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“If anyone comes, they’ll be stuck here just like us,” Lucienne said. “So if I can’t get this thing working, we’ll have to find a way to warn them not to come.”

“Tell that to Kian McQuillen. They’ll all come for you, even if it is a death trap,” Vladimir said. “I’m glad I’m here with you.”

“So you’re not mad at me anymore for keeping a few secrets?”

“You have more?” Vladimir sighed. “I would be much angrier if we were stuck in different worlds. I would go crazy if I didn’t know you were safe at every turn.”

“Now I really have to make this thing work.” Lucienne slammed the open locket onto the Eye and waited for the worst.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Vladimir stood beside her, tense as a whip, his hands suspended in the air, ready to catch her if she was thrown backward again.

A weight fell into her hand.

It’s mine!“The Eye of Time is ours,” she said.

An enchanted fire shimmered in her eyes, and Vladimir pulled her into his arms, crushing her against his hard chest. His hands moved toward the small of her back possessively. She could hear clearly his unspoken word, “You’re mine!” Closing the locket with the Eye of Time inside the cage, she threw her arms around his neck.

The flashlights exploded to life, spotlighting them, their entwined shadow waltzing on the gate. The flooded light was so intense that Lucienne instantly shut her eyelids. Vladimir whirled her around, turning her back to the lights, and growled at the warriors.

“Sorry, Lucia,” Orlando said, “The men didn’t see this coming.” He then yelled at them, and the men all turned their flashlights into the opposite direction and apologized profusely.

“Stop apologizing. But please give us a little notice next time,” Lucienne said, shaking her head with a smile. She pressed her palm against Vladimir’s handsome face before she pulled away from him and walked to the warriors. “We have what we came for. Let’s go home and celebrate.”

As the men whistled and cheered, the distant town plunged into blackness.

“What happened to the village?” Orlando asked.

“Someone’s coming,” Vladimir warned.

A pillar of light moved toward them from the border of Hell Gate.

“Code Three!” Orlando pulled out his combat knife and dashed toward the light. The giant and the other commandos fanned out, closing in on the spot of light from either side.

Vladimir guarded Lucienne, though she didn’t really need a shield. Orlando grabbed the unknown figure running toward them and threw him to the ground. Dropping to a knee, he put his knife to the person’s throat. “It’s that peasant girl,” he called over his shoulder, removing his knife.

Lucienne strode toward them with Vladimir beside her.

The light on the ground illuminated the redhead’s heart-shaped face. Lucienne picked up the light bar the girl had dropped, studying it. She twisted the bar. There was no opening. It shone on its own as the only source of light in this blackout town.

Orlando extended his hand to help the girl, but she hit his hand away and got up on her own. “I’m not a peasant girl! I have a name,” she said.

“Violet, right?” Lucienne asked.

“Give me back my light pen!” Violet reached toward Lucienne.

Lucienne gave the pen back to the girl. “What are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you,” the girl said, then stopped, startled as Ziyi’s voice buzzed out of a radio in Orlando’s belt. “Dragonfly was blocked for twenty minutes. A commotion is breaking out in the town. The natives have vowed to take down all of you. Kind of scary.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Lucienne turned to Violet. “Make it quick. Apparently I have a war to fight.”

“Can your machine bird find my friend?”

“Which friend?” Lucienne already knew.

“Ash,” Violet said fiercely. “Your bird can find him. You must find him!”