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"Get off the track!" Nora screamed. "Unless you want the train to cut you in half!"
Evelyn grabbed Cade's coat and yanked him sideways just as the iron engine tore through the tunnel. Its front lamp flashed over his face. Black sparks spat from the rails. The train missed them by inches, the heat of it punching through Evelyn's sleeves.
Cade slammed her against the tunnel wall after the last carriage thundered past. One hand locked around her wrist. The other braced beside her head.
"You heard her," he said. "Move."
"Get your hand off me."
"Not until you tell me why you stepped in front of a moving train."
"I was trying to stop it."
"With your body?"
"It was the fastest option."
His jaw tightened. His breath brushed her cheek, warm and sharp with smoke. The obsidian ring around her finger pulsed once. A matching pulse answered from the black band wrapped around his hand.
The two rings tugged toward the tracks.
Cade felt it. His eyes dropped to their joined hands, then snapped back to her face.
"The vault route," he said.
"You're catching up."
"Nora!" he shouted.
The mechanic was already running after the train. She looked over her shoulder and waved both arms.
"The brake car is gone!" she yelled. "Someone cut the coupling!"
Cade released Evelyn and drew his pistol.
"Who was on it?"
"My brother!"
Nora reached the next junction and skidded to a stop. Three sets of rails split in front of her. One climbed toward the old freight platforms. One vanished into a maintenance tunnel. The third dropped through a broken section of track where the city had collapsed years ago.
The train took the third line.
The rails ended over the abyss.
Evelyn's stomach clenched. "How long?"
"Four minutes," Nora said. "Maybe less."
"Until what?"
"Until the train reaches the vault route." Nora pointed at the broken rail. "After that, it goes down. The engine's chained to the old counterweight. Nothing stops it once it crosses the gate."
Cade raised his pistol toward the tunnel mouth.
"Then we shoot the driver."
"There isn't one," Nora snapped. "The archive drives it."
"Archives don't drive trains."
"This one does. And if you fire that thing in here, the pressure blast will bring the ceiling down on all of us."
Cade lowered the weapon by an inch.
Evelyn caught his sleeve. "She's right."
His stare cut to her fingers. "I didn't ask you."
"You need me alive."
"For the moment."
"Long enough to find the vault. Long enough to stop the fire. If I die, the ring takes your memories with mine."
His face went still.
The ring had done that since the last reset. Every time Evelyn tried to pull away, a thin black line crawled under her skin. Every time Cade touched the seal, both their heads filled with pieces of lives neither of them could hold onto.
A childhood kitchen.
A woman's voice.
A name that vanished before Evelyn could grab it.
Cade's thumb pressed against the inside of her wrist.
"You don't get to use that against me."
"Then stop giving me weapons."
Nora slapped a brass lever beside the junction. Nothing happened. She kicked it. The mechanism groaned, but the rail switch stayed locked.
"It's jammed," she said. "The train's already past the first marker."
"What do you need?" Cade asked.
"A live signal from the engine. The archive won't release the switch unless it recognizes a keeper's mark."
Evelyn looked at the ring.
The obsidian surface had no clasp, no seam, no way to remove it. At its center, a thin red line counted down in tiny glowing marks.
Twelve minutes had become eleven.
"The ring can open it," she said.
Cade stepped in front of her. "No."
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"You were going to touch the lock."
"Brilliant. You can still think."
"The last time you touched a sealed mechanism, it took six minutes from my memory."
"And the last time you trusted your orders, Grayharbor burned. We all have bad habits."
Nora stopped kicking the lever.
"What did you say?"
Cade's gaze sharpened. "Nothing."
"No, she said the order had your seal." Nora looked between them. "You told me it was forged."
"It was."
"Then why did the archive recognize it?"
The distant train screamed against the rails. A deep metal boom rolled through the tunnel.
Nora went pale. "It's at the gate."
"Show me the control box," Evelyn said.
"You don't know how to read rail signals."
"I know how to break things."
"That isn't the same—"
"Nora." Cade's voice cracked like a command. "Open the box."
She glared at him, then pulled a knife from her belt and drove it into the rusted panel. The cover popped free. Inside, copper wires writhed around a black glass plate.
Evelyn leaned closer.
The glass showed a memory instead of a reflection.
A man in a white court coat stood over a table. His hands were hidden behind his back. A silver seal burned on the paper in front of him.
Cade's seal.
The man said, "Take her below. Don't let the officer see the second page."
The image stuttered.
Then another voice whispered from inside the glass.
"Evelyn Morrow already knows."
Cade seized her elbow. "Don't touch it."
