POV RUBY
The vault door hissed shut behind us, a final tombstone for the secrets of our creators, but the catacombs ahead offered no sanctuary. The air in the tunnels was thick with the scent of wet limestone, ancient dust, and the acrid, chemical sting of the smoke drifting down from the lab above. Vane’s men were no longer just hunting us; they were excavating us, their heavy boots thundering against the street level above our heads like the drums of an approaching army.
"Down!" Nevan barked, his voice cutting through the roar of my own blood in my ears.
I didn't think. I didn't hesitate. Before his hand even touched my shoulder, I was already dropping, my body reacting to a threat I hadn't consciously perceived. A spray of gunfire peppered the stone wall where my head had been a seco
