It’s awkward, walking silently alongside the two men I was supposed to kill, seconds after they fucked me. I expected them to brag or dangle this over my head like a trophy that I have about as much self control around them as Bane did around coffee. I guess murder was a good outlet for his addiction.

Maybe I should take notes.

I could start with the two men creeping through the tunnel, but then I’d lose my way out.

Or maybe you don’t want to kill them.

The thought leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That part of my brain that keeps listening to their words is getting fucked by them, and it’s addicted to the way the rest of me reacts when their hands rip off my clothes, and I’m running out of ways to cover my vagina without the cold freezing me solid.

The other part of me is trying to stay sane. It doesn’t want to remember the days I’d spent trapped in the dark, with the only comfort being the times when Castor came to my cell to play with me before Baron returned with picks to stab me with.

The memory makes me flinch. A flash of red, dripping from my body and the metallic taste in my mouth. A sadistic laugh when I scream in pain.

It’s gone, replaced by anger.

I’m definitely going to need therapy for this when I get out.

If I get out…

The tunnel is large enough to fit Castor’s abnormally large body inside, but even then, his biceps brush against the walls and I can see them contract each time the light flickers.

Each time we come to a dead end, Baron stiffens and his eyes snap to Castor, watching him as if he’s afraid Castor would knock down the entire mountain out of anger.

We turn again and Castor pushes ahead of me to the front, beating on the flashlight when it flickers again.

“I’m going to throw this worthless fucking light if it keeps turning off!” He smacks it against the wall before Baron snatches it a second later.

Castor stops suddenly, and he turns slowly, his jaw clenched tightly. “Give. It. Back.”

Baron keeps it away for a moment longer but there’s a dangerous calm in his voice that doesn’t mirror the wide look in his eyes.

“I need you to calm down,” Baron says finally. “This is the only light we have. We’ll find a way out, but you need to keep your head.”

Castor takes a single step closer, his hand outstretched.

“I said, give. It. Back.”

Baron relents, handing the light back to Castor after tightening the bulb, and the flickering stops.

Castor moves forward our shadows casting an eerie dance in front of us, mocking the darkness as we walk blindly inside the labyrinth of tunnels.

“Why the fuck are we lost?” Castor growls. “This was supposed to be a straight shot!”

Baron snaps at him again, the two bickering over the light like a toy. Each time Baron reaches for it, Castor holds it out of reach in a death grip, like siblings fighting over toys. It’s astonishing, and I have to cover my mouth to stop the laughter bubbling in my chest.

These are the men that Bane and Acacia died over? Two grown adults fighting over a flashlight like it’s a piece of fucking candy?

I keep myself well behind the two men, wary in case an actual fight breaks out. Their last fight was choreographed, and I’d rather not be within swinging distance of a man who can shatter concrete with his fist or a man who would eat a deer straight from the carcass.

I’ve heard of men going insane over survival conditions, eating each other when trapped in an avalanche or throwing each other off a boat in an attempt to avoid being fed to nearby sharks. I never thought I’d see it with my own eyes, especially with men who garnered so much mental and physical strength—and they aren’t even worried about the cave in. Castor is fighting over a fucking light. Of all things to worry about—starvation, suffocation, hypothermia, being eaten by animals or each other, he chooses to lose his shit over a fucking light.

Is he afraid of the dark?

The thought tightens the feeling, and I break out in a grin—a man that has to duck when he walks through most rooms and scares men to the point of killing themselves so they don’t have to fight him, and he’s scared of the dark.

I snort. I’ve never been one to mock anyone’s fears, but the irony of the scariest man I’ve ever met being frightened of his own shadow is laughable and I turn my head away to stifle the sound when he shouts in frustration as the light flickers again.

Baron glances back as I break out in another quiet laugh, his face curling into a snarl, “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll wipe that fucking smirk off your face!”

My smile fades instantly, but he’s already gone, handing Castor a small flip phone.

“Take a walk, and try to get a signal out to Fury. We need to move the rendezvous.” Baron places the phone in his palm.

Castor takes it without protest, his eyes snapping to me in a glance that makes a beat skip in my heart.

“What about her?”

“Take her with you. I’ll cover the branching tunnels, and see if we can find any light.” He places a hand on Castor’s shoulder, giving him a look I can’t quite see. “Stay on the path and don’t get lost.”

