The Grinders district was waking up.
It wasn't a gentle awakening. It was the sound of a beast being kicked.
Klaxons wailed from the burning Processing Plant and steam whistles screamed from the surrounding factories.
The heavy, rhythmic thumping of the presses faltered as the power grid fluctuated from the explosion Zane and Wren had caused.
Zane ran, his boots pounding the slick cobblestones.
He carried Kael over his shoulder effortlessly, the dense muscle fibre granted by the Soul Essence making the boy feel as light as a bag of feathers.
Wren was a shadow ahead of him, leading the way through the maze of alleyways and steam tunnels.
She moved with a desperate urgency, checking every corner and every roofline.
They were loud.
They were messy.
And they were exposed.
"Faster, S
