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“Stop,” Ben snaps and pulls my shoulders back.

Mal and Mitri don’t let go, and I do a stumbling shuffle to keep my feet while I’m being pulled in two directions at once.

“Nyet, no more delays,” Mitri doesn’t even turn towards Ben as he replies.

“Stop pulling her,” Ben’s voice gains that echo of danger, and Mal stops without turning. Mitri turns smoothly on his heel and gives Ben a blank look.

I suddenly understand what Ben is doing. He knows that part of my anxiety is being forced down the darkened stairwell. My gut churns as I think of the panic attack I just came within moments of having.

He’s right. They can’t touch me if I want to go down those steps without a freakout. This anxiety attack I want to avoid. Who knows how long I’ll be out of commission if it starts?

“Yeah, and where’s my wife’s ring, Mitri?” Kimi insists as he opens the door to the yawning pit of darkness beyond. He does some kind of ballet move that enshrouds him in smoke then bounces down the stairs lightly without a care.

“Can you guys let go? Just until we reach the bottom of the steps,” I ask awkwardly. No matter what, I’m sure I’m going to embarrass myself. The least they can do is let me have a smidge of fake privacy.

Mal lets me go immediately, but Mitri gives his version of a scowl. His eyes narrow the slightest bit, and one side of his lips curls down infinitesimally.

He digs into his pocket and pulls out a silver ring similar to the ones Mal and Ben are wearing. Mitri pulls my hand up and slides the ring onto my thumb withoutasking. It slides into place at the base, but I don’t feel any sparkle or electric feeling of magic rushing over me. It feels like a regular ring, and I look at Mitri in confusion. I know what it is. I’m just not sure if it’s working on me. Either way, I just got a nice ring from Mitri.

“Let me do this my way,” I squeeze his hand before I withdraw mine and stare at the darkness with a wince.

“What’s the problem here?” Mal asks impatiently.

Ben walks in front of me. “Just like in the bowels, follow my voice. Close your eyes if you need to.”

“Right,” I mutter and start walking behind Ben. I’m slightly thrown off because he’s in a humanoid form instead of the monster. I put one of my hands on his shoulder out of habit. His pink and violet eyes meet mine momentarily, giving me a second to brace myself before he starts walking.

He begins the soothing croon I got used to, and my eyes close of their own volition. The spark lights up from behind my eyelids, and a beacon emits from down the stairs using the dull chain leading to Kimi as a guideline.

“Whatisthat?” Mal grits from behind us as I step down slowly.

“Whatever it is, make it stop!” Kimi yells from below. “It sounds like nails on chalkboards and cats in heat, the remix.”

Ben chuckles lightly and says, “Looks like they don’t share our tastes, Bees. Maybe something a little different now that I’m in this form?”

“Yes, please?” I shakily ask. As soon as he stopped making noise, the tension in my chest increased, and my breathing became more erratic. I can feel sweat dampening the fabric of my shirt, and I try to take a deep breath in and slowly release it.

He begins to sing a slowed-down acapella version of “Paint It Black” by the Rolling Stones, and I fall in lovewith it. His deeper voice rolling over the words is almost erotic as he sings, despite the subject matter.

“Okay, better. Do you take requests? I wanna hear ‘WAP’ next!” Kimi’s voice drifts up to us.

I can’t help laughing at that. Ben doesn’t stop singing, even when our feet are flat on the landing. I can tell the light difference from behind my eyelids and open my eyes to the familiar hallway.

“Wow, who knew the Bowels would prep me for that?” I ask with a wobble in my voice. This was nowhere near as bad as it could have been.

Ben smiles at me over his shoulder while he continues the song.

“Oh! Conga line!” Kimi does a little shimmy and runs to the back of the group to grab Mal’s hips. “Mal, grab Mitri.”

“No,” Mal growls back and tries to shake him off.

Mitri places a hand lightly on my shoulder and whispers, “Begin now.”

He stands much closer than necessary at my back, and I wonder if I’ll have to shuffle my feet between him and Ben so no one's toes get stepped on.

“Go ahead,”I tell the spark, and it rushes out to fill the path. It immediately finds several hexes directly in front of us on the floor.

“How does a game of follow the leader sound instead, Mal? There’s no way we won’t set some of these off if you can’t see them.” I try to look over my shoulder at him, but Mitri is blocking my line of sight.