"You think I can crack that vault?" He let out another series of chuckles. "Lady, you are out of your mind."

Instead of being insulted, her smile widened. "Not at all."

Owen realized that she was serious, and his laughter abruptly cut off, the last notes dying on his lips. He looked at the vault door again, really studying it.

"What's in there that you want so badly?"

"Funny you should ask. You see, art isn't the only thing that Mab Monroe left behind," Clementine said. "In addition to all those baubles on display in the rotunda, the Fire elemental also had a vast personal fortune. But the most interesting thing is that she didn't keep it stashed away in some bank or even just lying around as cash. No, it seems that Ms. Monroe preferred a more tangible, old-fashioned currency: gold."

Owen frowned, his black eyebrows drawing together in thought. "You're telling me that Mab Monroe kept her personal fortune all in gold, and all of it . . . here?"

"Almost like a dragon out of some fairy tale, if you think about it," Clementine said. "Except, of course, that Mab was much more dangerous than any old dragon out of any old story. But now that she's gone, well, we don't have to worry about someone breathing elemental Fire on us, now, do we?"

She slapped a hand to her side and guffawed. It was good that she amused herself, because I didn't find one thing about this funny, and neither did Owen, judging from his grim, worried expression.

When she was done congratulating herself on being so clever, Clementine started pacing again. "But to answer your questions, yes. I have it on good authority that a big chunk of Mab's gold is stashed right here in this very vault. Apparently, Mab had a thing about not trusting banks, and she thought it would be less obvious storing her gold here rather than at one of the downtown banks. Plus, I believe the museum director was into her for a substantial gambling debt, so she took it out in trade for this."

Owen shook his head. "Well, that's a nice story, but it still doesn't explain how you think I can help you get into the vault."

"I've done my research, Mr. Grayson. I've learned quite a bit about silverstone these last few months. How tough it is, how durable, and how you need elemental magic to get around or even through it. And I think that you're just the man for the job."

"Why?" Owen shot back at her. "Just because I have an elemental talent for metal?"

Clementine waved a hand at him, dismissing his concerns. "Oh, I know all about your power, Mr. Grayson, especially the sculptures and weapons you make in your spare time. In fact, I bought one of your knives at a charity auction just last month. Exquisite craftsmanship."

My gaze dropped from the screen to the knife I'd set down on the table. The blood from the giant I'd killed in the hallway outside outlined the spider rune stamped into the hilt. Owen had made this knife and four others for me as Christmas presents, and they were indeed exquisite weapons, just as Clementine had said about her own blade. Light, strong, durable, razor-sharp. I'd used the knives more than once on my enemies, and they'd never failed me.

Owen shook his head. "You've got it all wrong. Yes, I have an elemental talent for metal. Yes, I can craft all sorts of things out of it. But that vault door? Six inches of reinforced silverstone? That is well beyond my magic."

"I thought you might say that, and you just might be right. But believe me when I tell you that I've planned ahead. I don't expect you to do it all by yourself."

Clementine snapped her fingers. One of the giants stepped forward, a duffel bag swinging from his hand. He put the bag on the floor, unzipped it, and reached inside it. A moment later, he came out with a welder's torch. Another giant with another bag stepped forward and pulled out a similar torch.

The third giant stepped forward, but instead of reaching into yet another bag, like I expected, he simply held out his hand. A moment later, elemental Fire crackled to life in his palm, the flames flowing from one of his fingers to the next and back again.

Owen eyed the torches and the Fire, but he didn't say anything.

"Now, taken as one piece, the vault door is pretty much impregnable, just like you said," Clementine said. "There's no way to blast through it. But I don't need to get through the door, just around it. So you and my boys are going to use the torches to superheat the silverstone locking mechanism, along with the help of Oscar's elemental Fire. When it gets hot enough, you'll use your magic to gut the lock so that it's useless. Once that's done, you'll go to work on the hinges, popping those off, and then I'll just move that big slab of a door right out of the way."

