30. The Wolf Den

~ JESSE ~

Following Cazz into the tunnels below the palace felt like being swallowed by a mountain.

Down levels. Down stairs. Down, deeper into the earth below, where the hallways became caves, and half of the side tunnels didn’t even have doors.

My breath got shorter, and not just because we were walking quickly, but because I could feel the immense weight above us and every instinct wanted to scream that we were about to be buried in a cave-in.

But both Cazz and Rake seemed completely comfortable down here. So I just clung to Cazz’s hand and kept following.

It was a maze under here, but slowly, as the walls got rougher and more natural, and the ceilings got lower—though still high enough for these massive men to move comfortably through them—I also became aware of a kind of… vibration.

At first it felt like the air was humming, but then I started to notice trembling in the rock un