The darkness of the crawlspace felt like a living thing. Clara pressed her spine against the cold stone of the inner wall. She held her breath until her lungs burned. Through the narrow slit in the wood she watched the silhouette of Silas Vesper. He was a shadow within a shadow. He did not move like an old man. He moved like a spider.
"She is not here. Silas." Vane's voice was like a wall of ice. He stepped into his father's path. He was taller. Stronger. But Silas carried an aura of rot that seemed to dim the lights of the penthouse.
Silas stopped. He tilted his head. He inhaled deeply. "You have lived in this tower too long. Vane. You have forgotten the copper tang of the pact. I can hear her heart. It is beating like a trapped bird. Right behind your favorite books."
Clara's heart thundered. She tried to slow it. She tried to think of nothing.
"The girl is a scavenger," Vane said. He did not move. "She is unimportant. I have my trackers in the Underbelly. They will find her by dawn."
Silas let out a dry. hacking laugh. He raised his bone cane and pointed it at the bookshelf. "You were always soft. Your mother was the same. She thought love was a shield. It was only a handle for the blade."
The old man lunged. He was faster than a human should be. He shoved Vane aside with a strength that cracked the marble floor. Silas reached the shelf. He didn't look for a latch. He slammed his cane into the wood.
The shelf shattered.
Clara screamed as the wood splintered inward. Light flooded her hiding spot. She scrambled backward. hitting the stone wall. Silas reached in. His hand was a claw of cold skin and yellow nails. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the center of the room.
"The Key," Silas whispered. He stared at her neck. At the glowing birthmark. He looked like a man seeing gold for the first time in a desert. "Look at her. Vane. She is perfect. The blood is vibrant. The debt will be settled for another thousand years."
Vane was on his feet in an instant. His eyes were no longer flecked with gold. They were solid. shimmering metallic yellow. The air in the room began to hum. Objects on the desk started to rattle.
"Let her go. Silas."
"Or what? You will kill your own father?" Silas twisted his hand in Clara's hair. She cried out. "You cannot touch me. The pact protects the elder until the ritual is done. That is the law. You are just a steward. I am the architect."
Silas turned his gaze back to Clara. He leaned in close. His breath smelled of stagnant water. "Do you know what you are. little bird? You aren't a person. You are a battery. You are a collection of cells meant to keep our lights on. Your father knew. Why do you think he ran up those debts? He sold you the day you were born."
"You're lying," Clara gasped. She clawed at his wrist. but it was like grabbing a branch of petrified wood.
"He took the money. He bought his wine and his games. and he signed the line," Silas sneered. "He knew we would come for you eventually."
The world tilted. Clara looked at Vane. He didn't deny it. He just stood there. a storm of power held back by a single thread of restraint.
"Is it true?" she asked.
Vane didn't look away. "The debts were the bait. Clara. We chose him because we knew he would fail. We needed a reason to bring you here."
Clara felt a coldness deeper than the vault settle in her bones. Her whole life had been a calculation. Her struggles. her three jobs. her hunger. It was all a script written by the monsters in the glass tower.
Silas began to drag her toward the elevator. "Enough talk. The moon is rising. The vault is waiting."
"No." Vane moved.
He didn't attack Silas. He grabbed the Blood Ledger from the desk. He held it over the edge of the balcony. Sixty stories of empty air waited below.
"Stop," Vane commanded.
Silas froze. He looked at the book. Then at his son. "You wouldn't. If that book hits the ground. the names are erased. The money turns to ash. You will be a beggar in the mud within an hour."
"I don't care about the money. Silas. I have lived two hundred years. I am bored of being rich. I am tired of being dead while I breathe." Vane held the book with one hand. His arm was steady. "Let her go. or I drop the legacy."
Silas hissed. It was a sound of pure. primal rage. He looked at the girl. Then at the book. The greed won. He shoved Clara away. She fell onto the marble. gasping.
"You are a fool." Silas spat. "You think she will love you after this? You are the one who trapped her. You are the one who watched her father sign her away. You are the monster. Vane. Not me. I am just hungry. You are a hypocrite."
Silas walked toward the elevator. He stopped at the doors. "I will be in the vault. The blood moon peaks at midnight. If you are not there with the girl. the pact will take us both. It won't be a clean death. The shadows will eat your soul while you are still awake to feel it."
The elevator doors closed.
The penthouse was silent. The only sound was the wind howling against the glass. Vane pulled the book back from the edge. He didn't look at Clara.
"Get up," he said. His voice was hollow.
Clara stood up. She wiped the blood from her lip where Silas had gripped her. She looked at Vane. He looked like a statue. Cold. Beautiful. Damned.
"My father sold me?" she asked.
"Yes."
"And you knew? You've known since I was a child?"
Vane finally looked at her. The gold was gone from his eyes. They were dark. filled with a pain that spanned centuries. "I watched you. I made sure you stayed alive. I made sure the collectors didn't kill you too early. I thought I was being merciful. I thought I was protecting the asset."
"I am a person. Vane."
"I know that now." He walked to the window. He watched the purple moon. "And that is why I am going to lose."
Clara walked up behind him. She didn't touch him. "What happens if we don't go to the vault?"
"The tower falls. Every cent the Vespers ever made vanishes. The city loses its power grid. Thousands will die in the chaos. And I will age. All the years I cheated will catch up to me in a single minute. I will be dust before I hit the floor."
"And me?"
"You will live. The debt dies with me. You would be free."
Clara looked at his back. He was offering to die for her. To turn into dust so she could go back to the mud. It was the first honest thing anyone had ever offered her.
"There has to be another way," she said.
"There isn't. The pact is written in blood. It can only be broken by blood. Or by the total destruction of the lineage." Vane turned around. He reached out and touched her neck. His fingers were warm now. "I spent two centuries looking for a reason to stay. I found it in a girl who tried to rob me."
He smiled. It was a sad. beautiful smile.
"I'm going to take you down to the Underbelly." Vane said. "I'll give you enough cash to get out of the city before the tower collapses. Go to the mountains. Go to the sea. Just don't look back when the lights go out."
Clara looked at the Blood Ledger. She thought of the names. The lives stolen. The history of pain. She thought of Vane. trapped in a loop of gold and death.
"If the tower falls. the people in the Underbelly die in the dark." Clara said. "The hospitals. the heaters. they all run on your power."
"It's a poisoned gift. Clara."
"It's still life." She took a breath. She reached out and took his hand. His skin felt like silk. "We aren't going to the Underbelly."
Vane frowned. "What are you saying?"
"We're going to the vault. We're going to face Silas. But we aren't doing his ritual."
"Clara. you don't understand. The shadows in that room. they aren't ghosts. They are hunger. They will tear you apart."
"Let them try." Clara's eyes were fierce. "You said you're a monster. Vane. Well. I'm a scavenger. I know how to find the weak spot in a machine. And your family legacy is just a very old. very bloody machine."
Vane looked at her. For the first time in two hundred years. he felt a spark of hope. It was a dangerous feeling. It was sharper than a knife.
"The moon is almost at the top." Vane said.
"Then let's go."
They walked toward the service elevator. The glass tower groaned. The air was turning red. The final night had begun.