The metal gave a low, strained groan, and a burst of cold air slipped out through the narrowing gap. It smelled of earth, ancient stone, and something faintly metallic underneath.
Fang stepped back at once. "Ren."
"I know."
Pax paused. "You feel that too?"
"Yes," Ren said.
Something in the dark below shifted.
Not physically, perhaps.
But the pressure changed.
As though whatever had been sleeping beneath them had recognised the opening of a door and was turning its attention upwards.
Pax let go of the hatch as if it had burned him. "I hate this building."
Ren gave him a dry glance. "You built half of it."
"That is not the point."
Fang moved to the edge of the opening and looked down. A stone stairwell descended into blackness, its steps half buried in dust. The emergency lights did not reach far enough to show the bottom.
He swallowed once. "There is a ward circle at the base."
Ren's eyes narrowed. "Old?"
"Very."
