Chapter 15 · The Hunt Inside the Moonspindle

Marcus was already inside the Moonspindle when the first explosion hit.

The walls shook. Dust rained down from the ribbed ceiling, and somewhere far below, something massive groaned like a whale turning in its sleep. He pressed his back against the curved metal corridor and counted his breath. Three seconds. The shaking stopped.

Nera was out there with her people, planting charges along the outer shell. She'd given him two hours. Maybe less if the city guard showed up early. Maybe more if Cassian decided to watch instead of interfere.

Marcus didn't trust maybe.

He pushed off the wall and kept moving. The corridor was narrow, barely wide enough for his shoulders, and the air smelled like rust and something sweet he couldn't name. Not decay. Older than that. The Moonspindle had been alive once, according to the city's records.

A vast organism engineered to spin thread from lunar light, back when this world still had a moon. Now it was a hollowed-out corpse, and someone had wired a core into its chest cavity to keep the textile district running.

That core was killing the city one brownout at a time. Nera wanted it gone. Marcus wanted it fixed.