The staircase collapsed before Tavian could pull his hand away from the Ninth Collector. A violent tremor tore through the chamber, throwing him hard against the broken stone wall. As dust exploded from the ceiling, the enormous eye embedded beneath the staircase blinked for the second time, sending a suffocating wave of pressure through the room that crushed the remaining pillars and forced Tavian down to his knees.Ordan seized Tavian’s coat just before the floor gave way entirely."Move!" the former archivist shouted above the roar of crumbling masonry.Tavian struggled against the man's tight grip, staring down into the abyss beneath the shattered staircase. Something enormous shifted in the depths below, producing a grinding roar that sounded like mountains colliding.A short distance away, the Ninth Collector stood perfectly still. His crown of nine floating rings hovered serenely above his head, entirely unaffected by the violent shaking that should have sent it crashing down.

The staircase was climbing upward with a terrifying, mechanical momentum.Tavian watched in horror as the ancient stone steps rose relentlessly out of the darkness, one after another, looking for all the world as though an invisible giant were physically carrying the entire subterranean passage toward the upper chamber. The surrounding walls groaned under the massive structural strain, while the shards of broken mirrors along the perimeter began reflecting an impossible staircase that stretched in the exact opposite direction."Move!" the Ninth Collector shouted above the deafening grind of moving earth.Ordan seized the little girl by her shoulders and violently pulled her away from the cradle just as the first rising step burst through the floorboards. A shower of sharp stone fragments struck the archivist's back, forcing him down to his knees with a grunt of pain.Tavian reached out to help the girl, but before he could grasp her hand, something cold and unyielding wrapped tightly