The Market was consuming itself, folding inward, collapsing in a slow, grotesque unraveling of flesh, stone, and time, as if the ancient, unseen force that had held it together for centuries had finally decided to let go, to release the fragile, trembling threads that had held it in place for so long, and now, in its inevitable demise, the world beneath them twisted and groaned in protest, unable to bear the weight of its demise.

  Lea had seen death before - had watched blades slice through flesh, had smelled the sharp, metallic taste of blood spilled on cold stone, had stood over the bodies of men who had underestimated her - but nothing she had ever witnessed, no execution, no murder, no desperate, clawing last breath, had prepared her for this.

  This was not just death. This was a transformation.

  The air thickened, and became something dense and suffocating, pressing against her like invisible hands, clawing at her arms, at her ribs, at her throat, pulling, grasping, trying to pull her under.

  The ground beneath her boots cracked, the solid stone beneath her feet cracked like brittle glass, deep fissures splitting outward in jagged veins, as if something vast and ancient was stirring beneath the marketplace, something that had been waiting, something that was now awakening.

  The cultists had begun to scream.

  Some tried to run, their black robes billowing as they fled blindly toward the tunnels, but the market had already decided - it was done letting them go. The walls moved, twisted, closed, the passageways closing behind them, trapping them inside as if the cavern itself had turned against them. There was no way out. Not unless they made one.

  Sandra grabbed Lea's arm with trembling fingers, her grip desperate, her breath sharp with panic. "Move!"

  Lea did not hesitate.

  She jumped forward, dragging Sandra with her, dodging through the crumbling stalls, weaving through the chaos as Maddox moved behind them.

  He was not as she remembered him. Not the man she had fought beside, slept beside, bled beside.

  This thing, this twisted version of him, was still changing, his limbs stretching, his spine arching, his body reshaping itself into something no longer bound by human limits. His mouth-God, his mouth-it did not simply open; it peeled apart, splitting down the middle like a fresh wound, unhinging itself in a grotesque imitation of a jaw, revealing rows upon rows of needle-thin teeth, each one glistening, each one hungry.

  Lea did and could not look back.

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  She tightened her grip on Sandra's wrist, squeezing too hard, bruising, just to make sure Sandra was still there, still breathing, still running. They had to keep moving.

  And then Gemini laughed.

  The sound cut through the chaos like the clean edge of a knife, and Lea turned her head, expecting - hoping - to see Gemini running beside them, her face pale with terror, her body as desperate to escape as the rest of them. But she wasn't running.

  She was walking calmly. As if she wasn't afraid at all. Sandra gasped, stumbling, her voice cracking as she turned, pleading. "Hurry-" And then the ground tilted.

  Not like an earthquake. Not like something breaking. Like something sinking uncontrollably.

  Lea staggered forward, her boots skidding over the trembling stone, as the entire cavern shifted as if the market itself were being pulled down, pulled into something deeper, something worse than the nightmare it had already become.

  The cages that had once lined the walls buckled, the iron bars twisting, melting, warping like soft wax, their prisoners spilling free - no more men, no more creatures meant for this world, nothing that should ever have existed. The market was dying now. And if they didn't get out now, it would take them with it. Sandra screamed.

  Lea's head snapped up. The stairwell. She shouldn't have been there. And yet it was.

  A spiral of impossibly steep steps, carved into the stone wall ahead, leading up, reaching high into the cavern ceiling, toward something unseen, something unknowable, something that hadn't been there before. Lea's stomach twisted. Sandra hesitated, breathless. "Where does it go?"

  Lea didn't answer because it didn't matter. Because they had to move. Lea took the first step. Sandra followed. The stairs were neither stone nor wood. Nothing she recognized. They felt alive under her boots, pulsating faintly, shifting underfoot, not like something built, but like something grown.

  Something that had been waiting. Lea did not stop. Did not turn to see the market being swallowed up below. She kept climbing. Sandra's breath came fast beside her, a thin, rapid sound, her fingers gripping Lea's coat so tightly that the fabric twisted.

  And then a humming. Soft and familiar. Lea turned her head, her pulse pounding.

  Gemini was behind them, humming a lullaby. One from her childhood. One of her mothers used to sing. It should have been comforting, but it wasn't. Because Gemini was smiling. And her lips didn't move. The song didn't come from her mouth. It came from the staircase itself. Lea's breath caught. For she had a terrible, terrible thought.

  What if they weren't escaping?

  What if they were being led?

  The stairs stretched endlessly, spiraling higher, higher, higher, until suddenly a door appeared.

  It hadn't been there before. A wooden door. Ordinary. Familiar. Old, weathered, its brass handle too cold.

  And there was nothing behind it. Not darkness. Something worse. Something watching. Sandra hesitated. "Lea," she whispered. Lea ignored the fear that twisted inside her. She reached for the handle.

  The moment her fingers touched it, the door swung open. And they fell forward. Lea hit the floor hard. Dirt. Cold. Wet. Real.

  She gasped, coughing, pushing herself up onto her hands, her whole body aching, stretched, wrong. Sandra moaned beside her, curled up in a ball, her fingers digging into the earth as if she needed to feel something solid, something real.

  Lea turned her head and froze. They weren't in the market anymore. They were outside.

  In the Black Hollow cemetery. Lea's breath came sharply. They had escaped.

  When she looked up, her stomach sank. The sky was red again. Not morning. Not sunset. As if the market had followed them back. Sandra came closer, her voice shaking. "Where is everyone?" Lea's pulse ticked. The city was silent. And then a breath. Something learning to breathe. Sandra flinched.

  And the church bell rang. Slowly. Deep. Hollow. Gemini sighed contentedly. As if she had been waiting for this.