Page 15

15

E velyn woke to Kirat’s hand over her mouth and her lips pressed close to her ear, whispering.

“Something is close. I can’t tell what it is, but we need to be ready to run.”

They got to their feet slowly, carefully. Evelyn strained to listen for whatever sound had alerted Kirat that they weren’t alone anymore.

“I don’t hear it now,” Kirat whispered. “But I know it was there. I know it was close.”

Evelyn reached one hand into her pocket for black obsidian powder, then turned on the flashlight.

She looked behind them. Nothing.

She looked ahead of them. Nothing.

The arrow remained etched into the dirt, pointing the way. She turned off the flashlight and reached for the right-hand wall again. They might as well keep going. Staying here was getting them nothing but spooked.

Kirat took her wrist again and soon Evelyn could hear her friend’s palm brushing against the far wall as they walked.

“What did it sound like?” Evelyn asked after they’d gone a few minutes with no disturbances.

“I don’t know… movement, I guess? I couldn’t even tell you if it was human or animal. It just… made noise that wasn’t us.”

Evelyn nodded before remembering Kirat probably couldn’t see the movement in the moonstone’s limited light. “Okay. You said it sounded close?”

“I thought so, but everything is so weird in the dark. It’s so quiet down here. I guess it could’ve fooled my ear.”

“Maybe. Let’s keep listening, just in case.”

They continued in silence after that, the quiet disturbed only by the sound of their palms on the walls. Evelyn started counting her steps to try to get some sense of distance if not time. After nearly two miles by her estimation, they heard it.

A rumbling growl and the sound of feet striking the dirt floor. Something big was coming, and fast.

They started to run. It was still pitch black, and Evelyn didn’t dare turn on the flashlight on the off chance whatever was coming didn’t yet know they were there. Her hand dragged roughly against the wall, tearing at the skin on her palm and nicking her fingertips. She grit her teeth against the pain. Then it stopped. She waved her arm around, feeling for the wall.

“Kirat!” she whispered as loudly as she dared. “This way!” Evelyn stepped into the side tunnel and clicked on her flashlight long enough to see that it extended for some distance ahead. “This way. Quiet!”

They moved stealthily down the side tunnel as the sound of running feet grew closer. Evelyn focused her attention on the sigil burned into her wrist. Unseen, undetected , she repeated the words in her head. Unheard, unknown. The sigil glowed red in the darkness, and she covered it with her free hand. The growling grew louder until it sounded like it was almost on top of them. She could hear the heavy panting between growls, punctuating by the heavy footfalls. In a breath, it passed the opening to the tunnel they’d just left and kept going. Kirat squeezed her hand in the darkness, and they moved deeper into the side tunnel.

Miles passed as Evelyn counted their steps. Her feet and knees ached, and her palm was tender where the skin was scraped and torn. She couldn’t tell what direction they were going or even whether they were descending deeper underground or climbing toward the surface. It was getting colder, but that made no sense either way. She pulled her thieving gloves out of her bag and slipped them on, grateful for the warmth and the protection from the rough stone wall.

Her great-grandmother used to warn her about touching things that didn’t belong to you. Not only in the way any maternal figure might—that’s not yours, you might break it, we’re not buying that—but also in a manner that was much higher stakes. “You never know when an object might hurt or harm you,” she’d said. “If you touch something that is cursed or that houses a dark magic, it’ll touch you back, leaving its mark on you one way or another. And it won’t stop there.” Years later, long after her Nana had passed away and Evelyn was trying to make sense of her world, she began to read books on philosophy, history, anything to give her the perspective she hungered for. Instead, she’d learned there was so much she didn’t know, maybe could never learn, and that her great-grandmother hadn’t been alone in thinking that darkness was a two-way street. By taking the book, she’d touched darkness—literally—and through her it was touching her friends, too.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. It had been hours since they’d heard the growling beast behind them but speaking in normal tones felt wrong after so much time spent in silence.

Kirat squeezed her hand again. “For what?”

“For bringing you into this.”

“Oh, stop. I knew what I was getting into better than you did. I work down here, remember? I knew what it would take to go around the coven’s strongholds, the dangers of visiting Second Mother. Of going off-map. I knew the risks.”

“But why?”

Kirat chuckled softly. “Because I like you, Evelyn. You’re good people, despite your tendency to acquire things that don’t belong to you. I spend most of my time surrounded by egomaniacs and sycophants. As scary as this journey has been, it’s been a nice break from that.”

“And you got to see Millie again.”

Kirat made a strangled sound that sounded like a cross between a gasp and a cough.

Evelyn laughed and squeezed her hand. “She is very pretty.”

“She really is.”

