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‘I don’t know. I just get the feeling like she hasn’t been feeling good or something. Something feels off with her. Are you sure she’s okay?’ I said, trying to cut out the accusatory tone in my voice.

‘Yeah, she’s okay.’

‘What’s going on?’ I asked.

‘It’s not my story to tell, though I’d love to be the one to break it to you,’ he said.

‘What is that supposed to mean?’ I asked.

‘Nothing. Fuck, this oversized matchstick just put his hand on Tarani’s ass,’ and the bond fell silent.

I couldn’t help but love the way he’d taken over, acting like a big brother to Tarani. It was certainly something I’d never expected of Mendax. I didn’t like the way he was avoiding telling me what was going on with Cal, though he definitely confirmed that something was up.

I watched Anna and Bexley stand and walk toward us.

Bexley seemed much calmer than before.

“Okay,” Anna said once she got in front of me. “All right, can you loosen it up and I’ll get in here?” she said to Bexley.

“What?” all three of us said, watching as Bexley did, in fact, begin to loosen the chain, and Anna crawled in next to me and Eletha, sitting down so that the heavy chain rested on her hips.

“What are you doing?” Eletha said.

“It’s fine. Just go with it,” Anna said. “Trust me.”

She looked at me when she said the words, and if I’d thought I was confused before, I was mistaken—now I was really confused.

“Go ahead, Bexley,” she said .

Bexley turned and walked away, and our eyes followed him as he walked into one of the nearby stores.

“Uh, what the fuck is going on?” Eletha said to her sister. I simply stared, still stuck on the words “trust me.”

“Just pipe down, okay? If you want to get out of here and move on to the next tier, we need to do what Bexley says, okay?” she said.

“Did he threaten you?” Walter said.

“No, he didn’t threaten me, and I could handle it if he did,” Anna snapped.

“Don’t snap at him,” Eletha said to Anna, which made Anna laugh.

“Listen, the only way we can get out of this tier is if the two of you calm down and focus on peace instead of violence. You’ve had your share of fighting and battle for today.

Now you need to move on. It’s not something you can get stuck in, or you’ll be here forever, and you know I’m right,” she said.

Silence from both of them let me know that they had also realized there was a solid chance of being stuck here.

“I want each of you to promise me that you will not hurt Bexley,” she said softly.

Silence.

“Promise me,” Anna said more sternly. “I promise,” said Eletha.

“I promise,” added Walter.

I felt Anna’s body move and realized she had turned to look at me. “Promise me you won’t hurt Bexley.”

I scowled at her, feeling slightly offended.

“Why would I hurt Bexley? I was the one that came to talk him down. I don’t want to hurt anybody.

” For some reason, it bothered me that she thought I would hurt him, but I nodded softly.

Our eyes held each other for a long moment.

A sort of truce seemed to form then. I didn’t know how long it would last, but we didn’t feel like enemies anymore.

Bexley returned with an armful of some of the wildest weapons I’d ever seen—a giant scythe that looked like a black thorn, with a point so sharp on the end it sparkled; blades that seemed to ooze and drip.

He came closer, holding out the largest blade, paused in front of Anna with a look of uncertainty, and handed it to her.

“Please don’t hurt me,” he said under his breath.

“No one here is going to hurt you, I promise,” she said. Her voice was stern and solid, giving an air of confidence.

He nodded, then moved to me, hesitating again before handing me the second-largest blade.

“Thank you,” I said when he placed it in my hands, which were still tied, so the weapon had to sit in my lap.

He continued to Walter next, giving him the third-largest weapon.

“Just do as I say,” he said to Walter, looking genuinely afraid of him.

Walter took the weapon and nodded. Next, Bexley moved to Eletha, where he paused longer than he had with the rest of us.

“I don’t know, Miss Anna,” he said.

“It’s all right, Bexley. She’s not going to hurt you, right, Eletha?” Anna said.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Eletha ground out through her teeth.

Reluctantly, he handed her the weapon. “You can’t fight them,” he said. “If you fight them, we’ll stay here forever.”

I had no idea what his words meant, but I could tell we were about to find out.

Bexley loosened the chain just enough to put it around him.

He pushed himself between me and Anna, and then tightened the chain around his hips, sitting with his legs stretched out like the rest of us.

He pulled the smallest blade, a mere pocketknife, from his pants and held it. “Here they come,” he whispered.

Sure enough, the dark, shadowy figures poured out of the buildings, each with a weapon in hand. Immediately, my pulse quickened, and my blood thrummed. It felt submissive, weak, and dangerous to be sitting here when they were coming right at us.

“Walter,” Eletha said through gritted teeth.

“I won’t let anything happen,” Walter stated, and even I believed him.

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Anna said, “but do not raise your weapons to them, no matter what.”

Within seconds, the looming black figures surrounded us.

My stomach clenched. Each of the shadowy figures came closer and closer until they were so near, the smell of decaying flesh permeated my nose, making me want to vomit.

It was only then I realized they weren’t just shadowy figures.

They had crimson eyes set deeply in cloaks made of shadows.

“Do not raise your weapons,” Bexley said softly.

I couldn’t imagine how Eletha and Walter were faring, but all I wanted to do was lop some heads off. It took everything within me to not dig my blade into one of the figure’s sternums.

“Hold your weapons out and drop them,” Bexley said. “What?” Eletha said. “Drop our weapons?”

“Do as he says,” Anna said, encouraging her sister.

“Drop our weapons?” I questioned Bexley, wondering if we should really be trusting a drunk who had just tied our group up with chains.

“Hold your weapons out and place them on the ground,” Bexley repeated.

I was too focused on the creature in front of me to pay attention to those around me. Reluctantly, I gripped the blade with both hands and held it out, half expecting the thing to take it and use it against me.

“It’s okay,” Anna said. “You can do it.”

I realized she was talking to me. “I promise, it’s okay. Just trust me.”

“Trust you, huh?” I whispered. But then I dropped the blade. I winced, closing my eyes, waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

Suddenly, I felt the chain at my hips shift and tremble .

“We did it,” Bexley said with a relieved sigh.

I opened my eyes to see the creatures had stepped back and dropped their own weapons. I realized that the ground beneath us was sinking, as if we were on a platform, and we were all lowering into the ground.

“It’s okay; stay calm,” said Bexley.

A hand reached out and grabbed mine, and even though I couldn’t see the owner, I instantly knew whose it was. I squeezed it tightly as the ground lowered, until soon there was nothing around us but a wall of dirt and a tiny bit of light above us.

“Okay, hold on,” said Bexley.

“Why, what’s going to—” Eletha started, but she was cut off as the small circle of land we were on dropped suddenly.