Carter slammed into the ceiling as the car dropped. Suddenly, gravity vanished. His stomach twisted, and for one awful heartbeat, he was sure this was it—he’d end up flattened at the bottom of some pitch-black shaft.
“Emergency Protocol: Gravity Dampener. Cost: All remaining MP. Activate?”
“YES!” Carter yelled.
Blue light flooded the elevator. The plummet slowed, like he was drifting down through molasses. The car still hit hard, shaking the metal floor, but the blow didn’t crush him. He felt the floor buckle, but he was still in one piece.
He didn’t waste a second. Carter kicked the emergency hatch open and climbed up into the pit, heart hammering. He glanced up—way above, tiny slivers of light marked the floors he’d just tumbled past. Down below, only darkness, a tunnel stretching de
