The vibration came through the stone like a second heartbeat. Slower than Kael's. Deeper. It climbed through his legs and settled in his chest. The pillar pulsed in answer. Gold light flaring. Dimming. Flaring again. As if it recognized what was coming.
Lira's back pressed against the bone wall. Her face was pale in the glow. "Tell me that's not what I think it is."
"I don't know what you think it is."
"Something bigger than the hounds. Something that made them shut up and wait."
"Then yes. It's exactly what you think."
She closed her eyes. Her lips moved. Not prayer. Something else. A string of words too soft to catch. When she opened her eyes again, they were wet but steady.
"My grandmother used to say the old blood only woke when you had nothing left to lose." She looked at her hands. "I thought she was crazy. All those stories about voices that could cut stone. About women in our line who screamed and brought down walls."
"Looks like she wasn't crazy."
"No. Looks like I'm just the last one to find out."
The vibration swelled. Dust sifted from the ribs overhead. Kael tracked the sound. It came from above. From the plaza's edge. Whatever was coming, it was descending the slope into the hollow. Slow. Heavy. Each step a small earthquake.
"We need to move," he said.
"Where. There's one way in and we're standing at the bottom of it."
He scanned the hollow. Bone walls curved on all sides. The pillar at center. No tunnels. No doors. Just the slope they'd come down and the skeleton of something that had died here before the Stillwake was born.
"The pillar."
"What about it."
"It's been pulsing since we arrived. The Tyrant ran from this light. Maybe whatever's coming doesn't like it either."
"Or maybe it's coming because of the light."
The first shape appeared at the top of the slope.
Not a hound. Bigger. Its silhouette blocked the grey light from above. Four legs. Massive shoulders. A head that seemed too large for its body, swaying side to side as if tasting the air. Its hide was pale. Translucent in places. Things moved beneath the skin. The clicking started again. Not from this thing. From the hounds still circling above. They were speaking to it. Guiding it.
The older orphans had called them Blindstone Leviathans. Things that lived in the deepest parts of the Stillwake where even the grey light couldn't reach. They had no eyes. They didn't need them. The hounds were their sight. Their hunters. And if the stories were true, they never stopped once they had your scent.
"It's blind," Kael breathed. "It's using them to see."
"How is that better."
"It's not. Just observing."
"Stop observing and do something."
The creature took its first step down the slope. The stone groaned under its weight. Kael's cold thread flickered. Weak. Unreliable. He reached for it anyway. The sensation of blurring. Of becoming less. It slipped through his fingers like water.
"Still nothing."
Lira pushed off the wall. Her hands were shaking but her voice was steady. "Then I'll do it."
"Do what."
"What my grandmother talked about. What my mother was too afraid to try." She stepped toward the slope. Toward the descending shape. "The old blood wakes when you've got nothing left. I've got nothing left."
"Lira—"
"Shut up. Let me concentrate."
The creature was halfway down. Close enough now to see details. Its hide rippled. The things beneath its skin pushed outward. The hounds above clicked faster. Directing. The pillar pulsed. Gold light washed over the hollow. Over Lira.
She opened her mouth.
The sound that came out was not a scream. It was a note. Pure. Sharp. It cut through the vibration, through the clicking, through the pulse of the pillar. It found the creature and sank into it like a blade.
The thing stopped.
Shuddered.
Its massive head swung toward Lira. The swaying intensified. Confused. The hounds above went silent. The note held. Lira's voice didn't waver. Her hands were fists at her sides. Her eyes were closed. Whatever she was doing, it was costing her. Blood trickled from her nose.
Kael moved without thinking. He put himself between her and the creature. Useless. He had nothing. No weapon. No power. Just a body. Yet he stood there anyway.
"Not her."
The creature took another step. Slower. Hesitant. Lira's note changed. Deeper. It became something that wasn't a sound at all but a pressure. A weight. The creature's legs buckled. It let out a sound. Not a roar. A whine. Pain. Confusion.
Then the note broke.