"You heard that."
"I heard a recording."
"It used my name."
"That doesn't mean—"
The glass split with a sharp crack. A black thread snapped out and struck Evelyn's hand.
Pain ripped up her arm.
She screamed and dropped to one knee. The ring flared red. Across from her, Cade staggered and hit the control box with his shoulder.
"Evelyn!"
"Don't touch me!"
"I'm not touching you."
"Then why can I feel your hand?"
His fingers were nowhere near her skin, but the pressure of them wrapped around her wrist anyway. His memory slammed into hers.
A narrow room.
A blade on a table.
Cade kneeling in front of someone whose face had been cut out of the memory.
"Say the order," the unseen person demanded.
"I won't."
"You will kill her."
The memory tore apart.
Cade made a rough sound and clutched the side of his head.
Evelyn shoved herself upright. "What did you see?"
"Nothing."
"Liar."
"You want the truth?" He caught her chin and forced her to meet his eyes. "I saw you standing in a room I don't remember. You were bleeding. You told me to run. Then I watched you die."
For one second, his grip loosened.
Evelyn's pulse kicked under his fingers.
"Did you kill me?" she asked.
His face closed. "Not here."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the only one you're getting while that train is carrying Nora's brother into a hole."
Nora pointed down the maintenance tunnel. "There! The emergency rail cart."
A small two-seat cart sat behind a chain gate. Its engine coughed when Nora reached it.
"It only carries two," she said.
"You drive," Cade said. "Evelyn and I take the roof."
"The roof?" Evelyn said.
"You wanted fast."
"I wanted alive."
"Pick one."
Nora hacked through the chain. Cade shoved the gate aside and climbed into the cart. Evelyn followed, but the instant she sat beside him, the ring pulled tight.
A black line stretched between their wrists, no thicker than thread.
Cade looked at it. "We're not leaving the cart."
"Try it and see what happens."
"I already know what happens."
Nora jumped into the driver's seat. "Hold on."
The cart shot forward.
Evelyn slammed into Cade's side. His arm came around her waist before she hit the metal frame. His palm locked against her ribs through her coat.
"You can let go now," she said.
"No."
"Was that difficult? Saying one honest word?"
"You keep trying to fall off things."
"You keep grabbing me."
"Because you keep making it necessary."
The cart bounced over a broken rail. His grip tightened. Evelyn's shoulder hit his chest. She felt his heartbeat through his uniform, steady and hard.
She shoved at him. "Don't get comfortable."
"Trust me. You're not comfortable enough for that."
The tunnel narrowed. Stone scraped both sides of the cart. Ahead, the stolen train's red signal flashed through the dark.
Nora twisted the throttle. "The brake car is two bends ahead!"
"Can we reach it?" Cade asked.
"If the track holds."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then we die before Joss does."
"That was not the answer I wanted."
"You hired me for repairs, not optimism."
The cart hit another split. Nora threw the lever and sent them onto a parallel rail. The train thundered beside them, so close Evelyn could see the wheels chewing sparks from the metal.
A face appeared behind the last window.
Joss.
His hands were tied. Blood ran from his temple. He slammed his shoulder against the glass.
"Nora!"
She screamed his name and tried to turn the cart toward the train.
Cade grabbed the steering bar. "Don't ram it."
"Let go!"
"You'll crush him."
"Then give me a better idea!"
Evelyn pointed at the roof ladder. "I can get across."
Cade turned on her. "No."
"You just said we needed to move fast."
"I said we."
"You don't get to lock me in a box because you're afraid I'll die."
His eyes went cold. "I'm not afraid."
"Your hand says otherwise."
He looked down. His fingers were still pressed against her waist.
For a beat, neither of them moved.
The train lurched. Joss vanished from the window.
Evelyn tore herself free and climbed onto the cart's roof.
"Evelyn!"
"Drive!"
"Get back down!"
"Make me!"
The wind from the passing train ripped at her hair. She crouched low, grabbed the roof rail, and waited for the next bend. The stolen train ran beside her, its cars shaking over the drop.
At the bend, the distance narrowed.
Evelyn jumped.
Her hands caught the train's rear ladder. The impact snapped her shoulder and nearly tore her loose. She bit down hard, dragged one boot onto the lower rung, and climbed.
Cade shouted something behind her, but the tunnel swallowed it.
She reached the brake car and found the door chained from the outside.
"Of course," she muttered. "Why would anything be easy?"
She pulled a pick from her sleeve and jammed it into the lock.
The chain rattled.
A hand closed around the back of her coat.
