The crack in the ground deepened and the split widened just enough for something to press against it from beneath.
A hand emerged from the split... elongated and unnaturally thin with joints that bent slightly the wrong way. Its surface wasn't fully solid... it was more like a distorted silhouette with faint texture.
Emily stiffened as she felt something wrapped around her ankle.
Her scream tore through the chamber.
Calvin jerked back. "What the—?!"
He looked down just in time to see the ground split wider beneath them, causing Emily to fall sideways with the hand still wrapped around her ankle, pulling her towards the abyss.
The crack expanded into a dark, zigzag gap large enough to swallow a body.
Emily clawed at the statue with her nails scraping uselessly against the floor as the hand tightened its grip and kept pulling.
