Chapter 24 · Put Me in the Bell Vault

"Get your hands off me, you walking corpse!"

I screamed it right into the skull's jaw, but the thing didn't have ears. It just tightened its grip on my ankle, dragging me deeper into the limestone throat of the city. Rock tore through my boots. Skin shredded. But the pain was nothing compared to the brand burning into my forearm: *LOOP SOURCE CONFIRMED*.

I thrashed, kicking at the bleached ribcage of the thing holding me. It didn't flinch. It just pulled. Hard.

Then—a flash of silver.

A heavy boot slammed into the skull’s temple. *Crack.* The grip loosened. I scrambled back, gasping for air that tasted like wet grave dirt and copper.

"Stay down, Mara!"

Dax was there. His nose was still crooked from where I’d smashed it, blood staining his lip, but his eyes were lethal. He wasn't looking at me. He was watching the swarm of white bone rising from the floor like a tide of needles.

"What the hell is happening?" I yelled, scrambling up. "What does this brand mean?"

"It means you're the key, you idiot!" Dax snapped. He shoved me behind him, his blade humming with a low, oppressive frequency.