It was a good plan - a smart plan. I'd thought that Clementine was all about brute strength, raw force, sheer power, given what had happened in the rotunda earlier, but she was also clever. The more I learned about her, the more I admired her, sort of like appreciating a copperhead's coiled beauty on the green forest floor, knowing that it would bite you the second you were in range of its curved, venomous fangs.

Owen shook his head again. "I'm telling you that I can't do it. I don't have enough magic for that sort of thing."

"This isn't about strength, Mr. Grayson, it's about finesse. A small, controlled, precise manipulation of metal and magic. Something you do exceptionally well, judging from what I've seen of your work. You can shape, mold, and work with silverstone like nobody else I've ever seen."

Owen didn't respond.

"Believe me, I know that you're not the strongest elemental out there," Clementine said. "Now that Mab's dead, I imagine that title would go to your girlfriend. If Ms. Blanco were still alive, that is."

Owen stared at her - just stared and stared at her. His face pinched, his body stiff and straight, his hands clenched into fists. The giant noticed his shock, distress, and anger. She smirked at him, her pretty features twisting into an arrogant sneer. All at once, Owen let out a wild, angry roar, put his head down, and charged at Clementine.

He barreled into the giant, throwing her back against the vault door. Clementine snapped her fist forward, but Owen caught her hand in his. Owen didn't have her giant strength, but he was no lightweight. Working all those long hours and years in his forge had made him strong. More than that, though, he was a smart fighter. While their hands seesawed back and forth, Owen brought his other fist up and punched her in the face with it.

The solid, heavy smack of his hand cracking against her skin made me smile.

Clementine grunted with surprise and annoyance, but Owen wasn't done. He managed to hit her in the face three more times before two of her men stepped forward, grabbed his arms, and dragged him away from her. Even then, Owen fought back, kicking, bucking, and trying to break loose. But the giants tightened their holds until he realized he couldn't get free. Slowly, his struggles ceased, although I could hear his quick, ragged breathing through the camera feed.

Clementine straightened up and pushed away from the vault door. She pressed a hand to her face, pulled it away, and stared at the smear of blood on her fingers. Owen had split her lower lip open with his last punch.

"I'll give you that one," she said. "Although the next time you lay a hand on me, you'll wish that you hadn't."

One of the giants holding Owen shivered at her words, but he raised his chin in defiance.

"Now, enough talk," Clementine said. "It's time for you to get to work."

"And if I can't do it?" he asked in a low, angry voice. "Or refuse to?"

She shrugged. "Then I'll let Dixon and the rest of my men take turns with your pretty little sister out there. She'll die screaming, along with the rest of your friends. So I'd figure it out if I were you, Mr. Grayson."

Owen sucked in another angry breath, but he forced himself to let it out and slowly unclench his fists. "Fine," he muttered. "You win."

He would do anything to protect Eva, even help the giants break into the vault.

Clementine let out a delighted laugh. "Of course I win. I always win. Now, get started. Time's a-wasting."

Once again, Owen didn't respond.

Clementine went over to one of her men. "I'm going to go check in with the others," she said. "You three get started. And don't stop until the door is ready to be moved. You understand me?"

The giant nodded.

Clementine moved to the back of the room, out of sight of the camera, and a few seconds later, I heard a door shut, telling me that she'd left the vault.

One of the giants drew several pairs of safety goggles out of his duffel bag. He handed a pair to Owen, which he reluctantly slipped on, along with some heavy work gloves. He stood by while all three of the giants put on their own goggles. Then one of the men handed Owen a torch and carefully fired it up. Another giant fired up the second torch and turned toward the vault door while the last one reached for his Fire magic, making flames dance across his fingertips once more.

Owen hesitated, staring first at the lit torch in his hand, then at the giants. I knew he was thinking about using the torch to toast the three men. I would have been.

