Chapter 4 — The Long Passage

The tunnel swallowed sound.

Every footstep, every scrape of claw, bounced off the stone and ran ahead of us into the dark. Merlin limped at my side, chest heaving. The glow that had made him a giant in the chamber was gone now, leaving only damp air and black walls closing in.

I groped along the stone, hand slick with moisture, guiding us forward. Merlin stumbled, his legs buckling for an instant. I dropped to one knee, pulling him close.

"Just a little further, buddy," I whispered, pressing my forehead against his.

He blinked at me, tongue lolling, too tired even to wag his tail. Still he pushed forward when I urged him on.

The corridor stretched endlessly, the silence broken only by faint horns far above—and something else. A heavier sound. Breathing that wasn't ours. Always ahead. Always waiting.

We found a hollow in the wall where the stone had collapsed, barely enough space to crouch. I half-carried him inside. He sank down, head on his paws, sides rising and falling too fast.

I sat beside him, shoulder against the wall, forcing my own breath steady. My body trembled, not just from the run, but from everything. The fire, the summoners, the circle, the horns. And Merlin.

He'd given everything to save me. His whole being, burned into that transformation. And now he needed me to keep watch while his body stitched itself back together.

I pressed my hand to his fur, whispering, "Rest, Boodles. I'll keep watch."

In the distance, the horns faded. Silence stretched. Then, from the dark beyond our hollow, came the scrape of claws on stone.

The sound came again, closer this time. A breath, slow and heavy.

Something was hunting.

My mind drifted for a moment—a dangerous luxury. I thought of my mother, back home in London. She'd been having chest pains when I left for that consulting trip to Singapore. Just before the summoning. Is she wondering where I am? Has she tried to call? Does she think I've abandoned her, too caught up in the next hotel room, the next board meeting, the next country marked off my list of seventy?

The scraping sound echoed again, snapping me back to the present.

Focus, Sebastian. Get Merlin out. Get back home. Make it right.

But in the darkness of the tunnel, with something circling closer with each passing breath, that promise felt like a lie I was telling myself.