Castor pays him another glance—a silent unspoken conversation between the two—before he bounds towards me and yanks me forward before I have a chance to protest.

Then, Baron is gone, disappearing in a crack that leads to another section of the cave.

A chill creeps up my spine when Castor pushes me forward, and I don’t know why, but Baron’s absence only makes the feeling worse. Being alone with Castor is somehow worse than being alone with the both of them.

I shouldn’t have allowed it to bother me, to make my body tense up every time I feel his eyes on me or when his hand skates across my back to push me forward, but the truth is, I am scared. I’m terrified. I had thought that Castor was the voice of reason, that Baron is impulsive and unhinged, but Castor is worse. He is a ticking time bomb and I find myself mirroring Baron’s unease, jumping every time the light flickers, and wondering if this was the moment he snapped and I would be left as a body in the mountains.

Several minutes go by, and I try to force myself to relax.

If they haven’t killed me yet, there is a reason. They need me for something and it wasn’t information.

It grows silent between the two of us, our shoes scraping along the wet gravel and only the sound of our chilled breaths breaking the silence.

My thoughts pull back to my dad, and the words Castor had said before the mine collapsed. They were friends. My dad and the Codex. They knew each other, and they may have been one of the last ones to see him alive.

So many questions pour out from that one slip of tongue. My dad, Bane, Acacia, Alastor. There’s something missing, something that connects them all together that I’m missing and I’m shaking in anger trying to figure out what it is but I don’t. I don’t know how they’re connected.

Castor does.

Castor was one of the only men who knew my father and Acacia. He can give me answers.

The thought of interrogating him makes me giddy, giving him a taste of his own medicine, but trying to incapacitate him makes me physically ill. There’s no way I’ll be able to overpower him. I doubt anyone has the physical ability to outmatch his strength. It’ll take a foot of solid steel to cage him in. But if I’m going to get answers, I’ll have to do something before Baron comes back.

I scan along the gravelly dirt as we move alone, searching for a weapon but despite the cave-in, the tunnel is underwhelmingly clear, and there’s nothing to tie him up with or even a rock to knock him out.

Castor scoots ahead of me, his eyes glued to the dingy flip phone while he searches for a signal. He doesn’t even notice when I stop. He trudges forward and the light fades in front of me.

A glint catches my eye, bright and gray—a silver object tucked away in a branching tunnel.

A door.

My eyes widen. A fucking steel door.

Whatever god is out there listening, I fucking owe you for this one.

Castor didn’t see it, and he’s already almost out of eyeshot, disappearing down the tunnel when I call back. Hopefully he won’t know until it’s too late.

“Castor! I found something!”

He turns on his heel, sprinting back to me before I have a chance to finish my sentence. I squeeze into the tunnel and he’s right at my back, practically pushing me through the crack to get to the otherside and away from the terrifying dark.

There’s nothing on the other side of the door, but the disgusting sewage smell permeates through the walls, collecting in the small space. The door is rounded and rust covers every inch of the metal. Inside is the same similar rounded space, just enough to fit a small group of people, and for a second, I think this might be the bunker but it’s empty inside. That’s when I catch the large round bulkhead lock on the outside with the same words etched into the door that I had seen on the fence outside.

Warning! Flammable Gas!

The door is nearly broken apart, cracked in several places and barely hanging on by its hinges and the stench of the gas that comes from it is almost unbearable.

Castor pays the container no mind, already climbing inside while he hands me the light.

“Hold this. Do not run off!” He warns before he steps inside.

I wait a beat, my heart beating so quickly that I think I might faint. There’s no possible way I’m this lucky. Any second now, he will come out, angry and ready to snap my neck for leading him off the path.

But he steps inside, and disappears inside the container.

I wait one second. Two…and then I run to the thick rusted metal door and slam it shut.

The metal groans into place, the circular bulkhead turning to lock into place that makes dust kick up, spitting through the large cracks on the thick steel.

Finally.

Castor is at the door in less than a second, beating on it rapidly.

“Shit. Helena, what happened? The door is jammed.” He pounds against it, trying to force it open but the lock is firmly stood in place.

I cross my arms, satisfaction warming my skin.

“It’s not jammed. Locked,” I say with a smile.

“What?!”

I laugh.

Not so fun being held against your will, is it?

“You said you knew my dad, that he knew the Codex. How is it related to Acacia?”

