Chapter 17 · The Second Heartbeat

"Tell me that was normal."

Nora grabbed the cracked control rail before the tower could throw her into the open shaft. The floor bucked under her boots. Metal screamed somewhere below.

"It wasn't," she said.

Samuel hit the wall beside her. His injured shoulder smacked stone and his face went white. Still kept one hand on the pistol at his belt.

"Second heart," he said. "How far?"

The map floated above the dead console—blue light strung through with thin gold lines. Most of Veyra showed as a tangled web of streets, pipes, tunnels, old power routes. Beneath it, far below the city's foundations, something huge pulsed in the dark.

The pulse answered the beat in Nora's chest.

Once.

Twice.

Her ribs hurt.

Tarin stared at the map. "That thing's moving."

"No," Nora said.

The gold lines shifted. The giant shape under the city turned toward the flood tower.

"It's coming here."

The tower shook again.

Dust dropped from the ceiling. The dead lamps flashed blue, then red. Outside, floodwater rushed through streets that'd been dry ten minutes ago.

Samuel pushed off the wall. "We leave. Now."

"We can't." Nora pointed at the map. "The tower's foundation is cracking.