The deeper we went, the colder the air became. Not normal cold either. The kind of cold that crawled under your clothes and pressed against your spine like it wanted to whisper secrets. The lights overhead buzzed quietly, too dim to be comforting. Each step echoed along the narrow hallway, bouncing off metal walls until the sound felt like it was following us instead of coming from us.
Sophie moved ahead of us with purpose, her high-level access key hanging from a lanyard around her neck. She swiped it across the first locked gate, and the steel bars slid open with a slow, grinding growl that sent a shiver through me.
Jack tightened his grip on my hand. Beau stayed close enough that his shoulder brushed mine when I exhaled.
“I hate it down here,” I muttered.
Beau nodded. “It smells wro
