Chapter 32 · Hollowborn - Chapter 32: The Soul They Really Want

The door slammed shut behind us and the lock clicked. Three seconds later something hit it hard enough to crack the frame.

"They're not stopping," I said. My legs were shaking. The corridor we'd landed in was narrow, stone walls pressing in from both sides, and the air tasted like metal and old blood.

Cole grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward. "They won't. You just painted a target on both of us."

"I saved your life."

"I know." His voice was rough, still settling back into his throat after weeks of silence. "That's the problem."

We ran. The corridor twisted, dropped, twisted again. My lungs burned. Behind us the pounding kept coming, muffled now but constant. They were breaking through.

"Where does this go?" I gasped.

"Nowhere the guild can follow. Layla built it that way."

"My mom built escape routes?"

"She built a lot of things." Cole's hand tightened on my wrist. "Most of them to protect you."

The corridor opened into a chamber. Small, circular, walls carved with symbols I didn't recognize. In the center was a stone platform, waist-high, and on it—

I stopped.

A body. No. Not a body. A shell.