Page 42 of Dark Shaman: The Lost Treasure (The Children Of The Gods #98)

ELUHEED

T he hum started as a vibration in Eluheed's bones, pulling him from sleep.

For a moment, he lay still, trying to identify the source.

It wasn't mechanical. It sounded too organic—more like the earth itself was humming a low, thrumming note that resonated through the concrete and steel of their underground world.

Beside him, Tamira slept on, her breath deep and even against his shoulder. He envied her that peace. His long struggle for survival had made him a light sleeper, attuned to any disturbance that might signal danger. And this was wrong.

The sound was felt more than heard, a frequency so low it bypassed the ears and went straight to the gut.

He'd experienced something similar once, decades ago, when standing near a glacier that was about to calve.

The ice had sung its death song in the same register—too deep for human hearing but impossible for him to ignore.

As he carefully extracted himself from Tamira's embrace, she murmured something in her sleep and turned, pulling his pillow against her chest. The sight filled his heart with an emotion that felt dangerously like love.

He pulled on his pants and shirt, not bothering with shoes. The tile floor was cool against his bare feet as he eased open the door and stepped into the corridor.

He wasn't alone.

Tony stood in his doorway in his boxers and a t-shirt that proclaimed, 'I Put the Pro in Procrastinate.' His usual grin was absent, replaced by a frown.

"Tell me you hear that too," Tony said.

"The hum?" Eluheed moved closer, noting that other doors were cracking open along the corridor. "How long has it been going on?"

"It woke me about five minutes ago. I thought that I was having indigestion or something." Tony stepped fully into the hallway, head tilted as if trying to locate the source. "It's coming from below, right?"

Eluheed nodded.

Tula's door opened and she peered out. "What is that sound?"

"We're trying to figure that out," Tony said, moving to her side. "You okay?"

"No," she said flatly, her hand resting on her midsection. "Something is wrong. I can feel it."

More doors opened. Liliat emerged in a silk robe, followed by Raviki, then Sarah. Within moments, all the ladies were in the corridor, looking troubled.

"It's like the whole building is humming," Rolenna said, pressing a hand to the wall. "I can feel it vibrating."

"Has this happened before?" Eluheed asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.

"No," Beulah said. "Not in all the years we've been here."

The service elevator at the end of the corridor chimed, and they all turned toward it. The doors opened to reveal not the expected security guard or servant, but a group of maintenance workers who barely glanced at the gathered residents before rushing toward the emergency stairs.

"Excuse us," one called over his shoulder, his voice tight with urgency. Tool belts clanked against their legs as they disappeared through the stairwell door. "We were told not to use the elevators."

"Should we be worried?" Rolenna asked, though the answer seemed obvious.

The hum deepened, if that was possible, and Eluheed felt his teeth ache with the vibration. Whatever was causing it was getting stronger, not weaker. He thought of the tremors from earlier, the unusual humidity, and now this. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to form a disturbing picture.

"We should get dressed," Tamira said from behind him. He turned to find her in the doorway of her room, wrapped in a sheet and looking like a goddess. "We should get up to the surface before this entire structure collapses on us."

"It's not going to collapse," Liliat said. "But it's still a good idea to get dressed and be ready to evacuate. Just out of abundance of caution."

The ladies dispersed to their rooms, but Tony lingered, his eyes looking frantic. "How bad is it?" he asked Eluheed. "And don't bullshit me."

Eluheed met his gaze. "Get dressed. Help Tula gather anything she can't bear to lose."

Tony's eyes widened. "That bad?"

"I hope not. But hope is a poor strategy."

"Shit." Tony ran a hand through his already wild hair. "She's going to freak."

"Then help her," Eluheed said.

He returned to Tamira's room to find her already pulling clothes from her wardrobe. She'd wisely chosen practical items—pants instead of her usual flowing dresses, flat shoes instead of delicate sandals.

"You're frightened," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Concerned," he corrected, though it was a weak distinction.

"Water," she said, demonstrating that quick intelligence he admired. "Water has found its way in. The tremor weakened the structure, and rainwater is seeping in from above."

That was one option. "We should pack a bag. Just in case."

She gathered the essentials, and he helped. A change of clothes, her journal, a small wooden box she handled with particular care. He added a flashlight from her drawer and some fruit from the bowl on her table.

"My books," she said, looking at the shelves with distress in her eyes.

"Will be here when we return," he said, hating the lie even as he spoke it.

A knock interrupted them. "It's Liliat. We're gathering in the common room."

"We'll be right there," Tamira said.

They emerged to find some of the others dressed and waiting. Even in crisis they looked elegant, dressed in silk blouses and tailored pants, as if they were heading to a casual luncheon rather than responding to an emergency. Only the tension in their faces betrayed their fear.

"Has anyone alerted Lady Areana?" Sarah asked.

"I'm sure she's aware," Beulah said. "At this point, Lord Navuh will have been informed, and she's with him."

They moved as a group toward the common room at the center of their level. The hum followed them, vibrating through the walls and floor with increasing intensity. The overhead lights flickered once, twice, then steadied.

"That's not encouraging," Tony muttered.

The common room was their usual gathering space—comfortable chairs, low tables, shelves lined with games and books for communal use. Someone had thought to start the coffee maker, and the mundane smell of brewing coffee in the midst of a crisis was oddly comforting.

"Should we try to contact someone?" Raviki asked. "The security office? The kitchen staff below?"

"The phones aren't working," Liliat reported, hanging up a handset. "Internal communications seem to be down."

Another flicker of the lights, longer this time. In the moment of darkness, the hum seemed to intensify, feeling like depth pressure against Eluheed's eardrums.

"Elias," Tamira said quietly, moving close to him. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I have a bad feeling," he said. "I finally realized where I heard that hum before. That's the sound the earth makes when pressure builds beneath the surface. When water finds channels through rock that was previously solid."

"You're saying that the water is coming from below and not from above?" Sarah asked.

"That's a possibility."

"Lord Navuh would not allow anything to happen to us," Rolenna said.

"Lord Navuh isn't immune to the forces of nature," Tula snapped at her, surprising everyone with her vehemence. "He might think he is, but he's not."

The lights went out completely.

Emergency lighting kicked in a second later, bathing everything in a harsh red glow that made the familiar surroundings seem hellish. The coffee maker sputtered and died. The air-conditioning, which had been struggling to pump air into the room, gave up entirely.

"Everyone, stay calm," Liliat said, though her own voice was strained.

The lights came back online, and with them, the cool air returned.

The hum crescendoed, and somewhere far below, something gave way with a sound like the world's largest pipe organ playing its lowest, most ominous note. The building shuddered, not like the earthquake tremor but like something had struck it from below.

"What was that?" Rolenna whispered.

Before anyone could answer, they heard it—distant but unmistakable. The sound of rushing water.

"No," Beulah breathed.

The sound grew louder, though still muffled by distance and intervening floors.

But there was no mistaking it now. Water had found its way into their underground world, and even though water always sought the lowest level, this time it was different.

It was rising, which meant that the servants living on the seventh level were in big trouble.

"Get your bags and take the stairs to the surface," Eluheed said.

Tamira turned to him. "What about you?"

"I need to help them." He headed for the emergency stairs.

"We should wait for instructions from Lord Navuh or the chief of security," Beulah said. "If we need to evacuate, they will announce it on the loudspeakers."

The lights flickered again, and this time when they went out, the emergency lighting didn't immediately return. In the absolute darkness, the distant sound of water seemed to grow louder.