Chapter 7 · Nora Runs the Rails

"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.