COLD STEEL, BLEEDING HEARTS
She fell, palms smacking the ice, cold biting through her skin.
“He can’t help you, Maya,” the woman said. She glided across the ice, smooth as water, not even slipping. “No one can. This is it. Finish your dance and the machines turn off. Your friends live. If you don’t...”
She didn’t have to finish. Overhead, a giant screen blinked on, showing the safe house. Julian, David, Toby, Bianca—huddled in the kitchen’s corner. The walls oozed the same black, rotting slime from the mountain. The Iron King was coming, dragging his heavy metal body through the floorboards.