They stopped to rest again not long after that. Evelyn once again carved an arrow into the dirt so they wouldn’t lose their sense of direction completely. They sat shoulder to shoulder with their backs pressed against the wall and drank water. Evelyn pulled out the little food she had left—half-crumbled granola bars, mostly—and traded some for a handful of Kirat’s beef jerky and a few pieces of chocolate candy.

“Do you think it’s the coven that’s after you?”

Evelyn sipped her water before answering. “I don’t know. Like you said before, it makes the most sense when you consider the amount of power required to put up a barrier like that. But being down here and seeing the way other magic-wielders have constructed entire worlds of their own… maybe that was an incorrect leap of logic on my part. Maybe it’s just the woman I stole it from. She was definitely freaky enough to do something like this.”

“Can you tell me about her?”

Evelyn did. She told Kirat the whole story, from taking the job from Denmark to escaping the scary vamp lady’s house. She left out what she’d learned about the book from Second Mother. That knowledge felt too dangerous to share.

“Do you think she was an actual vampire?”

“Maybe? It’s so hard to tell in New Orleans.”

Kirat laughed, and it felt good to almost relax. It was impossible to completely forget the trouble they were in, but the load felt lighter for a few minutes. Eventually, they both fell asleep.

Evelyn didn’t know what woke her up or how long she’d been asleep. Her hip and shoulder ached where she’d slid down the wall to lie curled on her side next to Kirat. She eased herself back to a sitting position and listened. Kirat breathed steadily beside her, undisturbed. Evelyn strained to hear something, anything else. The silence filled her ears like white noise, and for a moment she imagined she was lying on the beach on a moonless night, listening to the waves. But she wasn’t. She was sitting on a cold cave floor deep in the Dark City and absolutely no one (except maybe Valen) was looking for her. No one she wanted to be found by, anyway.

Kirat groaned and sat up. “I want to ask what time it is, but at this point I don’t even know what day it is.”

“I would settle for knowing which direction we’re headed in.” Evelyn turned on the flashlight to locate the arrow to reorient herself. They drank more water, then took turns retracing their steps around twenty feet to relieve themselves.

Not even three thousand steps in, Evelyn started to feel like she was being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she turned on the flashlight to look around them. Nothing. Beside her, Kirat held up her hand to shield her eyes from the bright light.

“Sorry,” Evelyn said, lowering the flashlight. “I thought something was there.”

“What was it?”

“Nothing, I guess.”

They continued on, the only sounds being their hands on the tunnel walls and their soft footsteps in the dirt. The creeping sensation returned, but Evelyn fought the urge to look around again. It was nothing last time. She was just being paranoid—her imagination playing tricks on her after so many hours underground. Kirat wasn’t feeling anything, so it had to be all in her own head. No need to waste more flashlight battery on her own overactive imagination.

Small, cold fingers tickled the back of her neck, and she spun around with a gasp, turning on the flashlight. Nothing.

“What now?”

“I thought I felt something touch the back of my neck.” Evelyn rubbed one gloved hand on the back of her neck to chase away the memory of what she’d felt. Or thought she felt.

“The mind can play tricks on you down here.”

“Yeah.”

More walking, footsteps, hands brushing against the cave walls. Five hundred steps, six hundred, seven. A cold hand fisted in Evelyn’s hair and yanked her backward. She screamed as she lost her footing and the flashlight clattered to the ground. Her boots dragged in the dirt as she was pulled back down the tunnel the way they’d come. She clawed at the hand in her hair, trying to free herself, and something bit her thumb—hard. Then it was gone. Kirat jogged back to where she’d stopped, the flashlight bobbing in her haste.

“Are you okay?” She crouched beside Evelyn and picked up a pile of loose hair that had been ripped from Evelyn’s scalp. “So much for it being all in your head.”

“What was that?” She took the flashlight from Kirat and shone it down the tunnel, checking the walls and ceiling for signs of something. Anything. She used it to check her hand and found a few tiny beads of blood where it had bitten her thumb. Its teeth had pierced her thumbnail.

“I don’t know.” Kirat pulled a small adhesive bandage from her bag and applied it to the bite wound. “We’re way beyond my knowledge at this point.”

The flashlight flickered, and Evelyn felt panic tighten in her chest. They were lost. They weren’t alone. And their primary source of light was dying.

They moved quickly down the tunnel, Kirat forging ahead in the dark while Evelyn watched behind them, flashlight in one hand, a fistful of black obsidian powder in the other. She turned on the light periodically, looking for whatever had attacked her. Her imagination was in overdrive, filling the inky blackness with visions of horrible ghosts and ghouls and monsters both real and created. She half-dreaded and half-hoped to see something every time the flashlight flickered to life. At this point, a monster to fight would be preferable to the terror of the unknown. She shuddered at the memory of cold hands on her neck, in her hair. Sharp teeth piercing her skin.

Kirat cried out, and Evelyn turned to shine the flashlight on her friend who was ruefully rubbing her forehead.

