Riley was absolutely certain that when this was all over, he would need to have his heart examined. Because the moment the ground vanished beneath his feet, he felt it stutter so violently in his chest that he almost blacked out on the spot.
One second he had been standing on black diamond.
The next, there was nothing.
His stomach dropped in a sharp, sickening plunge as though he had stepped off the edge of a cliff. Instinctively, his arms jerked outward, bracing for impact that never came. His pulse roared in his ears, loud and frantic, and for a humiliating second, he genuinely thought, So this is how I go. In my own crypt.
To be fair, that was the reason why he didn't notice it right away.
Had he not been scared shitless for his life, he would have been able to make sense of just what the hell was really in front of him.
For at that point, it hadn't really been looking back at him, and Riley only realized the truth after a sudden development.
