Ty skipped the steps because the stair had already proved it charged honest feet.
His toes hit the railing, the wall, one cracked corner, and once Heissman's shoulder. Heissman made a sound that would have counted as treason in a nicer room.
"My spine holds rank, and you just committed treason against it."
"Then duck faster before the next wall has opinions."
"That advice arrived after you used me as architecture."
JJ came down behind them with one hand on the wall and her wrist panel throwing pink sparks. Step twenty-seven waited ahead, the Name Office door closing inch by inch. Behind them, Yun-Jin's childhood memory burned around Omina.
That image stayed in Ty's skull while the Name Office door kept closing.
Omina had stepped into false smoke and chain-shaped memory. Her green-gold aura held the younger Yun-Jin behind her while the royal silhouettes outside the childhood room lifted swords. The real Yun-Jin fought like an injured animal to reach her.
