The first tremor rolled through the chamber like the breath of something waking after centuries of silence. Dust cascaded from the arching ribs above me. My pulse spiked. Jax shifted closer, one hand on my back as if bracing me for whatever came next. I did not think anything could prepare us.
The floor lurched again. This time harder. Bone pillars groaned. Their slick surfaces vibrated as if responding to a heartbeat deep under the earth.
A heartbeat that did not belong to anything living.
Hazel’s voice cracked in fear. “Sage. Something is wrong with the chamber.”
She did not need to say it. I felt it. The air changed, thickening into a pressure that pushed against my skin like a living hand. Every hair on my arms lifted. The light inside the bones brightened from sickly amber to a vi
