Chapter 11 · The Witness Below

The door opens onto stairs that smell like rot and old iron. Mira's hand is still on my wrist. Her fingers are cold through the sleeve, tight enough that I can feel her pulse hammering against mine.

"Down," she says.

I don't argue. The air gets colder with every step. The walls are carved stone, slick with condensation, and there's a hum underneath everything, low and wrong, like the subway right before the crash. My ribs ache where the echo clipped me. The Ledger sits quiet in my chest, but I can feel it waiting.

Mira lets go when we hit the landing. She pulls a short blade from her belt and holds it low, edge out. The corridor ahead is narrow, lit by strips of pale fungus that cling to the ceiling. Her father's voice isn't leaking anymore. Now it's just silence and that hum.

"You hear that?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"What is it?"

"Gate resonance. Means we're close." She glances back at me. Her face is hard to read in the dim light, but her jaw is tight. "Stay behind me. If something comes through, you run."

"I'm not running."

"Then you're an idiot."

She moves forward.