The tunnel groaned as if the entire underground facility inhaled at once. Dust rained from the ceiling in thin lines, drifting past the blue glow of the emergency lights. Jack’s hand closed around my wrist, firm and grounding, while Beau moved ahead with his blade drawn low for speed. My lungs burned. The air tasted metallic, almost sharp, as if the walls were slicing every breath.
The path behind us collapsed without warning. A deafening crack ripped through the corridor. Jack shoved me forward just as the floor dropped into a yawning pit.
“Keep moving,” Beau called out. His voice echoed off the reinforced steel and rotting concrete.
Something was waking.
I felt it like pressure under my skin, a thrumming inside the bones of the world. My aura flickered in uneven bursts. Every pulse m
