Chapter 12: Awakening the Core
The industrial service lift groaned beneath their weight as the steel cage dropped past the basement levels, descending sixty feet into the damp limestone beneath the foundation of Alderwood Manor. Rowan Mercer stood with his hands resting in the pockets of his dark trousers, listening to the metallic whine of the guide cables. Beside him, Orson Drake adjusted the strap of a heavy leather tool bag, his breath pluming in the raw, underground chill that seeped through the mesh gate.
When the lift finally settled with a sharp clank against the bottom buffers, the gates parted onto a cavernous chamber hollowed directly out of the coastal bedrock. The air smelled of damp earth, pulverized stone, and machine lubricant.
Dominating the space stood the geothermal c
