep metallic groan.

Above them, gears screamed. Black fire crawled through the cracks in the ceiling, burning without heat at first. Then the air turned sharp against Evelyn's face.

Cade caught her wrist before she could reach the girl curled beside the broken clock housing. His fingers closed around the obsidian ring fused to Evelyn's skin, and pain shot up her arm.

"Let go."

"You touch that door, it seals."

"Mira is inside the ring's field."

"I know."

Evelyn twisted. "Then stop standing there like a very handsome execution notice and help me."

His jaw tightened. The vault's red warning lamps flashed across his face, catching the blood at his temple and the hard line of his mouth.

"You have ninety seconds," he said. "After that, the lower chamber collapses."

"You said that thirty seconds ago."

"And now you have sixty."

The girl on the floor made a small sound.

Evelyn dropped beside her.

Mira looked about twelve, though the gray in her hair made her seem younger and older at the same time.