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They closed the short distance to the arched doorway that led to the Basilisk’s habitat and pressed their backs up against the wall. The vast room echoed with the crunch of bone and the slurp of something wet.

Darien steeled himself, hoping like mad that he wouldn’t see the bodies of Jack and Tanner in there, who’d vanished during the explosion…and angled the blade so he could see into the cavern.

Sitting on their haunches in a lake of black blood were pale, skeletal bodies, all of them huddled around a mass of scales.

Monsters. Fuckinghundredsof monsters,packed inside the room like sardines, leaving little space between here and the door on the other side.They were feasting on the corpse of the Basilisk—sharp teeth grinding against bone, scaled tongues lapping up blood.

“What now?” Roman whispered.

He tipped the blade from side to side, assessing the room and the many different beasts gorging on the Nameless creature. “We go around.”

Easier said than done. As they crossed the cavern, it was impossible to avoid bumping their legs into monsters, some turning toward them with eyes a milky blue. Most resembled canines, though closer to the Basilisk were the more humanoid breeds with wings, spiked spines, or horns, a few with bodies like arachnids or bats.

Something nudged his leg. Angling the sword downward, he saw a demon—vaguely canine in appearance—frantically sniffing his thigh. Its teeth were permanently bared, no lips to cover them, its hairless skin oozing with something black and bubbly.

He jabbed Roman in the side with an elbow.“Shield,”he hissed.

“Iam.”But Roman had been shielding for a long time, and Darien sensed that his hold was slipping.

So he snapped a shield of his own up—for now. Roman had suggested he be the one to shield so Darien could reserve hismagic in case of an emergency. But shielding for hours was more than even Darkslayers could handle.

Finally, they made it out of the Basilisk’s chamber and into the empty tunnel beyond. And they continued to walk. The ground was sloping upward now, so they had to exert more strength to crest it. Soon, they were both out of breath.

Darien used the blade to look up the tunnel?—

And stopped with a curse on his lips.

“What’s wrong?” Roman asked.

“Look.” He passed the sword to Roman.

The chamber they’d rappelled down was drowning in rubble. The whole skyscraper had likely been demolished, slabs of concrete, cristala, metal—you name it—crammed inside.

So much for their escape plan. Sure, it would’ve taken them a hell of a long time to climb out, but they didn’t exactly have options. And there were elevated walkways every few hundred feet for maintenance workers, where they could have rested, making the ascent a little easier.

Now?… Simply put, they were screwed.

Roman was still using the sword to see, but he wasn’t looking at the chamber.

“What are you looking at?” Darien asked him.

Roman gave him back the sword. “To your right,” he instructed.

Darien turned the blade?—

And saw tunnels that hadn’t been there before. New openings in the walls—gaping holes and narrow gashes that appeared to have been ripped open by the blast. But no indication as to where they might lead.

Roman caught his eye in the reflection and shrugged. “What other choice do we have?”

None. There was zero choice here, except which of those tunnels they would walk. He looked one more time, weighing their options.

He gestured with the sword to the one that led east. “Let’s take this one.”

Darien entered the tunnel first, the opening too narrow for both of them. Once they were in, it widened slightly, though not quite enough for two people, forcing them to walk single file.

“Backward or forward?” Darien asked.

Roman thought about it. “Forward. I’ve had enough of walking backward. I’m getting dizzy.”