Cade hauled her onto the roof.
"What the hell are you doing?" she shouted.
"Saving you."
"I didn't ask."
"You never do."
He braced one knee against the roof and leaned over the side. The abyss opened below them, black and endless. The train shook under their boots.
Evelyn grabbed his belt. "Cade. Don't."
"The coupling is damaged. The brake car's pulling away."
"Then get back up."
"I can reach the release lever."
"You can also fall."
He looked at her hand on his belt. "You worried about me?"
"I'm worried about the ring."
"Right."
His mouth almost curved. It was gone before she could decide if she'd seen it.
The train hit the final bend.
The brake car jerked sideways. Cade's boots slid over the edge.
Evelyn caught him.
His full weight slammed against her arms. Her knees struck the roof. The ring burned between them, tying their wrists together while his body hung over the drop.
"Let go," he said.
"No."
"Evelyn, let go."
"You first."
"You'll go over with me."
"Then stop being heavy."
His fingers clawed for the roof rail. Missed.
The train shrieked. Stone flashed inches from his head.
"You can't hold me," he said.
"Watch me."
"Your shoulder's hurt."
"And your timing sucks."
He looked up at her. His face was close enough that she felt his breath against her mouth. Dust streaked his cheek. A thin line of blood ran from his brow.
"If I tell you to let go," he said, quieter now, "you do it."
"No."
"That's an order."
"You lost the right to order me when your seal sent people to burn this city."
His eyes changed. Not anger. Something sharper.
"My seal didn't send that order."
"Then prove it."
"Pull me up."
"Give me the truth."
"You want the truth now?"
"I want a reason not to drop you."
He reached for her with one hand. His fingers closed around the back of her neck, not hard, but firm enough to keep her from turning away.
"I remember your voice," he said. "Every time the ring takes something, I remember less. But I remember you telling me not to trust the court. I remember you saying my name like you hated it."
"I do hate it."
"You say it like you want me to stay."
Her grip slipped.
Cade's body dropped another inch.
"Damn you!" Evelyn hauled him upward. "Stop talking."
"You started it."
"I was threatening you."
"You always threaten me when you're scared."
"I'm not scared."
"Your pulse is jumping."
"That's because you're hanging over a hole."
"My pulse isn't."
For one dangerous second, they stared at each other.
Then Evelyn hooked her arm around his and pulled with everything she had. Cade found the rail. His elbow hit the roof. He rolled hard across the metal and dragged her down with him.
They landed chest to chest.
His hand was still at her neck. Her palm pressed against his heart.
Neither of them moved.
"Get off me," she whispered.
"You first."
The train jolted again. Their foreheads knocked together.
Nora's voice came through the speaking tube. "You two alive?"
Evelyn shoved Cade away. "Barely."
"Good. Open the brake car!"
Cade cut the chain with a short blade and kicked the door inward. Evelyn dropped inside first. Cade followed, catching her elbow when the floor tilted.
Joss was strapped to a metal chair at the far end. A black cable ran from the collar around his neck into the train wall.
Nora's voice crackled through the tube. "Don't pull the cable!"
"Wasn't planning to," Evelyn said.
Joss lifted his head. "Nora?"
"I'm here!"
"The engine has a keeper inside it."
Cade drew his pistol. "Where?"
Joss laughed once, weak and breathless. "You're looking at her."
The cable snapped tight.
Evelyn's ring flared.
Every light in the car died.
A voice spoke from the wall behind her.
"Welcome back, Keeper."
Evelyn froze.
Cade moved in front of her. "Who said that?"
The wall split open. A narrow black hand reached through the gap and pointed at Evelyn's ring.
"She sealed the vault," the voice said. "She sealed it with her own name."
Nora screamed through the speaking tube. "Evelyn, get away from him!"
"Why?" Evelyn demanded. "What did I do?"
The train crossed the final marker.
The floor dropped beneath Cade's boots.
Evelyn grabbed him before he went over the broken section. Cade caught her wrist at the same time, their rings locking together with a hot snap.
Nora reached the control lever and stared through the open door.
Her face drained of color.
"That ring," she whispered. "No. You can't have it."
Evelyn held Cade with one hand and clung to the doorframe with the other. "Nora, tell me what it is."
Nora backed away from the lever.
"You don't remember?" she asked.
"Remember what?"
Nora's eyes fixed on the obsidian band, then on Evelyn's face.
"You sealed the buried clock vault yourself. You put that ring on your hand and—"
The train dropped.
Cade's grip tore loose.
Nora lunged for the emergency brake, shouting, "You put your sister inside—"