The warehouse groaned, its walls buckling as dust and debris choked the air. Seraphina coughed, as lungs burned, her body pressed against a crate on the wrong side of the collapsed hallway. Rafe crouched beside her, blood trickling from a gash on his forearm where a shard of concrete had grazed him during the explosion.

On the other side of the rubble, Kael’s voice cut through. “Phina!” he shouted, the sound muffled but piercing, clawing at her heart.

She scrambled to the debris pile, her hands scraping against jagged stone, searching for a gap.

“Kael!” she called back, her voice hoarse but steady despite the fear gnawing at her. “Are...