Lira gasped. Stumbled. Kael caught her before she hit the stone. Her face was pale. Blood ran from both nostrils now. Her eyes were glassy.
"I can't," she breathed. "I can't hold it."
"You already did. It's hurt."
"Not enough."
The creature was recovering. Shaking its massive head. The hounds above resumed their clicking. Faster now. Angry. It took another step down the slope. No hesitation this time. Whatever Lira had done, it had made the thing angry.
"Time to run," Kael said.
"Where. There's nowhere."
"Up. Past it."
"You're insane."
"You got better."
She laughed. Broken. Bloody. "I really don't."
The creature charged.
Kael grabbed Lira's hand and pulled her to the left. The slope was steep but the bone walls had ridges. Handholds. He climbed. She followed. The creature's momentum carried it past them into the hollow's center. It crashed into the pillar.
Gold light exploded.
The creature screamed. A real scream. Pain. Terror. The light burned where it touched. The hounds above scattered. Their clicking became frantic. Disorganized. Whatever had coordinated them was breaking.
And in the flash, Kael heard something.
Not a sound. A name. His name. Spoken in a voice he didn't recognize but somehow knew. A woman's voice. Warm. Like sunlight. Like the thing he'd lost and couldn't stop mourning. The same voice from his fragments. The one that called a name that wasn't his but felt like it should have been.
"Kael."
Then the light dimmed. The voice was gone.
He climbed faster. The ridge of bone cut his palms. He didn't stop. Behind him, Lira's breath came in ragged gasps. She was weakening. The use of her voice had drained something essential.
"Keep going," he said. "Almost there."
"Almost where."
"Anywhere that's not here."
They reached the top of the hollow. The plaza stretched before them. Empty now. The hounds had fled. Behind them, the creature's screams faded to whimpers. The gold light dimmed. Whatever the pillar had done, it was spent. For now.
Kael pulled Lira onto flat stone. She collapsed. Her face was grey. Blood still seeped from her nose. Her eyes were open but unfocused.
He looked back at the hollow. The slope descended into shadow. The pillar was barely visible now. A faint glow. The bones that formed the walls were still. Ancient. Silent. Whatever had died here, it had died long ago. Before the sun vanished. Before the Devils. Before everything. And yet its heart still beat. Still remembered.
"We're not supposed to be here," he said quietly.
"No," Lira murmured. "But we are."
He turned back to her. "Can you stand."
"Give me a minute."
"We don't have a minute."
"Then give me thirty seconds."
He gave her thirty seconds. The plaza was quiet. The grey light steady. For a moment, the Stillwake felt almost peaceful. Almost. He knew better than to trust it.
A sound. Far off. The clicking was returning. Not the hounds. Something else. Smaller. Faster. The skittering they'd heard before. Whatever had been waiting in the dark was coming out. Drawn by the chaos. Drawn by the blood.
"We need to move," Kael said.
"I can't."
"Then I'll carry you."
"You can't carry me. You can barely stand."
"Watch me."
He lifted her. She was lighter than he expected. Or maybe the cold thread was giving him something. He didn't know. He didn't care. He started walking. Away from the hollow. Away from the dying creature. Away from the skittering that grew louder behind them.
"Running draws attention," Lira murmured against his shoulder.
"I know."
"Then why are we running."
"Because staying still kills us too. You said it yourself."
"I say a lot of things."
"You were right about this."
The skittering became a chorus. Many legs. Many bodies. Pouring out of the streets behind them. Kael didn't look. He just walked faster. His legs burned. His arms ached. Lira's weight pulled at him. Yet he kept going.
Because stopping meant dying. And he wasn't ready. Not yet. Not while she was still breathing.
The street ahead curved. The grey light flickered. And in the distance, a new sound. Not skittering. Not clicking. Something else. A low hum. Familiar. The Listener. It had found them again.
"Of course," Kael breathed. "Of course it's back."
Lira stirred. "What."
"Nothing. Rest. I'll figure it out."
"You always say that."
"Because I always have to."
He kept walking. The skittering behind. The hum ahead. And somewhere, the bell waiting to toll again.