Chapter 15: Fire and Blood
The timer on the wall was a digital eye counting down our doom.
04:12... 04:11...
I stared at the explosive device strapped to the main boiler. It was a mess of copper wiring and glowing runes. It hummed with a low and menacing vibration.
"It is a blood seal," I realized aloud. "He fused plastic explosives with a necrotic binding spell."
Siena sat on the floor where she had collapsed. She was hugging her knees. She was rocking back and forth.
"He said I was special," Siena mumbled. "He said I was the key."
"You are the key," I snapped. I crouched down in front of the bomb. "Siena look at me. Look at the bomb."
Siena did not look. She stared at the air.
"We are going to die," she whispered.
I grabbed her chin. I forced her to look at my face. My eyes fla
