Chapter 31 · Abyssal Resonance

"Cane—move!" Lyra slammed both hands into his chest and sent him skidding across the black stone.

A pale claw punched through the space where his ribs had been.

Cane hit the wall hard enough to crack his shoulder. His lamp spun away, its blue beam flashing over jagged rock, broken chains, and the thing crawling through the tunnel after them.

It had too many legs.

That was the first problem.

The second was that Lyra was staring at it like she knew exactly how it tasted.

"Lyra." Cane grabbed the edge of the wall and forced himself upright. "Look at me."

Her head snapped toward him.

Her eyes were still purple.

Not the deep, impossible violet from seconds ago. They had faded around the edges, but the color burned in her pupils like a bruise under glass. Black cracks crawled up her neck and disappeared beneath the collar of her dive suit.

She bared her teeth.

"Don't come closer."

"You just threw me into a wall."

"I said don't come closer!" Her voice broke on the last word. She backed away from him, boots scraping over the stone. "I can hear it again.