Page 96 of Red Demon

He stepped forward, placing his hand on the panel beside mine. A wave of light pulsed outwards. For a breathless moment, nothing happened.

“Ancestors.” Asher closed his eyes in concentration. “I’m Galen’s son.”

The ancient door groaned open, sending a tremor through the floor as it disappeared into the wall. Beyond it, a narrow passage.

A wave of bioluminescent light spilled out, washing over us in ethereal cyan and sunny yellow. Orian mushrooms grew beyond, the first I’ve ever seen in person, flat shelves of creamy blooms no larger than a child’s hand. The air inside was heavier with the strange, fungal odor, but it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, a strange sense of calm washed over me, a feeling of sanctuary.

But before I could voice that hope, Faruhar stumbled. Asher reacted in an instant, grabbing her arm before she could fall. Her eyes grew wide, mouth parted.

“Faruhar!” I rushed to her side, holding her up. Her grip on my arm felt weak, her breathing shallow.

“The spores,” she gasped. “Killing me.”

Asher’s brow furrowed. He covered his mouth with his sleeve.

“You’ll be fine, Asri-ka,” Faruhar said, her voice muffled as she tried to cover her face with the fabric of her own shirt. She coughed, a wet, hacking sound that tore at my heart. “Keep going. Ash, use your dahn on the walls. Find the nearest exit.”

Panic clawed at my throat when she collapsed to her knees.

As if sensing my thoughts, Asher glanced toward the open doorway. “Grab her shoulder,” he said, with military command. “We’ll drag her.”

I looked down the glowing passage, shaking my head in denial. But I slipped one arm around her waist, helping to support her weight across my shoulder. Asher took her bag, then gripped her other side. Together, we guided her through the doorway.

The passage sloped downward, leading deeper into the heart of the Underground, but there was nowhere else to go. The bioluminescent glow intensified, lacing through the carved geometrics on the walls. Faruhar had been going through the motions of steps as we carried her, but she stopped moving with a shudder, her body slumping into mine with a shallow gasp.

“Faruhar!” My voice echoed off those damp stone walls. “Bria, Oria, please, help her.”

Asher shushed me, his eyes wide as he looked around.

Faruhar remained silent, her head lolling against my shoulder. A knife of fear twisted in my abdomen. Could this be it? A pulse at her neck confirmed fading life, a slow, irregular heartbeat.

“I’ll carry her,” I told Asher. He nodded as I hefted her into my arms. A low moan escaped Faruhar’s lips.

We strode on through the passage ahead as it widened into an underground road, ruins on either side. The bioluminescent matrix emanated a frantic pattern.

“Jesse, east,” she said, pointing when we reached a crossroads.

Despite the relief flooding through me to hear her voice, something wasn’t right. Her voice sounded so weak. Higher pitched, childlike. She kept breathing, eyes fluttering.

“Bria?” I hissed.

A twitch of a nod.

We moved deeper, with each cavern still sloping down, not out to an exit. The rhythmic pulse of the bioluminescence glowed stronger, casting the cavern in an eerie light. We reached an open chamber. A row of mossy platforms cut out the wall by the remains of what must have once been dwellings.

“Lay her on one of those beds. Now,” Faruhar said, again in that strange voice. Her arm twitched toward a platform of thick moss in the center of the wide chamber.

I didn’t argue, cupping Faruhar’s head as I eased her down onto the mossy stone, threaded with cyan veins of Oria.

Faruhar’s eyes remained closed as the bed glowed underneath her, tendrils of light pulsing around her body. I couldn’t see her breathing anymore. I shuddered, hoping it wasn’t killing her faster, that Bria wasn’t just offering a painless death. Asher stepped back from the mossy bed, afraid to touch it.

“You’re not allowed to die.” I sank beside her to check for a pulse.

She took her first deep breath in quite some time. Her eyes fluttered open. But from that gaze, cold, frightened, I knew it wasn’t Faruhar that looked back out.

“Every moment I hold control,” Bria said, the strange inflection more pronounced, “the more of herself she loses. You should never have brought us here.” Anger flashed in her eyes before fading to a dull stare.

“I’m sorry, Bria.” My voice broke.