CHAPTER 18
1022 Words
Ryan’s POV
The ground didn’t split open.
That was the worst part.
It creaked slowly, deliberate, like something ancient stretching after a long sleep. The c***k beneath our feet sealed itself again, but the pressure didn’t fade. It coiled tighter instead, drawing inward, gathering intent.
Blake swore under her breath. “That wasn’t normal. Even for us.”
“No,” I said. My voice sounded strange to my own ears. Thicker. Weighted. “That was… controlled.”
Elias straightened, his glow sharpening at the edges. For the first time since he’d emerged, I felt something like unease ripple through him,not fear, but alertness. A guardian recognizing a threat that wasn’t his to command.
Hayes was already barking orders. “Fall back! Everyone move back from the perimeter. Medics first, civilians next. Now!”
Some officers hesitated. Others obeyed instantly. The ones who hesitated were watching me.
I hated that.
Blake squeezed my hand once before letting go. “I’m getting them out,” she said, nodding toward the freed subjects. “Try not to collapse again.”
“No promises.”
She flashed me a grim smile and turned, her voice shifting seamlessly into pack-command. The freed subjects responded faster than the police did, forming a loose but orderly retreat. They trusted her.
They trusted us.
The weight in my chest shifted again,heavier now, but clearer. I could trace it, like following tension through a wire. Whatever lay beneath Blackridge wasn’t just awake.
It was aligning.
“Ryan,” Elias said quietly. “You are becoming a point of resonance.”
“That sounds bad.”
“It is,” he replied, then softened. “But not only bad.”
I looked at him. “You knew this would happen.”
“I knew it was possible,” he said. “The boundary does not choose lightly. It does not choose often.”
Hayes returned, breath sharp, eyes never leaving the ground beneath us. “You keep saying boundary like it’s a thing I can put tape around.”
“It is a thing,” I said. “Just not one you can arrest.”
Her mouth twitched despite herself. “Figures.”
Another tremor rolled through the earth, stronger this time. The air vibrated, a low-frequency hum crawling up my spine and settling behind my eyes. I staggered, catching myself before Blake could notice from across the lot.
Images bled through my vision.
Not memories.
Maps.
I saw Blackridge layered over itself,streets above, old lines beneath. Faults. Ley paths. Places where the world had been stitched together poorly centuries ago. The facility hadn’t caused the wound.
It had been built on it.
I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Ryan?” Hayes asked, sharper now. “You good?”
“No,” I said honestly. “But I’m functional.”
Elias’s gaze snapped to me. “You see it.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “And it’s bigger than this site.”
Hayes went still. “How much bigger?”
I hesitated.
Then I pointed,not down, but outward, toward the city skyline. “There are weak points. Old ones. This place was just the deepest.”
Silence followed.
Then Hayes cursed. Quietly. Professionally. Like someone adding up losses before they happened.
“You’re telling me my city is sitting on a fault line I can’t evacuate from,” she said.
“I’m telling you it’s been sitting there for a long time,” I replied. “We just woke it up.”
Elias shifted. “Not we.”
I glanced at him. “Semantics.”
Another pulse rolled through the ground,shorter, sharper. Like a knock.
The wound wasn’t trying to break through.
That was worse.
It was testing.
Blake jogged back toward us, face tight. “They’re clear. As clear as we can get them without starting a riot. What now?”
I opened my mouth
And felt it.
A tug.
Not downward this time.
Sideways.
My breath caught as the pull slid across my awareness, dragging my attention toward the eastern edge of the city. Toward somewhere dark, old, and very much occupied.
I staggered again, barely catching myself.
Elias grabbed my arm. “Ryan.”
“Someone just felt that,” I said. “Someone else like me. Or close enough.”
Blake swore. “You mean another…..”
“I don’t know,” I cut in. “But they’re not confused.”
Hayes’s eyes narrowed. “Meaning?”
“Meaning,” I said slowly, “whatever lives down there isn’t the only thing that noticed the shift.”
The air grew heavier. Not supernatural,human. Helicopter blades thudded overhead. More cameras. More people who would want answers we didn’t have yet.
Elias released my arm, stepping back. “If you remain here, you will draw it closer.”
Hayes folded her arms. “And if he leaves?”
Elias met her gaze. “So will you.”
That landed harder than any tremor.
I looked at Blake. At Hayes. At the city I’d spent my life hiding inside.
The weight in my chest settled,not pressing anymore, but anchoring.
“I’ll go,” I said.
Blake’s head snapped up. “Ryan……”
“Not alone,” I added quickly. “Not disappearing. Just… repositioning.”
Hayes studied me for a long moment. Then, surprisingly, she nodded. “I can buy us time. Not much. But some.”
“That’s all I need.”
Elias inclined his head. “The boundary will follow.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s kind of the point.”
Blake stared at me like she wanted to argue, to yell, to drag me somewhere safe by force if she had to.
Instead, she stepped closer and rested her forehead against mine, just for a second. “You better come back,” she murmured. “I don’t care what the world decides you are. I’m not done with you.”
Neither was I.
The ground hummed again,low, anticipatory.
Somewhere beneath Blackridge, the wound adjusted its grip.
And somewhere else, something answered back.
Whatever came next wouldn’t be hidden.
It would be deliberate.
- Writer
