“Don’t care,” I grunt.
The tar pulses in me.
TURN BACK.
I take another step.
SHE STILL LIVES. THAT WAS YOUR WISH.
I stop then start walking faster.
The warehouses are up ahead, a row of them. The walls are covered in old graffiti, peeling paint, and grime baked so deep it’s part of the building now. The kind of place the city left behind.
I slow, forcing Viper to look. “Which one?”
Her eyes scan the line of buildings, her forehead creased. “I… think it’s that one.” She points, but her hand wavers. “It’s been a long time. It looks so different now.”
The tar inside me surges again, hotter now, angrier.
YOU CANNOT TAKE WHAT IS OURS.
I step toward the building.
“Jax,” Matt says sharply. “Let’s?—”
My boot slams into the door and the chain snaps as the door bursts inward.
Viper whispers, “Oh my?—”
The ground shudders beneath our feet as the concrete cracks. The metal rails scream as they twist under the pressure below. Another crack follows, and the pavement behind us drops with a thunderous collapse.
“What the hell is happening?” Matt shouts, stumbling back.
Tar bursts through the fractured concrete like black water forcing its way to the surface. It spills across the yard, swallowing gravel and broken asphalt as the ground continues to buckle.
THE CITY WILL PAY.
“You don’t own them,” I growl.
Another section of pavement caves in with a deafening crash, the rail yard folding inward as if the earth itself is trying to drag me down with it.
The warehouse groans as the foundation shifts beneath us. Dust rains down from the ceiling beams.
I step forward, my eyes scanning the room, hunting for her.
Viper grabs Matt’s arm. “Matt!”
“I see it!”
A rusted support beam tears loose above the entrance and drops toward us. My arm lifts before I even think. Black liquid bursts from my skin, catching the falling metal midair. The beam jerks to a stop, suspended in thick tendrils of tar that coil around it like muscle.
“Motherf—” Matt curses.
“Move,” I snap.
They scramble backward just as another section of ceiling collapses, forcing them to dive behind a line of overturned storage crates as debris crashes across the floor.
The pit’s voice rips through my head again, a furious bellow.
