The cave shook as gunfire echoed through stone.
Sparks flew where bullets struck rock, lighting the darkness in violent flashes. Kael dragged Aria deeper into the cavern, his mind racing, instincts screaming. He knew this place, its bends, its blind corners, its exits but Marcus knowing it too changed everything.
“They shouldn’t be able to flank us,” Kael muttered. “Unless”
“Unless they already mapped it,” Aria finished quietly.
Kael looked at her sharply.
She wasn’t panicking.
Her breathing was steady. Her eyes focused. Alert. Awake in a way he hadn’t seen before.
“Aria… tell me what you’re feeling.”
She paused, listening not just to sound, but to something deeper. “Distances. Patterns. They’re spacing themselves evenly. Three outside. Two moving left. One holding back.”
Kael fel
