Chapter 24 · Lyra! Get up!

She ignored him.

A second creature intercepted her. It swung one long arm across her ribs and sent her into a pillar. Her head struck stone. She dropped to one knee.

Cane roared and drove his knee into the monster pinning him. It barely moved.

"Lyra! Get up!"

She lifted her head. Blood ran from her temple.

The black cracks on her skin burned bright.

The chamber went silent again.

Not the city's silence.

This silence belonged to her.

Every creature froze.

The chains stopped moving. The water stopped falling. Even the flare's flame hung still, red and sharp in the air.

Lyra stood.

Her eyes had turned black from edge to edge.

Cane felt the pact pull through his chest. Her fear slammed into him. Her anger followed. Beneath both was something vast and cold, something that had been waiting a very long time to stand.

"Lyra," he said.

She looked at him.

The creature over his body lowered its claws.

Lyra raised one hand.

"Stop," she said.

The word was soft.

The monster obeyed.

It pulled away from Cane and knelt.

The others knelt too.

Outside the broken hatch, the swarm dropped into the water as one body.