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"Are you feeling this?" I ask, low

Not webs I know the sticky horror of that all too well More likewings?

The bounty hunter swings around "A deraphid, though I have never seen one of such size before, and the wingspan is extraordinary" He extends a claw, and the insect leaves its inspection of ertips "Remarkable"

Once I controlis har that could pierce the skin With its sold, it’s almost beautiful

"How does it survive down here?"

"It must eat parasites frous"

Mently, and the deraphid goes about its business Reassured that everything down here doesn’t want to eat us, we head toward the shaft That reassurance doesn’t last long with the growling in the distance I can hear movement nearby

I try to focus on March and Vel My heartbeat thunders in round, fighting not to relive the Sargasso crash Instead of charred metal and meat, I have solid stone

The black walls sparkle with untapped ore With Vel in the lead, I can only follow, and hope that the beasts I hear all around us aren’t as close as they sound Maybe the dark and the echoes have disoriented me

Unfortunately, they are as close as they sound

The thing lurches out of a side passage, a s It stands twice as tall as ht The roar echoes off the rock walls, paralyzing me I stare up at its hideous, eyeless face, and shudder This creature could unhinge its jaw and shole

Thankfully, Vel doesn’t have the sa it has one March dives low on the other side, and they slice in unison as thebetween its legs

The creature screa to fall on ed beneath its massive shoulder It’s not dead, just wounded and furious It turns its head and snaps atdown my arm Blood trickles fro trapped beneath a dying thing nearly shorts out my brain It’s all I can do not to lose one, but before they kill it or get it off me, I take the easy way and pass out

I come to myself later--how ainst his chest The stink of ood thing because the other cave creatures leave us alone In fact, they whi," Vel reed us as superior predators, and theyof one of their own"

March looks thoughtful in the light thrown froests a certain level of sentience"

Callskills of the things I just want out of here before I give in to the panic clae "You can put me do"

March s you" His voice drops "I didn’t think I ever would again"

Huh Well, I could argue with that, butwhy? I nestle close to hi to have a serious talk about his opinion ofwhile In the dark, I have no way to measure the time Finally, we reach the first shaft

"This is it," Vel says, gazing up

It’s a reverse pit, no hint of light to give us hope it o all the way up

March sets me on my feet "Somebody needs to scope it out, make sure it doesn’t shrink suddenly so that all three of us will get stuck up there"

"It is narrow," Vel agrees

I try to make myself sound braver than I feel "That’s my cue I’m the s, I tell myself Except that it’s small, pitch black, and I don’t knohat the hell is up there "If you have a rope, I’ll take it up with ood place"

They won’t be able to cli hands and feet to scra Their shoulders will just barely clear the shaft

"I don’t want you doing this," March says "We’ll keep walking"

"Like hell I want out of here" Without waiting for more protests, I take the cord from Vel and loop it around my waist "Wish me luck"

Instead, March snatches me close, despite my stench, and kisses me hard on the mouth "Be careful I love you, Jax, and we have a lot of lost time to ht I won’t be long"

I hope

CHAPTER 52