We slipped inside.
The room was small, cramped, and hotter than the corridor. The crank mechanism was attached to a central shaft that disappeared into the floor.
I ran my hand over the crank handle. The metal was cold.
“You think this opens all cages?” I asked.
Griff nodded, examining the linkage. “Looks like it.”
“Good. But we lay low for a minute, and we wait. Ashcroft will make his rounds before long.”
We didn’t have to wait long.
Voices echoed from somewhere deeper in the lab. Then the sound of footsteps coming closer and closer.
Elias rolled his shoulders. “We ready?”
“We’re ready,” I said.
The footsteps grew closer, and we moved out of the field of view. I leaned my head forward just enough to see him.
Through the bars and gaps, I saw figures approaching. There were guards first, then white coats, then the man himself.
He looked immaculate even down here, his expression composed like he was touring an art gallery instead of a prison. Dr. Voss walked beside him, talking quickly, gesturing toward a door further down that led deeper into the lab.
Ashcroft nodded at something she said, barely listening, already scanning the containment room like he was proud of what he’d built. He stopped near the center of the space andlooked at the ferals with faint disdain, as if their suffering bored him.
One of the wolves slammed into its bars hard enough to rattle the bolts. Ashcroft didn’t even flinch.
“Keep them agitated,” he directed calmly. “I want the council to see the effect at peak.”
I grabbed the handle with both hands.
Griff braced beside me, ready to help if the mechanism stuck. Nox stood at the doorway, watching. Elias stayed close, eyes on my hands, on my face.
“On three,” I whispered.
Elias nodded once.
“One,” I counted.
My grip tightened.
“Two.”
I could hear my heartbeat louder than the pipes.
“Three.”
The crank resisted for half a second, then the shaft engaged, and the mechanism began to move, metal groaning deep in the walls like the building was waking up. I kept turning, arms straining as the central release engaged with a heavy, rolling clunk that vibrated up into my shoulders.
Out in the corridor, iron bolts began to slide.
One.
Then another.
Then a chain reaction: gate after gate unlocking in rapid succession, the sound building into a rising chorus of metal on metal.
