Chapter 8 · No Way Out on Seven

The elevator's not moving.

I slam the panel again. Nothing. The screen flickers—red letters scrolling: MANUAL OVERRIDE REQUIRED. PROCEED TO MAINTENANCE SHAFT 7-B.

"Of course," I mutter. The rune's still burning under my ribs. Every breath feels like I'm swallowing glass.

Zero's already at the far wall, peeling back a rusted grate. "This way."

I follow. Don't have a choice. The lab behind us is dark now, but I can still see that footage in my head. Lila in a white coat. Lila with a clipboard. Lila standing over a table while someone screamed.

My sister.

The shaft's narrow. Metal rungs, slick with something I don't want to think about. Zero climbs fast. I'm slower—my right arm's shaking, and the rune's glow is leaking through my jacket sleeve now. Blue light in the dark.

"How far?" I ask.

He doesn't answer right away. Then: "Two floors. Maybe three."

"You've been here before."

"Yeah."

"When?"

He stops climbing. I nearly slam into his boots. He looks down at me, and his eyes are doing that thing again—flickering, like bad fluorescents.

"Three years ago," he says. "When they turned me into this."

I wait.

"I wasn't the first," he says.