Chapter 29 · The Grave Trap

"Don't touch the floor, Kane. Unless you want to be a pancake."

Evelyn’s voice snapped through the silence just as my boot grazed the tile. I froze, one foot hovering in the air, my heart hammering against my ribs. I looked up. The ceiling was covered in jagged, rusted metal shards, and the floor—the actual floor—was a shimmering, iridescent violet pool of liquid gravity.

"What the hell is this?" I spat, glancing at the data drive sitting on a pedestal right in the center of that purple soup.

"A gravity flip trap," Evelyn whispered. She was crouched behind a concrete pillar, her eyes scanning the room. "The moment you put full weight on that floor, the polarity reverses. You don't fall down; you fall up. And then you hit those ceiling spikes at terminal velocity."

I looked at the drive. The intel Marcus had promised. The same intel he’d lured me here with, using the grave of my best friend as bait. "And I guess the drive doesn't flip?"

"It's anchored," she said, her voice tight. "But the anchor is a trigger. You grab it, the whole room flips. Fast.