Castor pauses, drawing in a short breath as he finally realizes what’s happening.

“Open the door,” he growls.

“Tell me about your connection to Acacia,” I retort. “What happened to my dad?”

“Open the door right now!”

I jump back when his fist pounds on the door. It physically shakes, rattling the metal and kicking up bounds of dust that send me into a small coughing fit.

“Answer my question,” I cough out.

“Open the goddamn door or I’ll break it down!”

“Go ahead.”

He pounds harder and harder at the door, and the steel groans and rattles but it holds steady even as he switches to ramming his entire body against the thick steel.

I shake my head. He may have the strength of a god, but even he has weaknesses, and I found two of them.

“Open the door!” His pounds on the door turn reckless, frantic and his voice starts to shake. “Open the door, Helena, this isn’t funny. I can’t breathe.”

I roll my eyes.

“You can breathe just fine. Tell me about Acacia and I’ll let you out.”

His breaths quicken and his voice heightens to a whine. “Let me out! I can’t breathe! Let me out!!”

“Quiet down!” I respond, banging on the door in return. “Just tell me about Acacia and I’ll open the door. It’s not that fucking hard.”

He hyperventilates and his cries turn to horrifying shrieks. “Let me out! LET ME OUT!!!”

Annoyance takes the place of satisfaction and I raise my hand to beat on the door again, but then I hear a soft gasp on the other side of the door.

He’s crying. Sobbing. It’s soft at first, like he’s covering his mouth to avoid being heard. But then it gets louder and louder until he’s wailing from behind the metal door. His breaths are ragged between coughs and gagging. He’s not beating on the door anymore.

“Please, I can’t breathe.” He says between sobs.

I stop, my brows pushing together as I inch closer. Is he scared? Actually scared?

“I-it’s fine, Castor,” I try to reassure him. “It’s not sealed. You can still breathe.”

But he doesn’t listen to my voice. I’m not even sure he can hear it. He’s gasping, coughing, spitting and clawing for air while he screams.

I take a step back. I know that he’s scared of the dark, but to this extreme? I have limits of what I’m willing to do to someone else, even if that person didn’t exercise that same respect towards me.

My hand hovers over the hatch, turning the rusty handle ever so slightly. I wanted to interrogate him, not traumatize him. Even if he is a horrible human being, he’s still human. I want my revenge, answers that they’re keeping from me, but not this way. He would never forgive me. God forbid, if he got out, my life would end right there.

I freeze. If I let Castor out, he will kill me. It’s not a question. He will kill me, and I doubt that he and Baron would make it a quick death either. They’ll put me back in another cell or seal me in there instead, back in with the rats and the cold and the dark.

I flinch—a flash of dark, the rats scurrying over my body while I wait to die.

I take my hand off the handle and back away.

I won’t go back into the dark. I’d rather die.

I take off down the tunnel. My breaths are uneven and hitched, a fire quickly sparking in my lungs and spidering out as I blindly run through the tunnels, only narrowing missing walls as I hold my arm outstretched to feel around the cool rocky surface.

Guilt stings in my chest, but I won’t go back there. I’m not going back to that place, in the dark and waiting for the rats to finish me.

The walls of the cave widen and the further I sprint, the less I can feel what’s in front of me. A rock catches my ankle and I trip, reaching out to the wall for balance but it’s gone, a huge gaping hole in its place where a large cavern appears in front of me.

A hand catches me as I fall forward, yanking me back against his chest as the scent of pine and gun oil floods my senses.

“I’m starting to think Castor was right about putting a leash on you,” Baron growls, yanking me to my feet. “Next time, I’ll let you fall.”

I freeze, my eyes wide. I can’t see him, but I know he can see me, somehow.

He grows quiet, like his eyes are seeing right through my own panic before he speaks again, “Where’s Castor?”

Suddenly, I wished he’d thrown me over the ledge.

I don’t answer. I’m not sure where he would be from this point anyway, I can hardly see as it is, but I didn’t need to answer. Baron opens his mouth to speak again when a scream thunders throughout the tunnel.

Baron takes off in a sprint, his arm locked around mine and dragging me with him as he bounds effortlessly through the tunnels.

Castor is weaker now. His voice is hoarse and the bangs on the metal door are softer, though his sobs are still enough to make me wince.

