The silver light pouring from the open shaft of the broken elevator didn't just illuminate the dark corridor; it felt like a cold weight pressing against my bare skin. The lift had been dead for five years, its cables rusted into rigid iron vines behind the concrete walls of Magomeni Hospital, but now the metal doors stood wide open, humming with a low, mechanical frequency that made the fillings in my teeth ache.
"Esther, get back," Doctor Chaulo whispered.
His voice was still raspy from the mud monster's grip, but he moved with a sudden, protective urgency, stepping directly between me and that blinding silver glare. His large hand reached behind him, his fingers locking around my wrist. His palm was warm, wet with sweat, and trembling slightly from the sheer adrenaline of a ordinary m
