The Vale feeding tunnel had teeth in the floor and a brewery pipe between them.
Each bite crushed copper flat, pulled it underground, and sent beer across Ty's ankles. The foam made the quarantine paint disappear from the stone. Vey's soldiers kept repainting the line around Ty while the line floated away in white clumps.
"You wanted my quarantine at its mouth. The mouth keeps removing your border."
Vey dragged a paint stick through the beer and marked a smaller box behind Ty's heels. "Then keep your skull inside the part I can still see."
The floor opened again. Flat teeth caught a brewery support and bent it toward the hole. Somewhere below, the Vale body pulled through a tunnel made from its own throat. Every swallow moved the opening closer to the clinic stairs.
Jade stood at Ty's left with her white hand around the chain crossing his ribs. The loose rib seated on it kept turning toward the hole before the rest of him chose to move.
