The footsteps stopped just short of the darkness swallowing Serena whole, and for one unbearable second, no one breathed.
"Kael?" Mira's voice, thin with fear, cut through the black. "Serena? Please tell me that's one of you—"
"It's us." Kael's hand found Serena's arm, steadying her as her eyes adjusted to catch the faint outline of Mira's silhouette a few feet away, not an enemy at all, just a terrified girl who'd been separated in the guardian's sudden vanishing. Relief crashed through Serena hard enough to make her knees weak. "Mira, thank the Moon—"
"I heard voices. I heard chains. I thought—" Mira's breath hitched. "I thought I'd lost you both down here."
"We're fine." Serena pulled her into a quick, fierce hug, grief and adrenaline tangled together. "We need to get back before an
