Descension by Edmund Stone

Something is buried beneath Salt Flat.

When Cole Masters moves his family into an aging house on the edge of town, the worst he expects is creaking pipes and sleepless nights. But the sounds in the walls aren’t settling noises—and the darkness under the floor isn’t empty.

Miles away, a mining operation shuts down without warning. New owners arrive. Strange cargo is delivered deep below the earth. Then the workers start disappearing.

At first, the two worlds don’t connect. A restless child. A cut finger. A vent that won’t stay closed. Small things. Easy to ignore.

Until they aren’t.

As Cole digs deeper—into the town, the mine, and the people who run both—he uncovers something far older than Salt Flat. Something broken. Something scattered. Something that has waited a long time to be made whole again.

And it’s not staying buried.

Now, with his family caught in the middle and the town unraveling around him, Cole is forced to confront a truth no one else is willing to see:

The danger isn’t what lies beneath. It’s what’s coming up.