Baron moves through the crack, finding the gas container barely illuminated by the flickering flashlight. “Silas!” He sprints up to the door, tugging on the rusted handle but it doesn’t budge. “Silas, what happened?”

Castor doesn’t answer, a rhythmic thump sounding against the door in even beats, like the sound of someone hitting their head while rocking back and forth.

“Please,” Castor whimpers. “Let me out. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again. Please…I can’t breathe.”

Baron’s eyes catch mine again and he marches towards me, cornering me with a hand wrapped tightly around my throat before I can run.

“What. Did. You. Do?”

He’s going to kill me. Both of them.

I open my mouth to speak but they’re caught in my throat, a plea finding its way out first. “Please, Baron, I–”

“Answer me!” He slams me against the wall with alarming force. He’s shaking and his chest is heaving with rage.

My mouth is dry. This was a horrible idea.

“I-I was asking him about Acacia,” I stutter. “I wanted answers.”

“So you locked him in a fucking gas chamber?!”

“The door isn’t sealed,” I say frantically. “He can get out by himself. I don’t know why he’s freaking out. He can breathe just fine.”

“You stupid bitch.” Baron’s grip tightens until I’m clawing at his hands, the way Castor is clawing at the metal door, only Baron doesn’t have any hint of remorse in his eyes, and no intention of letting go.

Just as I think I’m going to pass out, he releases me and I crumple against the wall, gasping and gulping in the rancid air. Baron is already gone, at the door and reaching up the crack to Castor’s aid. “Silas? Silas, hey, I’m here. Listen to me, I’ve got you.”

I collapse against the dirt, pain simmering up from the bullet hole in my leg to my hip, and I stiffen when Baron shoves the gun under my chin, a murderous look in his eyes.

“Stay put, or I swear to god, you’ll be interrogating us from Hell.”

I’d called them on their bluffs before. They’d needed something from me, but the look in his eyes isn’t a bluff. Not this time.

He keeps his eyes on me for a single second before he runs back to the door, frantically yanking on the handle, while Castor’s sobs have renewed, gaining power the longer Baron stays near him.

“Let me out, I’ll talk, please, just let me out. I can’t breathe. I don’t want to die.”

“I know, buddy, I’m here. I’ll get you out, hang on.” His head darts up when an arm outstretches through the crack in the door, waving wildly. “Silas?”

“NO!” Castor shrieks the second Baron’s hand touches his, and his arm disappears through the crack again.

“It’s okay, it’s just me. It’s Arik.” Baron hesitates but Castor doesn’t seem to even consider his words, resorting back to the rhythmic banging along the door.

Baron wrenches the hatch once more and it squeals before falling off of the door. The door groans, a sound that shakes the walls surrounding it before it finally falls away, landing beside Baron with a loud thud that kicks up a cloud of dust.

He doesn’t run out. The dust clears and through the flickering flashlight, Castor comes into view, shaking and curled up into a ball, crying quietly.

Baron kneels slowly in front of him, pulling him into a hug and finally, finally, Castor breaks. He sobs loudly, and hugging Baron back hard enough that I swore I heard bones breaking, but Baron doesn’t recoil. He sits there and lets Castor cling to him while he wraps a hand around his shoulders.

“It’s okay,” Baron soothes. “You’re out now. You’re out. You’re safe.”

Castor clings to Baron tighter, his voice broken and hoarse. “Get me out of here, Arik. Please. I don’t want to die in here.”

Baron grunts in pain, slowly unwrapping Castor’s arms from around him. “You’re hyperventilating. I need you to breathe the way I showed you. We will get you out, but you need to focus yourself. Breathe.”

Castor grips himself tightly, hugging himself and digging his nails into his own skin until tiny beads of red form around his skin. Baron waits, his hand squeezing his shoulder until Castor straightens himself and places his hands behind his head, taking in several deep breaths.

“Good,” Baron praises. “Now, tell me what you smell.”

Castor pauses for a moment, sniffling and biting down another sob. “Methane. Rain…and pine.”

Baron nods, pointing out the way we came, “That’s the way out. I found the gorge. It’ll take us right out to the fence, I already checked.” He stands and Castor follows, staggering to his feet. “We’re getting out. Today.”

Castor shrugs Baron off and turns away, his hand running over his face slowly, and when he turns again, the sadness is gone, masked by the emptiness in his eyes. He doesn’t look at me as he walks out the tunnel.

