The chain struck the water like a whip cracking bone.
Jax felt the impact all the way up his arm as the links sank into something massive and alive. The shadow beneath the plaza surged upward. A ridge of spines broke the surface first, black and barnacle-crusted, taller than Mira. Then the head, if you could call it a head rose: a blunt wedge of teeth and pale eyes that had never seen real light.
The terror roared. Water exploded in a wall that slammed Jax backward. He kept his grip. The chain went taut, vibrating like a live wire.
*Now,* Kael hissed, voice thick with hunger. *Pull. Make it bleed. Take the piece before it wakes fully.*
Jax planted his feet and yanked. The chain bit deeper. Black ichor bubbled up where the links tore into hide. Power flooded into him; raw, cold, ancient. His muscles burned. His vision sharpened until he could see every crack in the plaza stone. But the price hit at the same time: a flash of Lena's face, lips blue, eyes glassy, whispering his name while the water rose around her cot. He tasted salt that wasn't from the Expanse.
Mira was already moving. She vaulted a broken pillar, lightning flaring back to life in her palms. "Don't let go!" she shouted. "I'll burn the eyes!"
She hurled a bolt straight into one pale orb. The terror screamed again, louder, shaking the entire platform. Lira stayed low, hands pressed to the stone, murmuring futures under her breath.
The creature thrashed. Its tail whipped out of the water and slammed down inches from Jax. Stone cracked. He staggered but held the chain. Another surge of power rolled through him. This time Kael rode it, slipping closer to the surface of his mind.
*Good meat. Feel that? That's what real strength tastes like. Give me the wheel for three heartbeats and I'll end this thing.*
Jax's jaw clenched. "Not a chance."
He twisted the chain instead, wrapping another loop around a spine. The terror bucked hard enough to lift half its bulk out of the water. Barnacles the size of fists scraped the plaza edge. Mira leaped onto its flank, boots digging in, and drove both fists into the wounded eye. Lightning exploded inside the socket. The smell of scorched meat filled the air.
Lira cried out suddenly. "Left side—now!"
Jax didn't question. He dove left as a second set of jaws; smaller, parasitic mouths ringing the main one snapped where his head had been. He rolled, came up, and lashed the chain again. This time it caught one of the smaller mouths and ripped it clean off. More power poured in, but so did the visions: Lena reaching for him, fingers slipping under black water. Him standing over her later, chain around her throat, eyes not his own.
The terror weakened. Its movements slowed. Jax felt the moment the bind took hold, a piece of it tearing free and flowing into the chain like liquid shadow. The links glowed faint blue for a heartbeat, then settled darker than before.
The creature gave one last shuddering bellow and sank back beneath the waves, wounded but not dead. The plaza fell quiet except for their ragged breathing.
Jax dropped to one knee, chest heaving. The chain felt heavier, alive with new weight. He could sense the terror's echo now—distant, angry, but leashed. One command and it would answer. For a price.
Mira slid down the pillar, knuckles raw and smoking. She looked at him with something between respect and wariness. "You pulled that off. Barely. What did it cost you?"
Jax wiped blood from his lip. He didn't tell her about the visions of Lena. "Strength. And a louder voice in my head."
Lira approached slowly. Blood still trickled from her nose. "The futures shifted again. Some paths now show you wearing that terror like a second skin. Others show it wearing you. And something else… the bleed is starting. Back in Cascade Spire. Monsters slipping through cracks because we woke this place up."
Jax stood. The new echo pulsed in the chain, hungry for more. Kael laughed softly, satisfied for now.
*See? You're learning. Next time you'll ask me nicely.*
Jax ignored him and looked at the two women. Mira's storm was banked but not gone. Lira's eyes held too many futures she didn't want. They'd fought together, bled together. That didn't make them friends. It made them useful.
"We rest ten minutes," he said. "Then we move. Whatever's coming through to the real world, we need to be stronger before it reaches Lena's level."
Mira nodded once. "Agreed. But if that chain starts talking through your mouth, I'll fry you myself."
Lira smiled faintly, the first real expression Jax had seen from her. "She means it. I've seen that future too."
The plaza trembled again, softer this time. Far off, another roar answered—not the terror, something bigger, deeper in the drowned ruins.
Jax coiled the chain. It felt right in his hand now. Dangerous. Addictive.
He started walking toward the next broken bridge.
"Come on. The Expanse isn't done collecting its price yet."
Behind them, the water rippled once more, as if something new had just noticed their scent...