Darius slowly pushed himself upright.
For a moment, nobody moved.
The underground chamber was filled with smoke and dust. Cracks ran across the stone floor, and pieces of the ceiling continued to fall around them.
Mason kept his eyes locked on Darius.
Mason: "Don't move."
Darius smiled.
Darius: "You still don't understand."
Mason took a step forward.
Mason: "Understand what?"
Darius glanced at the glowing necklaces around Mason and Zack's necks.
Darius: "I wasn't trying to defeat you."
Zack's expression changed.
Zack: "Then what were you doing?"
Darius suddenly slammed his palm against the stone wall.
BOOM!
A dark pulse raced through the chamber.
The torches along the walls went out simultaneously.
Everything became pitch black.
Mason: "Zack!"
Zack: "I'm here!"
Mason reached through the darkness and grabbed Zack's arm.
Then they heard footsteps.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
Someone was running up the staircase.
Mason: "He's escaping!"
Mason started toward the stairs.
Zack grabbed him.
Zack: "Wait!"
Mason: "We can't let him get away!"
Zack: "Look!"
A faint red glow appeared beneath the staircase.
Mason froze.
Mason: "...Trap."
The First Wolf growled.
First Wolf: "Back!"
A second later—
CRACK!
The staircase exploded.
Stone and metal flew across the chamber.
Mason pulled Zack down as debris crashed around them.
When the dust cleared, the staircase was completely blocked.
Mason: "Damn it!"
Zack rushed toward the rubble.
Zack: "Darius!"
Nothing.
Only silence.
Mason looked around.
Mason: "He couldn't have gotten through that."
The First Wolf slowly approached the ruined staircase.
First Wolf: "He didn't."
Mason looked at it.
Mason: "What?"
The First Wolf touched the stone wall beside the stairs.
A faint black symbol appeared.
First Wolf: "He made another way."
Zack: "A passage?"
The First Wolf nodded.
First Wolf: "An old one."
Mason: "Where does it lead?"
The First Wolf looked toward the darkness.
First Wolf: "Outside the city."
Zack's eyes widened.
Zack: "Then we can still catch him."
First Wolf: "No."
Mason: "Why?"
The First Wolf pointed toward the floor.
A trail of dark energy stretched beneath the rubble, disappearing into a narrow crack in the stone.
First Wolf: "Because he didn't escape blindly."
Mason crouched beside the trail.
Mason: "He planned this."
Zack looked toward the shattered staircase.
Zack: "He wanted us to chase him."
The First Wolf nodded.
First Wolf: "Exactly."
Mason stood.
Mason: "Then why?"
A faint echo came from somewhere far beneath them.
Darius's voice.
Darius: "Because now I know exactly where you are."
Mason's eyes widened.
The voice faded.
Zack stared into the darkness.
Zack: "He can track us."
First Wolf: "Not yet."
Mason: "Not yet?"
The First Wolf looked at their necklaces.
First Wolf: "But now he knows what the bond looks like."
Mason clenched his fists.
Mason: "Then we need to find him before he figures out how to use it."
Zack nodded.
Zack: "Together."
The First Wolf looked toward the hidden passage.
First Wolf: "You may get your chance sooner than you think."
Far above them, somewhere in the city, a distant howl echoed through the night.
Darius was gone.
But he had left one final message behind.
He wasn't running from them.
He was preparing for them.