I grabbed my fallen knife, put both of my weapons back into their holsters, then stooped down and searched Anton. He didn’t have anything particularly noteworthy, although I did trade my gun for his silenced one and reloaded the weapon with the spare ammo I found in his duffel bag. I also picked the crowbar back up and grabbed Hannah’s flashlight. Once that was done, I got to my feet and stared at the bridge. Thinking.

After a moment, I grinned. If Clementine wanted to blow something up, I’d be more than happy to oblige her.

Chapter 13

13

I decided to leave Anton where he lay on the pavement in front of the bridge. I didn’t care if anyone found him. If things went according to my plan, everyone would know about me in a few more minutes anyway.

I stepped over the giant’s body, walked through the bridge entrance, and dropped to my knees in front of the board I’d seen them messing with earlier. I clicked on the flashlight and moved the beam back and forth over the area. A symbol had been scorched into the top of the wood: a small circle surrounded by several wavy rays.

A sunburst. The symbol for fire. Mab’s personal rune.

Well, I supposed that using that particular rune was rather appropriate, since the giants intended to steal all of the Fire elemental’s treasures. I wondered if Clementine was as big a fan of irony as I was. Probably not.

The symbol glowed with a faint orange light, as though it were still hot and smoking from being burned into the wood. Usually, some action was required to trigger a rune like this. If it had been traced into a door, whoever was unlucky enough to open it would get a face full of elemental Fire for his or her trouble. In this case, it seemed like the giants planned to detonate the bomb underneath to get the rune to flare to life and add to the fire, heat, and damage from the explosive itself.

Well, not if I could help it.

I set the flashlight down, then put my hand on the adjoining board, careful not to touch and jostle the other piece of wood—or the rune on top of it—in any way. I had no desire to blow myself to kingdom come. At least, not before I’d saved my friends.