The humming came again, soft enough that none heard it. It drifted through the narrow passage like breath over glass, carrying a melody I knew before I understood why. My feet stopped moving. The braided cord linking my wrist to Caleb tightened as the warriors behind us continued a step, then another. Caleb halted with me. He did not ask if I was certain. He turned his head, listening to darkness with the stillness he used when danger was near. “Aria?” he murmured. I swallowed, because answering meant making the impossible real. “My mother used to sing that at night.”
Kira’s expression hardened. She raised a fist, and the column stopped. The signal passed silently: shoulders locking, hands tightening on weapons, warriors waited. Caleb faced the passage, standing before me. “Can you hear i
