Page 61

“I wouldn’t want to risk it,” I tell her. “Besides, I’m not sure it would bring me much luck.” I chuff out a laugh. “Never did anyone else in this place.”

“Lachlan,” she starts, her voice full of sympathy. I’m not sure if I like it or not. “I’m—holy shit.”

She brushes past me suddenly, leaving me bereft. “What?”

“You don’t see that? It’s right—”

“Careful, I said!” I move after her. “The floor.”

“I heard you, I heard you,” she says flippantly, still moving toward the corner of the room. “But look!”

“Key,” I say with more force. “I mean it. The floor isn’t stable here.”

“Oh my God. I heard you, okay? I promise. I’m not going to—”

The sharpcrackrings through the space, and there is a flash of terror in her eyes only seconds before the floor crumbles beneath her. I feel my heart jump into my throat as I watch her disappear through it, feeling a wave of fear unlike anything I’ve ever known washing over me as I rush to the hole she’s left behind.

“Key? Key! Talk to me. Are you all right?”

There’s a cloud of dust billowing upward, and I think I can make out the faint sounds of movement, my panic still ratcheting higher.

“Keyanna!”

“I’m here,” she says weakly, and a flood of relief courses through me. “I’m okay.”

I blow out a breath, my heart still in my throat. “Bloody hell, Key. I told you to be—”

“Lachlan,” she calls out.

“What?”

“Shut up.”

My mouth falls open, two seconds away from telling her what an eejit she is, but then—

“Get down here.”

Dropping myself down after her is easier than I thought it would be; the room below is hardly eight feet from the floor, leading into a tiny, windowless space. I can’t see any doors either by the thin light coming from above.

Key is dusting herself off, and I push down the urge to check her for injuries. I have a feeling she would tell me to piss off if I fussed over her.

“What is this place?”

She gives me an incredulous look. “You mean you don’t know?”

“I’ve never seen this room before,” I tell her honestly.

Her eyes widen. “You mean Ididfind something?”

“Aye,” I scoff. “It seems your clumsiness has come in handy.”

“Shut up,” she grouses. “I thought I saw something in the wall upstairs. I couldn’t get close enough to tell what it was before I fell through.”

I let my eyes sweep around the room, taking in our surroundings. In the corner there is a metal cot of some sort, and beside it, a rotting wooden chair that seems days from falling apart. I can’t make out any other remnants of furniture.

“Lachlan,” Key says, crouching by the bed. “Look.”

Attached to bed posts that are bolted into the floor are thick, iron shackles. Too wide for wrists, I think; no, these seem to be the type that would fit around the ankle.