Chapter 7 · The Door Beneath the City

"Mara, put it down."

Elise's voice.

My sister's voice.

Coming through the vault walls like she's in a dozen rooms at once.

"Mara, listen to me. Mara, you don't know what you're holding."

Kieran's hand closes around my wrist. Hard.

"Don't," he says. His face is sheet-white under the flickering vault light. "Don't answer her."

"That's my sister."

"That's not your sister."

I yank my arm free. The shard burns hot in my other palm, pulsing in time with the voice. "You don't know that. You said the memories were edited. Maybe she's still—"

"She's not alive, Mara." Kieran's breathing hard now, one hand pressed to the wound in his side. Blood's seeping through his shirt again. "The Registry doesn't keep people. It keeps what's useful."

The voice shifts. Drops lower.

"Mara, he's lying to you. He killed me. You saw it."

My throat closes up.

"I saw an edited memory," I say, but my voice cracks halfway through.

Kieran moves toward the vault door. His legs are shaking. "We need to go. Now."

"Where? The blackout's still—"

"Doesn't matter." He punches a code into the panel by the door. Nothing happens. He tries again, slower. Still nothing. "Shit.