My guide can… go no further. We were crossing a chamber – a bridge of bones and ratty rope swayed across a small underground river of rusty, blood-colored water. I crossed first, and I could hear the rope creaking, could even hear threads snapping. The bone bridge rattled and dipped, making me dizzy and nauseated. (How long has it been since I’ve eaten? Does it matter? Am I even hungry?) I made it to the other side, but the both of us did not cross at the same time lest we discover too late that the bridge would not support us. As Danny crossed over, I heard the sound – a loud crack like a gunshot – just before a piece of rock from above broke free and smashed through the bridge three feet in front of Danny. The bridge floor was gone – but the bridge itself held together. For a moment, all seemed fine. Danny even laughed, and then I laughed, and he took one step… then the entire bridge fell to pieces. It tumbled into the water and with it, Danny. He hit the river and began screaming. I saw shapes: lean shadows, long fins, silver teeth. First two, then ten, then three times that. Swarming Danny as the waters swept him away and under a shelf of granite. He was gone. Now I move forward without Danny. The cruelest thing I can tell you is that I think I’m glad it happened. Because once he could no longer follow, I began hearing the voices. Whispers crawling in my mind. Urging me forward…

– from the Journals of John Atticus Oakes, Cartographer of the Great Below

Nora’s mind is a cacophony of whispers.

Hillview, Fifth and 78, blood in the streets, Vithra, Morquin, Hyor-Ka, soldier Vollrath, knights to queens, riser shafts, valve tunnel, Candlefly, Woodwine, Bellbook, a man a mile.

She sees a pattern of dots. An explosion. Water. Stone dust. Bone dust.

A voice booming in her mind, shoving past the whispers:

YOU ARE STRONG.

Go to hell, she thinks.

WE ARE HELL. WE ARE THE TOLLING OF ITS BELLS. WE ARE THE WHISPERS OF THE WORMS. WE ARE THE FIRST. WE ARE VOLLRATH.

Again the dots. The blast. A gush of dark water. Blood oozing on marble floors. Casimir’s face smashed – Caz, no, gods, no; she came in the house, found his body upstairs, the blood still wet, run, run, they found him out, run–

A city empty, howling monsters, massive worms coiled around skyscrapers.

Please get out of my mind.

BUT IT IS SO DELICIOUS.

Nora screams.

Werth grunts as he hobbles down the steps. He limps, gimp-like, around the corner. But the pain isn’t enough to stop him. He can feel the tides turning – he knows what to do now. Knows where his loyalty belongs.

“Going somewhere?”

Sorago. Spine bowed. Hands flat at his sides. He steps forward, blocks the door to the wine cellar.