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“He’s here somewhere.” Kal’s voice was steady, but she felt the tremor in his hand where it gripped her shoulder. “He has to be.” Another breath, less steady this time. “Tor!Stop hiding, youidiot!” The call echoed back at them, mocking. Just like all the others had.

A violent shiver racked her body. Kal pulled her closer, sharing what warmth he could, but even his Izaean heat couldn’t stop the cave’s chill from seeping into her bones. Their footsteps splashed in puddles they couldn’t see, each step sending icy water into their already-soaked shoes.

“He would have heard us by now.” The words slipped out before she could stop them, small and broken in the vast darkness. “Wouldn’t he?”

Kal’s arm tightened around her shoulders. She felt him swallow, heard the click in his throat. When he spoke, his voice was rough. “Maybe he’s just further in. Sound… sound does weird things down here.” But his fingers dug into her shoulder, betraying his fear.

“Tor!” he shouted again, and this time she heard the desperation he was trying to hide. The way his voice caught on the name. How it shook at the edges.

She pressed her fist against her mouth, trying to hold back a sob. They’d been walking for what felt like hours, calling until their voices grew hoarse. The tunnels seemed endless, branching off in all directions like the veins of some massive, stone creature.

Her next breath came out as a hiccup, tears burning hot trails down her cold cheeks.His thumb brushed across her shoulder.

“We’ll find him.” But his jaw worked silently, and his hand trembled where it held her. Each time the echoes died away without an answer, his breathing grew more ragged.

Because what else could they do but keep searching, keep calling, keep hoping that somewhere in the darkness, Tor was still alive to answer?

They kept going for what felt like hours. Her feet had gone numb, and her wet socks squelched between her toes. Her shoulder scraped against the stone as she stumbled.

He caught her before she fell, his hand burning hot against her frozen skin. “Careful.” His whisper bounced off the walls, coming back distorted and wrong. Everything echoed wrong down here, like the tunnels were eating their voices and spitting them back out twisted.

The air felt different too—thicker, harder to pull into her aching lungs. Each breath tasted of wet stone and something else, something organic and musty that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Her clothes had started to dry in patches, creating a clammy map of discomfort across her skin. The fabric rasped against her with every step, already starting to chafe.

A drop of water landed on her neck, sliding down beneath her collar. She shuddered, pressing closer to Kal’s warmth.

Something skittered in the darkness ahead. She froze, her fingers digging into Kal’s arm. “What was that?”

The sound came again, a dry scratching that reminded her of dead leaves sliding across concrete. Except there were no leaves down here. The noise multiplied. Dozens of tiny clicks and scrapes echoing off the stone, getting closer. Getting louder.

Her blood froze as a familiar shape emerged from the shadows. Eight legs. Multiple eyes like drops of black oil. The spider was bigger than the ones from before.

And it wasn’t alone…

“Run!”

Lila’s legswouldn’t move fast enough. The cold had stiffened her muscles, making each stride feel like running through deep water. Kal’s hand clamped around her wrist, pulling her forward as more skittering sounds erupted behind them. The noise bounced off the tunnel walls, multiplying until it seemed like hundreds of spiders pursued them through the darkness.

A sob caught in her throat as her foot slipped on the wet stone. He yanked her upright before she could fall, but the stumble cost them precious seconds. The clicking sounds grew closer. She could almost feel the vibrations of countless legs tapping against rock, could almost sense the weight of those oil-drop eyes watching their desperate flight.

The tunnel forked ahead. He jerked them left without slowing, and her shoulder slammed into the wall as she struggled to match his pace. The impact sent needles of pain through her frozen arm, but she couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t look back. The memory of those armored bodies, bigger than she remembered, made her stomach heave.

“Keep going!” His voice was tight with fear. He never sounded afraid, not even when they’d fallen. But he was afraid now.

Another fork. This time right. The tunnels were getting narrower, the ceiling lower. Their footsteps echoed differently here, sharper, closer. Or maybe those weren’t their footsteps at all. The clicking sounds seemed to come from everywhere now—ahead, behind, above. Her chest burned as she gulped the thick, musty air.

Something brushed against her ankle.

The scream tore from her raw throat before she could stop it. She stumbled again, but this time her waterlogged shoes betrayed her completely. Her knee hit the stone hard enough to send shockwaves of pain up her leg. He tried to pull her up, but her muscles had locked, frozen with terror, cold, and exhaustion.

“I can’t—” The words came out as a gasp. “I can’t?—”

He didn’t wait for her to finish. Strong arms scooped her up, and suddenly she was pressed against his chest as he ran. The movement jolted her with each stride, but she buried her face in his shoulder, unable to look at the darkness behind them. His heart hammered against her side, his breath coming in harsh pants that echoed off the stone.

The clicking sounds surrounded them now, sometimes so close she could hear the scratch of legs against rock and sometimes fading only to surge back louder than before. They were being herded. The spiders were driving them deeper into the tunnels, away from any chance of finding their way back.

Kal skidded to a stop so suddenly she nearly flew from his arms. A dead end. Smooth walls rose on three sides, too high to climb, too sheer to scale. He set her down but kept her behind him, backing them both against the far wall.

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