Chapter 993: The Anchor Keeps the Wedge

The rail kept turning. Jade’s boot slid from the shelf to the upright, and the bolt head ground under her sole. The top rung scraped past her hip. Ty’s chest pressed into her forearm; his pelvis stayed against her other side. Nessa’s right glove remained under black steel.

Jade kept her palm above Nessa’s elbow. The rail pulled at the whole arm, not just the wrist. Each time the ridge beneath the receiver tightened, the glove went another fraction under the lip.

"Hold my upper arm, Jade. If you pin the joint, the pull takes my shoulder," Nessa said.

Jade shifted her grip. Nessa kept her left palm on the stone while the suited wrist twisted under the frame. Jade let her set her own weight.

Ty shifted his right hand from the rail onto the grooved rib at the upright. The bone sat in the notch above the hinge plate. His fingers spread against the iron as the rail went by, then closed around the rib when the current dragged the upright back.

"The pin hit the end. If it slips, the rail comes through us," Ty said.

The plate bowed from the rock. The lower field finger drove deeper beneath its retaining lip; the upper one rattled above it.

A second shiver reached Jade’s boot from under the shelf, a beat after the cord. She turned enough to see a separate iron track enter the ridge from the far side, bare stone dividing it from their bar.

"The rail moved; that other track answered a beat later," Ty said.

The second shiver dragged Jade’s heel off the bolt. She moved it into a seam in the stone before the rail could take it; Ty’s weight shifted across her forearm, and she set her hip beneath him again. Nessa’s right shoulder pulled forward a finger’s width.

Nessa’s trapped right hand curled inside the suit. She pried its fingers open with her left, then planted that palm before her shoulder lurched forward.

"West Four needs a brace back. The lower field finger has the double punch, and I can still get it clear," Nessa said.

"Your right wrist is still under that plate. Get clear before we pull on the pieces," Jade said.

"The upper field finger can brace the hinge long enough to free my wrist. The anchor may bury it once the bar takes load." Nessa watched the slot.

Ty shifted his jaw chain away from the upright. The loose links brushed his collarbone and swung clear. His hand flexed once on the rib; the bone held at the notch, though a pale groove had begun to whiten where iron pressed it.

"The rib can hold this plate for one pull. It won’t keep the stair fixed once the lower track answers again," Ty said.

Ty’s skull knocked her shoulder with each lurch. He angled it toward the hinge whenever the rail swung clear.

"I’m steadying your chest. Put the rib where you need it, and tell me when the rail moves," Jade said.

"Keep my chest against your arm. I can move the rib; stop my hand before it crosses that empty cuff," Ty said.

The plate shifted, and Jade drew Ty’s chest back from the receiver.

Jade looked at the glove stretched beneath the lip. "If the suit pulls farther in, how do you get clear?"

"I turn with it instead of fighting at the shoulder. Give me the count when the ridge lets up," Nessa said, tapping the stone twice.

Ty traced the groove beneath his palm. "The pin lifts on the seventh knock. I’ve felt it twice; the count could shift."

Nessa nodded. "I’ll use the next one. If it moves early, I pull back."

The cord struck the guide seven times. Jade counted through her boot. On the last knock, the pin lifted and the receiver eased.

The second track answered from below. The shelf tilted toward it; grit far above slid toward the wound. Nessa’s trapped wrist twisted in the same direction.

Jade loosened her hold as the rail swung past. Ty clamped his hand around the rib. Nessa used her left hand to roll the upper field finger out of its tooth; the suit jerked her right wrist toward the lower one. She turned with the pull until the glove lay flat against the steel.

"Now, Jade. Hold my elbow loose and keep my shoulder on stone," she said.

Jade pressed with her palm. Ty leaned the rib toward the hinge slot, not into the receiver. Nessa brought the upper piece across the gap and pushed its narrow end beneath the bowed plate.

The next pull struck before it seated. The rail jumped; Jade’s heel slipped from the stone seam, and Ty’s chest dropped against her arm. Nessa’s grip slipped. The field finger skated off the plate and caught on the next tooth as the suit hauled her right fingers under the lip.

Jade caught Nessa’s upper arm. Nessa drove her heel into a crack and turned with the pull, then shoved the upper field finger forward with her left palm.

The metal end bit into the slot and held the plate open by a thumb’s width. The field finger bent; a split opened through its pale center.

"Keep the rib set, Ty. I’m pulling my wrist out on the next slack," Nessa said.

Ty pushed the grooved rib against the upright. The rail pressed back through the notch and into his fingers. The rib’s end scraped toward the empty fifth channel; he shifted his hand before it could cross the receiver’s edge.

Jade moved her hip under Ty’s pelvis as the shelf dipped. Her shoulder cramped, but she hooked her heel behind the upright until the bolt stopped scraping.

The ridge tightened. The cord pulled; the split ran from the field finger’s center to its nail. The glove edge started to slide free while the suit kept Nessa’s fingers curled toward the lower one.

"I can pull my wrist clear or keep the brace steady. I can’t do both," Nessa said.

Jade glanced at the lower finger. It had shifted just far enough for its double punch to catch the light. The open slot under the receiver gave them one clean reach, maybe. The upper piece was breaking under the plate.

"Get your hand clear first. I’ll tell you when the lower piece is safe to touch," Jade said.

Nessa rolled her shoulder with the suit. The glove scraped the lip and came free. Her wrist trembled against her chest until the pull eased; then two fingers flexed. The others stayed curled inside the glove.

The upper field finger stayed wedged in the hinge, its split center flexing under the bar.

"My wrist is clear. Leave the wedge where it is while I get the lower piece," Nessa said.

Ty kept the rib against the upright. "The bar is still loaded. Wait until it eases before you reach under it."

The cord slackened, and the lower field finger eased outward from its retaining lip. "That’s the slack. Take the lower piece and pull your left hand free," Jade said.

Nessa braced her left palm, leaned over the shelf, and caught the lower finger by its punched end. The suit drew her right fingers toward the tooth; she turned that shoulder away and pulled with her left. The double-punched finger scraped free, and vibration ran through the frame into Jade’s teeth.

Nessa set the recovered piece against the stone. The upper field finger cracked through its pale center; its end snapped down under the hinge, freeing the plate and kicking the rail sideways. She snatched the lower piece as the rail kicked.

Ty’s rib slipped from its notch but stayed under his hand. Jade braced the shelf with her boot and caught Ty before his chest struck the frame.

The broken upper field finger stayed lodged in the hinge. The living ridge folded around both halves; pale rings closed across the split as the receiver turned inward with them.

Nessa backed away from the lip, clutching the lower piece. "The upper field finger belongs in West Four’s brace rack. Now it’s inside that ridge."

The bar stayed taut as the broken halves sank beneath the living surface.

"We can’t retrieve it without tearing the ridge," Jade said.

"Then we leave it. West Four will be short a brace," Nessa said.

Ty pushed the grooved rib back into the upright’s notch and held it there. Its pale groove had deepened, but the bone remained whole. His hand stayed clear of the receiver. "The lower track enters from the other side. I want to see where it joins."

As the stair rail drifted farther from the ledge, Jade jammed her boot against the stone. Another knock ran up the lower track and struck beneath her knee. Above them, grit lifted from the wound and slid away.

Nessa’s right hand shook against her chest. Her left held the lower field piece. "Our way back is gone. I need a way to stop the suit driving my right hand into another tooth."

On the next knock, Nessa’s thumb jumped. The other fingers curled toward the lower track; she trapped her right wrist under her left forearm until the pull passed.

Jade shifted Ty higher against her arm. The shelf lurched toward the lower fitting, carrying all three with it.