Rebecca

We stumbled through a half-collapsed arch, the ceiling drizzling tiny black stones that stung when they hit my shoulders.

Every breath felt heavy, thick with ash. I could hear Maximus behind me, his footsteps uneven, the sound of pain caught between his teeth.

I reached back blindly until my fingers found his hand. His grip tightened, and I pulled him forward, following the faint glow leaking from the cracks in the walls.

We found a hollow, a small pocket in ...