Chapter 3

The abandoned conduit was darker than I remembered. The flashlight swept over walls cracked with dried salt. Water had once run through here to feed the entire city. Now only a hot, stifling echo remained inside the pipe.

Evelyn walked ahead, moving fast. She knew this place, knew every access hatch, knew which lines still worked and which doors had rusted shut. "The old water gate is another sixteen hundred feet ahead," she said. "Once we crank it open, the water will come down from the ridge reservoir under its own pressure."

I did not answer, because the door ahead had already lit up red. [Remotely locked.]

Evelyn's expression shifted. "Julian wired this into the ridge system too."

She threw herself at the maintenance console and entered her own engineer credentials. The second the channel opened, Julian's voice came through the speaker. "Mom? Where the hell are you?"

Evelyn's eyes lit up. "Julian, listen to me. The Lower City cooling station has lost water. Mara and I are in the old conduit. Release the lock on the water gate right—"

The camera swung toward us. Our smoke gear was so covered in ash the color was gone, and the masks hid most of our faces.

Celine's voice came in right after. "Julian, don't fall for it. Mara's an expert at faking data. Now she's even hired someone to fake a voice. They want to cut off the dome's water."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

Evelyn ripped off her mask and shouted into the camera. "I'm your mother! Look at me!"

The other end went quiet for two seconds, and I even heard Julian's breathing turn quick and shallow. Then Celine said softly, "If that were really your mother, why would she be helping Mara destroy your future?"

A second later, Julian said in a low voice, "Drop the ramp isolation gates. Nobody goes near the ridge reservoir."

"Julian!"

Evelyn slammed her hand against the console. Heavy metal gates dropped at both ends of the conduit and the vents shut at the same time. Smoke poured in through the seams, and the heat came like an invisible fire, filling the narrow space in seconds. I threw myself at the water gate, and the scorching metal left my palms numb.

It would not open. Nothing I did would open it.

Evelyn grabbed me and pressed a cooling injector into my palm. "Get out through the maintenance shaft."

"Evelyn, come with me."

"The shaft only fits one person."

She pushed the heavy access key into my hand too. "There's something inside the key. Don't trust Julian. Go to the old pump station."

The smoke thickened. I doubled over coughing, my eyes streaming. Evelyn kept pushing me toward the shaft.

"Mara. The people in the Lower City are still waiting for water."

The last thing I saw was her braced against the water gate, holding the access cover open before it could slam shut above me. The hot wind had torn her hair loose, but there was not a trace of hesitation on her face.

"Go."

The shaft was so narrow I could barely breathe. I dragged my burned arm forward, and behind me the metal door boomed fully shut. When I fell out the other end onto the ground, all I could hear over the communicator was Julian's frantic, bewildered voice.

"Mom? Why aren't you saying anything?"

I looked back at the sealed water gate and finally laughed, laughed until the tears ran down.

"Because you locked her in."