Alex’s POV
The air smelled like burning. Not grass or wood but something more metallic, more menacing. Although the explosions had quieted for now, harm was done. Time was running out quicker than we could keep pace with as the Order started their excavation of the heart of the monastery.
Perched near the ridge, I gazed at the monastery's deteriorating stone walls. From this vantage point, it appeared as though nothing more than ruins; I knew better. Under those stones lay the Key, which governs everything. And we were finished if The Order discovered it first. This was different from months of barely surviving shadow chasing. This was the goal at last.
Glancing back at Sam and Lena, who were hunched in the brush behind me, Samantha's face wore a mask of will, but I could see lines of t