My heart sinks when I watch him leave. I’ve witnessed a lot of people break under interrogation. My comrades killed themselves to avoid the torture Bane and the others inflicted on us, but that was never seen. Even the tortures I went through, I’ve never broken, not to that extent, but Castor was panicking to the point of bashing his head against a wall, and Baron had acted quickly—too quickly—to revert Castor back to his usual unfeeling temperament.

What the hell happened to him?

I feel a pang of guilt when I catch Baron’s gaze again.

“I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I never meant to–”

Baron’s hand wraps around my hair, yanking me to my feet and slamming me against the wall.

“Let me make this perfectly clear,” Baron hisses. “The only reason you’re alive is because someone wants you to be, and it isn’t us.” His grip tightens, making me wince. “I don’t care who you are. Your luck is going to run out if you keep deciding to test my patience, so I will tell you this once: if you step out of line again, if you touch him or me, if you so much as piss in the wrong direction, I will not hesitate to send you home in a body bag. Shut up and walk.”

He doesn’t wait for my answer, only throwing me through the crack and out towards the exiting tunnel.

I don’t speak as we move our way out. Baron didn’t bother keeping me in line, he was far more concerned with Castor, not moving from his side as they navigated the exit. Castor hasn’t spoken either, despite Baron’s prompts, he only shrugs him off, clutching the flashlight tightly in his hands.

At some point, the shadows and grooves of the tunnel start to become more visible, jagged lines of rock on either side of us creating blurred shapes that slowly become brighter as we near the exit.

Castor notices it too, shutting off the flashlight and moving quickly, much to Baron’s dismay to try and keep pace.

But when the bright light of the tunnel shines when we round a corner, Castor takes off in a full sprint.

“Castor, wait!” Baron charges after him, his arm outstretched to pull Castor back, only just keeping out of reach. I pace after them both, making sure to stay out of their way as Baron wrestles to keep Castor back.

Just as Castor reaches the entrance, Baron catches his arm and yanks him inside, placing himself between the entrance to the frigid air outside.

“Wait, Castor. We still need to clear the area–”

Bang.

A single shot rings out and I watch in horror as Baron collapses in the clear open space outside.

“Baron!” Castor lunges towards Baron to pull him back, but two more shots ring out and Castor ducks back in cover.

Baron groans in pain, blood pooling from a wound in his side, just barely missing the armored plate strapped to his body. His jaw is clenched shut but he doesn’t move, either in too much pain or playing dead so the gunman doesn’t know he’s still alive.

Another shot rings out from above, angling just past Castor’s head as he ducks back further. I peer out, catching a glimpse of a leg in a tree when another shot fires that barely misses my head.

Baron has Castor’s gun and snipers are often trained to wait days, watching us like hunters often do. We won’t be able to wait him out and he’s not stupid enough to empty his bullets, which I’m sure he has more of.

I pull back, shutting my eyes with a deep breath.

This is going to be a stupid idea.

I sprint towards Baron as Castor calls out from the mine’s entrance. More shots ring out but I maneuver just barely past them, lifting up Baron’s body when three more ring out. Baron grunts in pain as each one hits square in the chest, lodging in the plate with a high-pitched ring. I wait for the familiar click of an empty clip and then I charge, freeing Baron’s gun from its holster and firing up into the treeline. An agonized wail pierces through the brush and a body falls to the ground, stirring up several birds that fly away in a hurry.

I move Baron down, letting his body drop as I sprint up to the sniper and kicking away his gun. He’s not dead, unfortunately, but the bullet lodged in his hip might not keep him alive for much longer.

The urge to shoot him with his own gun is tempting but another thought gets there first.

If he’s with Acacia, he can give me answers too.

Castor appears behind me, Baron’s arm slung over his shoulders. “Smart move, using the man who saved your life as a fucking shield!”

My eyes narrow.

“He was plated. I wasn’t.”

“You’re lucky he’s alive at all, you ungrateful—”

“It’s fine, Si,” Baron groans. His eyes tilt up towards me, his teeth bloodied when he flashes me his feral grin. “You want your answers, doll? Go get them.”

I glance back down at the sniper, and for once, I feel a pang in my chest, something sickly happy, a perverse pleasure at seeing this man bleeding out under me that may be the only connection I’ve ever shared with the Codex.

“We’ll need to tie him up,” I say finally.

Baron nods.

“I know a place.”