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Chapter 23 - CHAPTER 23

The Tower Connection

Taina's messy writing talked about a weak

spot in the tall towers. They sent out a special

sound that seemed to control the chips in our

heads. She thought that sending too much of

this sound back at a tower could mess things

up near it. This was a very dangerous

problem: how could we get close enough to

one of those towers to try this? Jax, who knew

a surprising amount about human buildings

and roads, gave us a possible way. We

became more and more worried as we

planned this risky thing. We started moving

faster as we made a dangerous plan.

My heart beat fast as I read Taina's notes

about the tall towers. She called them 'singing

bones', a strange way to describe the tall

metal things that hummed with a power that

felt both strange and scary. The special sound

she had circled many times had sharp, pointy

marks next to it, like teeth. She thought this

'song' was the key, the thing that connected

the chips in our heads to their main control.

Make the song too loud, break the connection.

It sounded easy, but it was actually very scary.

"A tall tower," Gareth growled, his eyes looking

hard as Jax pointed to a simple map drawn in

the dirt. "Those things are always guarded."

Jax, a younger werewolf who had spent more

time watching human homes because he was

curious, not because he had to, nodded sadly.

"Very guarded. But… there might be a way. An

old tunnel for workers. I saw humans use it

once to get to the bottom of one of the

towers."

Silas made a noise like he was annoyed. "A

tunnel? You think they just leave the front

door open for us?"

"No," Jax said, his ears going down a little.

"But it's hidden. And it might get us close

enough."

I argued with myself inside. Attacking a

human place that was heavily guarded felt like

walking into a trap where we would die. We

were still scared from the attack, from the

scary creature they controlled. But the other

choice – living with them controlling our

minds, feeling our thoughts disappear – was

a slow, painful death. Taina's research gave us

a chance, even if it was small, to fight back.

We had to try.

"Jax," I said, my voice steady even though my

hands shook a little. "Show us this tunnel."

The walk was scary. Every sound of leaves

moving, every far-off noise of a human car

made us jump with fear. Jax led us through

thick bushes, and his knowledge of the

humans' old paths was surprisingly good.

Gareth went ahead to look for danger. Silas,

even though he was still worried about the net

trap, stayed behind us to protect us.

Finally, after walking carefully for hours, Jax

stopped in front of what looked like a solid

wall of rock and tangled plants. He pushed

aside a thick layer of ivy, showing a narrow,

dark opening.

"The worker tunnel," he whispered. "It's not

big, but it should take us to the bottom of the

tower."

Squeezing through the tight tunnel made me

feel like I couldn't breathe. The air was wet

and smelled like dirt and metal. We moved

slowly, our wolf forms making the small

space even tighter. The only sounds were our

heavy breathing and the far-off hum of the tall

tower getting louder as we went.

The tunnel opened into a small room made of

concrete under the tower. The air here shook

with the tower's power. Above us, we could

hear the quiet sounds of human voices and

heavy footsteps.

"This is as close as I could get you," Jax

whispered, his eyes wide with both fear and

excitement. "The main way into the tower is

just behind that door." He pointed to a heavy

metal door in the concrete wall.

"And the sound?" Gareth asked, his claws

sticking out a little.

I held up Elara's machine, which we had

changed based on Taina's notes. It was a

simple thing to make sounds louder,

connected to some special crystals that we

hoped would make the same sound as the

tower.

"If Taina was right, making this sound too loud

here… it should mess things up," I said, trying

to sound braver than I felt.

The problem was clear: getting to the main

power of the tower to use the machine. The

metal door looked like we couldn't break it.

"I can try to force it open," Gareth offered, his

muscles getting tight.

"No," Silas said, his ears moving. "Listen."

We became quiet. Through the thick metal, we

could hear a steady clicking sound, followed

by a deeper whirring noise.

"Security," Jax whispered. "Trying to break it

will set off alarms."

I started to feel hopeless. We have come so far,

only to be stopped by a locked door. Was

Taina's knowledge useless after all?

Then, I looked at some thick wires running

along the wall, going up towards the tower.

Taina's notes came back to my mind – a

small, unimportant drawing of a box where

wires connected, labeled 'power path – weak

spot'.

"The wires," I whispered. "If we can stop the

power from flowing directly…"

It was a small chance, a desperate try. But it

was the only thing we could do.

Working quickly and quietly, we used our

claws to cut away the thick cover of the wires.

Sparks flew, and the air smelled of burning

metal. Elara carefully put her machine near

the bare wires, adjusting the crystals.

"Ready?" I asked, my heart beating hard.

Elara nodded, her face pale but determined.

She turned on the machine. The high sound

got louder, shaking the small room.

Nothing happened.

I started to doubt myself. Had Taina been

wrong? Were we about to be found, trapped

like animals in this underground room?

Then, a low, angry groan echoed from above.

The humming of the tower blinked, then

stopped. The steady clicking behind the metal

door stopped.

"It's working!" Jax shouted, sounding very

relieved.

Suddenly, the lights in our room blinked and

went out, making it completely dark. A loud

crash came from above, followed by scared

human voices.

"We need to get out of here!" Gareth said

quickly, his eyes glowing in the dark.

As we turned back through the tunnel,

the metal door to the tower shook hard. It bent

inwards, and a huge shape filled the doorway

– the armored creature, its red eyes glowing

in the dark, the green light on its 'thought

catcher' blinking wildly.

How had it found us? The connection should

have been broken.

Then I saw it – a thin, almost invisible wire

going from the creature's 'thought catcher'

down the wall and into a small, strong tube.

A direct link. They had expected us to

attack,

and they had a backup plan.

The creature roared, a sound that tore through

the darkness, and jumped at us. We were

trapped, between a falling tower and a

monster guard, and it looked like our

desperate plan had failed.

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