“I ran into the wall,” she said.

Evelyn shined her light on the wall in front of them. The tunnel they’d been traveling for hours—days?—ended in a T formation. New tunnels extended in both directions.

“Which way do we go?” Evelyn checked behind them again, just in case. No cold-handed creature. Yet.

“Which way are we going?” Kirat kicked the wall. “I don’t know if it matters at this point. We’re lost.”

“Here.” Evelyn handed her the flashlight, then took off one of her gloves and wrapped her hand around the moonstone. “Wait for me.”

Evelyn closed her eyes and reached again for her great-grandmother’s strength. Which way, Nana? Please help me. Which way do I go? She walked a few feet down the right tunnel, listening. Nothing. She returned to Kirat and passed her to go down the other tunnel. She froze when she heard it.

drip

drip

drip

The air smelled wet. The moonstone felt warm in her palm.

“This way!” she called back to Kirat. “I hear water!”

Kirat quickly joined her, shining the light for a few seconds before turning it off to preserve the batteries. “I hear it. Like dripping, right?”

“I smell it, too. It smells salty like the ocean.”

“Or the lake.”

They resumed their previous formation—Evelyn watching their backs, black powder at the ready, while Kirat forged ahead blindly.

The dripping sounds grew louder, the smell stronger. They were closer to the source… whatever it might be.

Evelyn eventually returned the black powder to her pocket and brushed the remnants off on her pants leg.

“Whatever it was, I think it’s gone,” she said. “It’s been a while since anything happened. I don’t feel like I’m being watched anymore.”

“Okay, great. Can you shine the light ahead? I don’t want to run into another wall.”

Evelyn turned and clicked on the flashlight. It flickered weakly, so she slapped it against her palm a few times until it brightened. The tunnel ahead looked the same as it had for miles except for a thin trickle of water down the center of the floor, making the dirt muddy under their boots.

“I think I see another turn,” Kirat said, pointing.

They rushed forward, following the trickle of water and hoping for something new around the corner. They reached the opening just as a large form loomed in the darkness, holding a torch. Evelyn tried to stop, but she registered the presence too late, and she collided with it.

“Evelyn!” Valen pulled her against his chest with his free arm and bent his head to press a kiss into her hair. “Oh, my god. I found you. Kirat, are you okay?”

“Yeah. We’re okay. Where did you come from?”

Evelyn relaxed into his embrace for a moment, relief flooding her body, his warm touch chasing away the last remnants of the cold fingers.

“After she dealt with whatever was following us, Second Mother sent me after you. I thought she’d put me in the same tunnel, but I couldn’t catch up to you no matter how fast I went.”

Evelyn finally stepped back to look at him in the torchlight. His shirt was torn and bloodied, a cut over his eye looked fresh, and his hands were bruised and scabbed like he’d been in a fight. “Second Mother dealt with them?”

“She did. She sent me out again, with this.” He held up a bag that was filled to overflowing with supplies.

“She couldn’t have given us the same thing?” Kirat grumbled.

“What’s back that way? Anything?” Evelyn pointed back the way he’d come.

“Nothing. Just darkness and empty tunnels.”

“Okay, then I say we forge on ahead, follow the water.”

With Valen’s torch to guide them, they moved more quickly and eventually they reached an open cavern with a well in the center. Several tunnels branched off in different directions. Fires burning in standing braziers filled the space with warm light.

“I know where we are!” Kirat dug in her bag excitedly. She pulled out the map. “We’re back on the map. We’re not lost anymore!”

The center well was built from natural stones of different colors and textures. Ladles of various sizes and shapes were hung on hooks along the outer lip. A rope hung from a metal bar over the center of the well. Evelyn turned the crank and watched the rope coil around the bar to raise the bucket filled with water from far below. Her arm grew tired before the bucket appeared, and she was grateful when Valen reached down and grabbed it for her, pulling it the rest of the way up and out of the well.

They took turns dipping into the bucket with their ladles. Evelyn drank deep, relishing the feeling of cool water filling her stomach. She was hungry, too, but her thirst felt urgent. Once she was sated, she filled her water bottle and retreated to sit against one of the walls. Valen joined her and unpacked some of the supplies he’d gotten from Second Mother. He built a small fire to warm them while they rested. Kirat accepted a bedroll from Valen and stretched out on the opposite side of the fire. She was snoring quietly within minutes.

Valen eased down next to Evelyn. She leaned her shoulder against his, enjoying his warmth after so many days of chill. He pulled the other bedroll out of the bag and spread it over them like a blanket.

“Here.” He lifted his arm so she could cuddle up against his chest.

Evelyn felt warm for the first time since they’d entered the Dark City. She listened to his heart beating beneath her cheek and some of the tension eased from her body. How long had she been afraid? It felt like weeks. