Page 36 of Twist of Fate

“That’s new,” Luke grumbled under his breath.

Connal didn’t respond. He’d gone completely still. Luke was beginning to understand that stillness meant danger.

“This is wrong,” Connal said.

Luke stepped forward anyway. The air changed the second they crossed the threshold. Subtle, but immediate, like stepping into some sort of air-locked chamber. The noise of the city vanished. Everything went still.

Luke’s shoulders tightened as he moved deeper inside, his gaze sweeping the interior automatically. The space was larger than it seemed from the outside, the walls stretching farther than the exterior footprint should have allowed.

A shiver went down Luke’s spine, and suddenly he was really glad he wasn’t alone. That was new—and probably not a good sign.

“Tell me you feel that,” Luke muttered.

Connal didn’t answer right away. When he did, his voice was lower. “Tension.”

Luke nodded once. It was the perfect word to describe it. “Yeah. Same.”

They moved another step in⁠—

—and the door slammed shut behind them.

Luke spun, hand already moving toward a weapon that wasn’t there, his pulse kicking up hard as the heavy steel sealed with a final, echoing clang.

“Okay,” he said, breath sharp. “That’s not great.”

Pressure settled into the space around them, tightening like an invisible net drawing closed.

Connal moved instantly, stepping closer, tracking something Luke couldn’t see.

“It is activating,” Connal said.

“Yeah, I got that,” Luke shot back.

The floor beneath them flickered, not with light, but something that shimmered. Dammit. Faint, geometric lines flashed across the concrete for half a second before disappearing again.

Luke’s breath caught. “Okay,” he said, slower now. “That’s definitely not normal.”

The lines flared again, brighter, longer. They didn’t disappear.

Luke scanned the lines. They formed deliberate angles across the floor, like a security grid constructed from light instead of lasers.

No—not light. Magic. There was no point pretending otherwise.

Luke’s stomach dropped. “That’s not⁠—”

The air compressed, hard, as if something invisible slammed down over the space, forcing everything inward at once.

Luke staggered, breath catching as pressure hit him from all sides.

Connal moved fast, one second beside Luke, and the next in front of him. A sharp, violent distortion tore through the air as something struck. Connal’s body jerked, just slightly.

“Connal—”

“I am fine,” Connal snapped.

He wasn’t.

Luke could see it now—the tightness in his shoulders, the way his stance adjusted, compensating for something that hadn’t been there a second ago.