But I wasn't surprised when he finally faced the vault door, stepped forward, and used the torch to start heating up the silverstone lock. Because I would have done the same thing then too. I would have played along nicely until I was sure the others were safe, then I would have laid into Clementine and her crew for all I was worth, even if I knew that I wouldn't survive the fight. But the giant had her hand clutched around Eva's and the others' throats, and she and Owen both knew it. He had no choice but to go along with her scheme - for now.

I studied the monitor for a few more seconds. I didn't have Owen's elemental talent for metal, so I didn't know how long it would take him to get through the silverstone. Forty-five minutes, maybe an hour, given what I'd heard Clementine tell Opal and Dixon earlier. It depended on how slowly he decided to work, and he would probably drag things out as long as possible, in hopes of figuring out some way to turn the tables on Clementine and her men.

But Owen didn't have to worry about that - because I was going to do it for him.

Clementine might claim that Mab's gold was stored inside the Briartop vault, but I didn't necessarily believe her. Maybe it was gold, maybe it was diamonds, maybe it was something else entirely. But whatever it was, Clementine wanted it.

And I was going to take it from her.

Clementine would just as soon kill me as look at me. She'd proven that already tonight. She wouldn't be threatened, scared, or intimidated in the slightest by me. And if she realized that I was still alive - that the Spider was still alive - sneaking through the museum and killing her men, she'd grab Finn or one of my other friends and hold a gun to their heads until I agreed to surrender. Once I did that, she'd put a couple of bullets in my skull, and that would be the end things for me and everyone else in the rotunda.

No, whatever was in that vault was the only bit of leverage I would be able to get here. If I swiped it first, Clementine would have no choice but to deal with me to get what she wanted, and I'd force her to trade my friends and the rest of the hostages for the treasure in the vault. Of course, Clementine would no doubt try to double-cross and murder me, but that was nothing new.

Still, to steal whatever was in the vault and rescue Owen, I needed supplies, and I needed help - and I knew exactly where I could get them both.

Chapter 12

I turned away from the monitors and went over and looked at the giant I'd killed earlier, still careful not to touch her. She seemed to have the same gear that the first guard had: leather belt, gun, ammo, baton, pepper spray. I wouldn't have minded another gun and some more ammo, but I didn't want to electrocute myself to get them.

So I pulled out the metal baton I already had and used it to smash the rest of the security camera monitors. I'd seen what I'd needed to, and I didn't want Clementine and her crew using them to try to find me when I finally made my presence known.

When that was done, I went out into the antechamber where the lockers were. It was easy enough for me to use my Ice magic to freeze and then shatter their flimsy metal locks. I sorted through the items inside, but I didn't find anything useful or interesting, except for the fact that one of the guards kept a stash of porn in the bottom of his locker. Of course he did. Why stare at priceless works of art for hours on end when you could look at fake, inflated boobies?

I also came across a small red cooler, which I opened. Someone had brought his lunch along tonight. A tuna fish sandwich, from the rancid smell of it. I wrinkled my nose. Ugh. I shut the lid and put the cooler back where I found it.

I had turned away from the lockers and started to go over to the exit when I noticed a door next to the vending machine, one I hadn't spotted before. A sign on the front read Broom Closet, but I was more interested in the blood smears on and around the handle. Senses alert and knife in hand, I carefully opened the door - and immediately stepped back as bodies tumbled out of the dark space.

Five poor souls had been killed and stood up and crammed into the closet, and they pitched forward and thumped to the floor like dominoes. Three men and two women, all giants, all with multiple bullet holes in them. Well, now I knew what had happened to the museum's real guards. They'd been shot, probably while they'd been looking at the monitors in the other room. There was nothing I could do for them, so I left them on the floor, although I did take a moment to close their eyes.

My search complete, I headed over to the exterior door. I listened a moment, but I couldn't hear any more through it than I had before, so I cracked it open and gazed out into the hallway.