The wind that swept across the ruin smelled of rust and ozone, like a storm that had lost its sky. Hana didn't move for a long moment—her knees pressed into the cracked concrete, her breath shuddering between relief and dread. Keller was alive. His pulse was weak but steady beneath her trembling fingers. Lin, however, was barely conscious, his burnt arm twitching faintly where the tether had fused with his skin.
The Seam hung open behind them, a wound in the air that refused to close. Its edges fluttered like torn fabric, leaking slow ribbons of color that hissed when they touched the ground. Each pulse of light sent a low hum through the air, as if something inside was still breathing.
Then the hum deepened. It became a heartbeat—but not Keller's. Not anyone's.
Lin forced himself to sit up, his teeth gritted against the pain. "It's stabilizing the threshold," he said, voice rough. "Something's forcing it open from the other side."
