"Holy shit—"
"Time to go—hold onto me!" I wrap my arm around her waist, practically lifting her off her feet as we tear down the left passage. Her heart hammers against my side, each terrified beat driving me faster. Ice splinters under our boots, but I don't give a shit about stealth anymore. Not with that thing's wet shuffle getting closer, the walls pulsing like some twisted heartbeat around us.
"There!" Dani points right. A narrow crevice in the ice. I push her through first, my body shielding her as claws rake across my back. Pain explodes between my shoulder blades, but I don't give a fuck—as long as they didn't touch her.
The passage opens into a circular chamber. Six identical exits mock us, each framed by jagged icicles that drip with something too dark to be water. I keep Dani tucked against my side, scanning for threats.
"Please tell me you have some internal-compass thing going on right now," Dani pants, gold eyes scanning each exit. "Are you okay?" She looks at my back that is already healing.
Before I can answer, that child's laugh rings out again. Closer. Small footprints appear in the frost, forming one by one, leading to the second passage on the left.
A small voice cuts through the frozen air. "Papa..."
Ice floods my veins. Ten feet away stands a boy—black hair, ocean-blue eyes mirror of my own. Ten years old. Forever ten years old.
No. Not real. Can't be real.
"What's wrong?" Dani's hand finds my arm. "Rhyland?"
My son takes a step closer, skin pale as the ice around us. Dead eyes fixed on mine. "Why didn't you save me, Papa?"
"What do you see?" Dani's voice shakes. Her grip tightens, but her gaze is fixed on empty air to our right.
Words scrape in my throat. "You don't... you can't see him?"
"Mom?" Dani's whole body jerks, color draining from her face as she stares at nothing. "That's not—you're not—"
Fuck. This place is in our heads, twisting our worst memories into weapons. I pull Dani closer, but can't tear my eyes from my son's lifeless face.
Not real. Not real. Not fucking real.
A shadow darts between our reflections—too fast, too fluid. Not human. Not even close.
"Don't believe what you see." I pull her tighter against my side as we run, my body angled to take any attack that might come.
The passage narrows, forcing us to move sideways. That fucking laugh bounces off the walls—ahead, behind, everywhere. More footprints appear, overlapping now, like dozens of children running circles around us.
"Run."
A flash of white in the ice—a small hand presses against the surface. Then another. And another. The walls fill with them, pushing outward like they're trying to break through.
"Oh, my god. What the hell is this?" Dani pants, freaking the fuck out.
I yank Dani in front of me as the first fingers crack through the ice. "I gotcha ya, baby. Keep moving." My arm bars across her chest, keeping her shielded as we back away. "Don't let them touch you."
The passage splits—right fork pulses with an eerie blue light—left fork darker than sin.
"Play with us..."
The whispers slide like oil down my spine. Through the ice, small faces watch us, skin blue with frost, eyes black as pitch. They track Dani's movements with hungry intensity.
"Left," she gasps. "Has to be left."
A wet scrapingsound above snaps my attention. That corpse-thing skitters across the ceiling like a broken spider, head twisting completely backward to focus on Dani. Its mouth stretches into a Glasgow smile, dripping something dark.
"Close your eyes. Now." Lightning crackles to life in my palm, the charge making my hair stand on end—answering my call easily—I curve my body around hers as the walls reflect the energy, turning everything into a storm of blue-white fury. The children in the walls shriek, recoiling from the light.
With Dani's face buried against my chest, I hurl the bolt behind us. Ice explodes. The corpse-thing's scream tears through the air—a sound no human could make.
