His heart pounding a hole in his chest, Adrian scoured the laboratory for another way out. If Crastley had been insane enough to build this underground chamber, perhaps he’d also been paranoid enough to devise an emergency escape route. When he found only blank walls, he switched to his aethersense and commanded Trailseeker to perform its own survey in tandem.

This is hopeless. I’m going to die down here, the failure everyone always expected me to—

His racing mind jerked to a halt as his gaze locked on a nearby section of wall. The stone there stood completely blank. Not just to his regular sight—though it was unadorned rock—but to his aethersense as well. That…that shouldn’t be possible. Even inanimate objects always contained trace amounts of aether.

The distinction was subtle, easy to miss against the rest of the stone. If he hadn’t spent years honing his aethersense to make up for his other aetheric shortcomings, he probably wouldn’t have noticed. Yet, now that he had, he could discern a square area about an arm’s width across devoid of any aether.

A loud bang reverberated from the trapdoor above. Adrian tensed, but when he glanced up, he saw that the wood had merely buckled a bit inward. Thank the spirits Crastley had invested in quality workmanship. Still, considering how thoroughly Shadowlash had pummeled Trailseeker, it wouldn’t take too many more blows to bash through.

Melding again with Trailseeker, he instructed the daemon to sweep the blank section with its keener eyes using Bolster Body. It only took him a few seconds to find what he was looking for: another recessed button hid in the wall, visible by a slight change in coloration. Releasing his meld, he pressed the button. A latch clicked free, revealing a tiny alcove.

Two things instantly caught his attention when he peered inside. The first was a battered journal tossed at the front. Though he spied no markings on its binding, it appeared well-used.

The second was a daemon crouched against the far wall. The creature’s blazing azure eyes met his, and he stumbled a step back, raising his hands to fend off its pounce.

The expected attack never came.

Slowly, he lowered his fingers to study the daemon. It was smaller than Trailseeker—not much larger than a house cat. It resembled a cat as well, though with smooth cerulean skin and an entirely too-long tail with a barbed tip.

As he regarded the daemon, he realized three glowing eyes stared back at him—two in the usual spots and a third set into its forehead. Jutting fangs curved over its lips, and he shuddered at the mental image of them rending into his flesh.

Another crash resounded from the stairs, but he ignored it. Instead, he focused his aethersense on the newly revealed daemon. To his relief, this one felt about the same strength as Trailseeker, so if worst came to worst, his daemon might actually be able to protect him. Its name came to him on the flows of aether: Heartrender.

Heartrender continued to appraise him. His skin prickled under its too-clever gaze. While the creature’s macabre name and tensed posture gave him pause, it didn’t appear aggressive. Its presence down here suggested it had belonged to Crastley…but then, why didn’t it seem bondsick after his death? And why had it been confined within this small compartment?

None of this added up, and his brain was too frazzled to sort through the mystery. As if to punctuate the thought, wood cracked and groaned. He glanced at the stairwell, swallowing when he caught a flash of blue through the shattered planks. One more good hit should do it.

His eyes flicked back to Heartrender. Now that the compartment was open, he had no trouble detecting the daemon with his aethersense. With the door closed, however, it had been as invisible as the rest of that area despite its apparent lack of a shroud. And if the space could hide one daemon, then maybe…

Knowing he had only seconds left, he tucked the journal in his satchel and concentrated on his bond with Trailseeker. This wasn’t a simple linking of their minds like before. Instead, he drew upon his reserve of aether and focused his entire being down into that singular stream connecting them together.

In a flash of blue light, his physical form dissolved. For an instant, his consciousness was simultaneously nowhere and everywhere—part of the Great Aetheric Sea beyond the bounds of creation. Then, he resided within Trailseeker, not just peering through its eyes but fully inhabiting its body. His own body, he knew, had temporarily melted away, subsumed by the aether he’d sent flowing into Trailseeker in much the same way Trailseeker melded with him.

Unlike daemons, however, humans couldn’t sustain such an unnatural state for long. His mind was already beginning to buckle beneath the immense strain it required, and the thought of controlling Trailseeker like a lifeless puppet made him squirm with still more discomfort. On the plus side, this kind of total meld quickened his orders and protected his body so long as his daemon didn’t perish. Today, it also had the added perk of reducing the amount of space needed to contain them both.

Before he could talk himself out of what was probably a terrible idea, he had Trailseeker leap into the alcove and wedge itself into the space. It was a tight fit, especially with Heartrender occupying the back half of the cubbyhole, but they managed.

Scrabbling at the door with Trailseeker’s snout and paws, Adrian managed to swing it most of the way shut. He didn’t dare latch the door completely in case it couldn’t be opened from the inside. It wouldn’t do them any good to hide from Shadowlash, only to lock themselves in here.

The trapdoor outside exploded inward. Huddled within Trailseeker, Adrian listened to the splintered planks clattering down the stairs, followed by the soft patter of paws on stone. When the footsteps paused a few paces outside the compartment, Adrian tensed, relaxing only once the daemon continued past.

Now what?

His impromptu plan had bought a brief reprieve, but his concentration already wavered, and he really didn’t want to see what happened when his body rematerialized in this tiny stone box. No, better to make a break for it while Shadowlash remained focused on its search. Maybe by the time it realized its prey had fled, they’d be halfway back to Hillvale and relative safety.

Nerves on edge, Adrian nudged the door with Trailseeker’s head. It swung slowly open far enough for him to peek out. As he’d hoped, Shadowlash prowled along the lab’s far edge, weaving around tables in a methodical sweep. The daemon’s behavior once again struck him as strange. But if it kept the creature distracted, who was he to complain?

Trailseeker slipped out of the compartment at his command and padded softly toward the stairs. Thankfully, the gas lamps left the cavernous space brightly lit enough that the faint glow of Trailseeker’s aether-infused skin didn’t instantly draw Shadowlash’s attention from across the room. Still, Adrian didn’t dare move too quickly as he navigated the minefield of detritus strewn across the floor. A single sound might well be enough to give them away.

With every step they took, he expected to hear a furious howl of pursuit—to feel those shadowy tentacles slamming into his daemon’s flesh. All it would take was Shadowlash glancing over at the wrong time or extending its aethersense far enough to detect them. He could only pray that the daemon kept its search confined to its immediate vicinity.

When they reached the stairs, Adrian allowed himself a flicker of hope. Thanking the spirits for Trailseeker’s nimbleness, he carefully navigated around the trapdoor’s broken remnants. Shadowlash still hadn’t noticed them, and the opening to the cabin loomed overhead.

Maybe they’d survive this after all.

A loud clattering echoed behind them. Adrian jerked Trailseeker’s head around to find Heartrender frozen guiltily on the stairwell several steps back. The smaller daemon must have followed them out of the alcove. Below, a section of fallen plank trembled and stilled on the stone floor near the base of the stairs.

For a long moment, time seemed to slow. Then, a deafening howl resounded from the chamber’s far end.