The scratching sound faded back into the tunnel.
Kael stood still for a moment, listening.
Nothing followed.
Good.
He exhaled slowly and looked back up toward the shaft.
Dust drifted lazily through the column of sunlight, turning the beam into a pale golden pillar stretching down into the cavern.
Above it, faint silhouettes moved across the opening.
The miners.
Kael raised his lamp and waved it.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Still down here!"
A moment later his father's voice echoed down the shaft.
"Kael!"
"Still alive," Kael called back.
Muffled voices followed, then the scrape of boots shifting against loose stone.
Fine gravel trickled down the shaft walls, rattling softly as it struck the cavern floor.
Garrick Holt appeared at the edge of the opening and peered down.
For several seconds he studied the collapse.
Huge slabs of rock had fallen inward, wedging together halfway down the shaft like broken teeth.
One of the miners beside him leaned over the rim.
"We could lower someone down," the man suggested.
Garrick shook his head immediately.
"No."
He nudged a loose stone with his boot.
The rock bounced down the shaft, striking the wedged slabs before disappearing into the darkness.
"Those rocks are hanging by friction," Garrick said grimly. "You put weight on them and the whole wall comes down."
The miners fell silent.
More dust sifted down from the fractured ridge.
Garrick looked back into the shaft.
"We're not risking two people down there," he called. "We'll pull you up instead."
Kael nodded.
"Works for me."
A thick cable began lowering through the sunlight.
At the end hung a wide lifting harness used for hauling mining equipment.
"Clip in and hold tight!" Garrick shouted.
Kael stepped beneath the descending harness and grabbed it.
His ribs complained as he pulled the straps across his chest.
"Yeah," he muttered to himself. "That's going to hurt tomorrow."
He tightened the last buckle and tugged the cable twice.
"Ready!"
The line went taut.
Above him the winch growled to life.
Slowly, Kael lifted from the cavern floor.
The walls slid past as he rose toward the collapsed section of the shaft.
Loose gravel continued to rain down around him.
The miners had cleared just enough space between the slabs for the cable to pass through.
But it was tight.
Very tight.
Kael braced his arms as he was pulled upward into the narrow gap.
Stone scraped against the harness.
One slab pressed against his shoulder.
Another dragged along his back.
For a moment he was wedged between them.
Then something strange happened.
A sensation spread through his chest.
Not pain.
Not pressure.
Something deeper.
Kael froze.
The rock surrounding him suddenly felt… different.
He could feel it.
Not with his hands.
Through his bones.
Tiny vibrations hummed through the stone around him—shifts, fractures, tension lines running deep through the slabs.
For one impossible moment…
It felt like the earth itself was speaking.
Kael gasped.
Then the feeling vanished.
The cable jerked upward again and pulled him free of the gap.
Fresh air hit his face.
Hands grabbed the harness and hauled him onto the ridge.
Kael blinked against the sudden brightness.
Several miners crowded around him immediately.
"You alright, kid?"
"You hit your head?"
"Thought we lost you there."
Someone shoved a canteen into his hand.
Kael took a drink and wiped dust from his mouth.
"I'm good," he said. "Just bruised."
Tovan stood nearby, arms crossed, trying to look unimpressed.
"Told you that ridge was unstable," he muttered.
Another miner cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.
"Shut it," the man said. "Kid took a massive drop."
Tovan grunted.
"Yeah, well… still a stupid place to stand."
Kael managed a tired smile.
Even the insults sounded relieved.
Then a voice cut through the group.
"Kael!"
His mother pushed through the miners before anyone could stop her.
Lira Holt reached him in two quick steps and grabbed his shoulders.
"Let me see you."
"I'm fine, Mom—"
She ignored him completely.
Her hands checked his arms, his ribs, the side of his head.
Then she ran her fingers through his hair, brushing dust from the dark brown strands.
The same color as her own.
Kael winced slightly as she inspected the spot where he had struck the ground.
"You hit your head."
"Only the ground."
That earned him a sharp look.
Her fingers lingered in his hair for a moment longer before she stepped back and studied his face.
Kael met her gaze with the same green eyes he'd inherited from his father.
After a moment she nodded slightly.
"You're done working today."
"Mom—"
"You fell who knows how far into a cave," she said flatly. "You're done."
Kael sighed.
"My head does feel a little weird."
"Concussion," she said immediately.
"Probably."
"Then we're leaving."
She turned and guided him toward the transport crawler parked near the ridge.
Behind them the miners returned to clearing the collapsed shaft.
But a few still glanced his way.
"Take it easy, Holt!" one called.
Kael raised a hand in response.
As they reached the crawler, he glanced down at his palm.
The faint rune still curled across the center of his hand.
Dim.
But unmistakable.
He closed his fingers quickly before anyone could see.
Maybe it was the concussion.
Maybe his brain was still scrambled from the fall.
But the strange sensation he'd felt inside the stone replayed in his mind.
And if that hadn't been his imagination…
Something inside him had just started listening to the earth.