His velvet obsession
But God, I didn't want to die in the dark.
High above, a searchlight cut through the mist, blinding me. And then, through the roar of the wind, I heard a different sound. A mechanical whine. A hatch opening.
A hand reached down from a hidden maintenance crawlspace just three feet above me. A hand I recognized scarred at the knuckles, trembling with a frantic, desperate energy.
"Take my hand, Astrid!" Xavier’s voice was a raw, bleeding thing. He was leaning so far out of the hatch he was nearly falling himself. "Don't look down. Look at me. Only at me!"