“C’mon, Aleph,” he said, resting one hand on the wall, the other on her shoulder. “Help me up, please. We can’t stay here.”
“No,” agreed Ferdinand, breathing hard as he gave one final surge of his immense body, and the stone slab he’d been pressing against went crashing forward, shattering on the floor of the room beyond. “No, we cannot.” Then he looked around, and blinked at where I should have been, his nostrils flaring as he checked for my scent. “Mac?”
“Right here,” I called out, moving to slip my shoulder under Neph’s other arm, taking most of his weight, though not all of it: Al deserved to feel like she was helping, after all. “Just give me a…ah,” and instantly I came back into sight, “there we go.” I gave him a wry smirk. “Guess it doesn’t work for very long,” I exp
