Chapter 994: The Hinge Under the Track

Jade’s forearm shifted beneath Ty’s chest. He moved his weight toward the grooved rib before it dragged her down with him. The bone scraped in its notch, and his right hand locked over it. Beneath the shelf, the lower track pulled again.

The shelf slid sideways, hauling Jade’s boots toward the lower fitting. The stair rail had vanished below the ledge. Nessa crouched on the far edge with the recovered field finger in her left fist. Her right hand jerked toward the frame, then folded against her ribs.

"I can step to the ridge at this gap, but only if I drop the West Four piece," Nessa said.

Jade checked the gap with one foot. "You’d have to release it before the shelf rolls under. I can’t catch it and Ty at once."

"If I drop it here, it goes under the fitting. I won’t reach it again," Nessa said.

Ty’s grip slipped on the rib. He reset his palm, keeping it clear of the receiver. Jade’s arm tightened around his chest. The plate scraped stone; the shelf slid another handspan.

"Can you keep your feet if you stay on the shelf with us?" Jade asked.

"I can stay upright if my right hand stops trying to climb into the iron," Nessa said.

The metal vanished inside her left fist. Nessa planted her right elbow against the stone, keeping her wrist bent away from the receiver. The suit kept wrenching her shoulder toward the frame. She had no spare hand for the ridge.

While Jade watched, the gap between shelf and ridge opened, closed, opened. If they rode past it, the shelf would have to carry them to the lower bend before it met the ridge again.

Jade’s open eye tracked a point above the gap. Her injured eye stayed shut.

"The fitting is full in one sight. In the other, the ridge is. I can’t place us in either," she said.

"Don’t tell me the Reaper picked a route. Tell me which ground holds," Ty said.

Jade kept her palm under his chest and leaned to test the stone with her boot. "The ridge rises while this shelf drops. If we pass this gap, it’ll meet us again at the lower bend."

Nessa looked down at the field finger. Two punches crossed its end, dark from old use. She rubbed one with her thumb, then stopped as the suit twitched beneath her sleeve.

"Then we take the shelf. Keep my hand off the receiver and my arm against the wall," she said.

Jade shifted her stance. "Your piece is yours, but it won’t keep you from falling."

"I know what it weighs. I also know what West Four loses if I leave it," Nessa said.

"I can keep some of your weight from sliding," he said.

"Your ribs are under Jade’s arm. Keep the bone braced and let her move you," Nessa said.

The lower track knocked against the frame. The shelf dipped toward the living ridge. Ty braced the rib against the upright while Jade lifted his chest clear of the plate. Nessa moved her right elbow along the stone, keeping the suit’s pull from turning her shoulder.

The gap widened. Nessa could have dropped the field finger and reached across. Jade saw her left hand open once. She closed it around the piece before the next knock.

"I’ll keep it. Call the lift for me, then move Ty before my hand reaches that rail," Nessa said.

Jade nodded. "Hold through the dip. Move Ty when the next knock lifts the shelf."

The next knock ran through the upright and into Ty’s palm. The shelf rose under his boots. Jade pulled his chest back; he pushed against the rib, moving his pelvis clear of the plate. The grooved bone bowed at the notch but held.

Nessa stayed on the far edge. She pinned the field finger beneath her left thumb and turned her shoulder with the pull. Her right hand pointed toward the frame; she planted her elbow against the rock and let it take the tug instead.

The ridge rose level with the shelf, then slid away. Nessa kept the piece closed in her fist and stayed with the moving floor; by the next knock, the first crossing had passed behind them.

Jade shifted her weight around Ty, using the upright to keep her feet. "I can move your chest when the rail swings clear. Keep the rib between us and the plate."

"You’ll feel my shoulder turn first. Move me after the rail clears the upright," Ty said.

The shelf’s edge rasped beneath him. Jade waited for the rail to pass, then moved his chest across her forearm. His ribs scraped her sleeve. The grooved rib took his weight through the next pull, and he got both boots under him before the shelf tipped again.

Nessa edged along the far rim, the piece pressed in her fist. Her right elbow stayed against the stone while the suit dragged her hand toward the receiver. The pull twisted her pulse cage; she waited for the pressure to slack before clearing her boot.

The shelf carried them past the first rise of living ridge. Its metal edge ground beneath the lip, and the rail vanished from view. At the lower bend, another lift brought its outer edge flush against a second stretch of ridge.

"That change came from beneath the lower fitting; the living part is moving against the shelf," Nessa said.

When the shelf met the second ridge, Ty moved one boot across and shifted his weight onto it. The grooved rib held against the pull until he got his other boot onto the ridge. Jade kept her arm beneath his chest while he lifted the rib free of the upright and brought it across. She followed beside him. Nessa came last, the recovered piece closed in her left fist, her right elbow scraping the stone as the suit tugged her shoulder toward the fitting.

The ridge flexed under their combined weight. A band of old stone showed through its surface, wide enough to fit a door. Four blackened hinge bolts sat at one end. The black seam divided the stone from the newer cuts around it.

Ty looked from the four bolts to the strip of sheared stone beside them. At Switch Nine, a cut as wide as a cell had ended the dry rail.

"Same cell-wall cut we followed toward Erebos’s prison? Is this its far end?" Jade asked.

"The spacing matches. I can’t see beyond this slab from here," Ty said.

Nessa leaned toward the stone. The suit pulled her right fingers forward. She braced her elbow against the ridge and shifted the recovered piece into the crook of her left arm.

"Stone grew around the hinge. If that bolt can still turn, the growth hasn’t locked it," she said.

At the next pull, one bolt’s dark head moved a quarter turn and stopped. Three stayed buried. Ty watched the seam for another change.

Jade’s hand tightened on his shoulder. "If that opening widens, the track could pull the anchor through it."

"The suit is pulling my wrist toward that gap. Keep the rib between my hand and the slot if the bolt turns again," Nessa said.

Ty set the grooved rib against the ridge and tested its weight. The pale groove had deepened. One edge caught against the stone, giving him enough purchase to keep the three of them from sliding toward the bolt.

"The hinge is turning against the anchor. Whatever is beyond it can push back," Ty said.

Jade leaned over the edge. The lower fitting moved below them, its bar scraping the same direction as before. "The Reaper keeps showing me bodies beyond the seam. I don’t know if they’re ahead or already gone."

"Then we stay on the ridge until we know what the hinge opens into," Ty said.

The suit jerked Nessa’s right hand away from her ribs. Her fingers reached for the black seam. She caught her wrist with her left elbow, but the recovered piece slipped from the crook and struck the ridge.

She dropped to one knee and trapped it beneath her left palm. Jade held her shoulder without moving her arm. Ty kept the rib set between Nessa and the fitting.

"Keep me on the ridge. If the suit gets ahead of me, pull my shoulder back," Nessa said.

Jade bent her knees and braced her boot against the living surface. "I’ll hold your upper arm. You tell me when the pull starts."

The hinge bolt turned again. A narrow strip of bare stone appeared on the far side of the seam. Only the door’s edge showed, pressed against another wall.

The ridge drew tight beneath their boots. Ty’s hand jerked toward the opening; Jade pulled him back before his knuckles reached it. Nessa held the West Four piece against the stone.

"The ridge loaded from the hinge side. I felt it under my boots before the next bolt moved," she said.

The fourth bolt moved. The ridge twisted toward the opening, carrying all three of them one step closer. Ty held the grooved rib between them and the seam.

Something pulled from beyond the door. The old stone dragged against the living ridge, and the seam widened.