Chapter 29 · The Door Wants Nia

The light swallowed me whole.

I couldn't see Ronan anymore. Couldn't hear him. Just white everywhere, cold and buzzing like static in my teeth. My boots hit stone and I stumbled forward, catching myself on something smooth and freezing.

A wall. Silver veins ran through it, pulsing faint blue.

I jerked my hand back. "Mom?"

My voice didn't echo. It just died in the air.

I turned around slow. The door I'd come through was gone. Behind me was more wall, more silver veins, and a hallway that stretched so far I couldn't see the end. The floor was glass or ice or something worse. I could see shapes underneath. Faces, maybe. I didn't look too close.

"Mom!" I tried again, louder this time.

Nothing.

I started walking because standing still felt like drowning. The hallway didn't change. Same walls. Same floor. Same cold that made my breath fog and my fingers go numb. I rubbed my arms and kept moving.

Then I heard it.

A heartbeat.

Not mine. Slower. Heavier. Coming from ahead.

I stopped.