The door under the water dropped them onto stairs without caring who landed first.
Ty hit the stone shoulder first. The impact snapped through his ribs and scraped sparks from both sickles. Water poured after him, dragging receipt scraps, painted paper mouths, and one collector hand that kept crawling until JJ's boot crushed two fingers by accident.
JJ landed across his back and knocked what little air his body bothered keeping out of him.
"My ribs object to every decision that brought us here."
"You jumped into the flooded murder tunnel after me."
"You jumped first, which makes you the bad example."
"I am made of bones and poor judgment."
"That still fails as a permission slip for everyone else."
