Helena's voice dropped quieter than before, which somehow made it worse. "Something down there is awake. And it knows the seal isn't with the plinth anymore."
Neo didn't answer right away. He'd already drawn the same conclusion from the pulse in the walls and the low vibration against his ribs. The second chamber wasn't merely waiting - it was aware in the ugliest way a place could be aware, through reaction rather than thought, like a wound deciding what it hated most and tightening around it. He pressed a hand across the seal inside his jacket, felt the iron answer the red throb in the dark, and moved first.
"We go together. If the room wants this seal back badly enough to greet us from down the corridor, I'd rather all five of us disappoint it at once."
