I was not going to run.
"You're going to try to stop me from finishing the counter-inscription," I said. "That's the logical move."
"Yes," it said, with a straightforwardness that was itself a kind of threat. It wasn't bothering to pretend or negotiate. It had the stone active, it had the Hall, it had Serena's body. It didn't need to perform.
"Is Serena still in there," I said.
Something flickered in the black eyes. The first real flicker since I'd entered. "Partially," it said.
That one word was more information than it intended to give. Partially meant she wasn't gone. Partially meant there was something left to reach, or something left that might interfere with what was inside her at a critical moment.
The floor pulsed, brighter. Eight minutes.
I looked at Cass. She held up one f
