Chapter 30 · Loopbound - Chapter 30: Mom Stayed Behind

Callum hit the floor hard. His shoulder cracked against stone and something wet soaked through his sleeve. Chemical smell, sharp enough to make his eyes water.

The old lab.

He pushed up, hand slipping in whatever liquid covered the floor. Above him the hole they'd fallen through was already sealing over, stone and mortar knitting back together like a wound closing in reverse. Nolan was still up there. Vera too, probably. He didn't know if they'd seen where he went.

Didn't matter.

Across the room, behind a wall of glass that hummed with ward-light, his mother stood with her hand pressed flat against the barrier.

"Callum." Her voice came through muffled, like she was underwater. "You shouldn't be here."

He got to his feet. The lab looked older than the rest of the academy, older than anything he'd seen in the loop so far. The walls were raw stone, no mortar, and the floor was carved with channels that all led to a central drain under the glass cage. His mom's cage. The liquid on the floor wasn't water.