Chapter 14 · Under Glass Street

The hole in the floor was still smoking when I hit the ground.

Not literally hit—Sloane caught my arm halfway through the drop, her blade familiar flaring bright enough to light the whole tunnel. We landed in ankle-deep water that smelled like rust and something older. The kind of old that made my teeth ache.

Above us, Mom's voice was still screaming. Not words. Just sound.

"Move," Sloane said, and dragged me forward before I could look up.

The tunnel stretched in both directions, lined with pipes that dripped black. No lights except what Sloane's familiar threw off, and that was already dimming. Her hand was tight on my wrist. I could feel her pulse hammering.

"Nox blew straight through," I said. My voice came out flat. "Which way?"

"Down." Sloane let go and pulled something off her belt—a small glass vial that glowed faint blue. She cracked it and dropped it into the water. The glow spread, following the current. "This is old city. Pre-Veyra. If your shadow's going deeper, we follow the flow."

I didn't ask how she knew. Sloane always knew things she shouldn't. Rich-girl intel, black-market contacts, whatever.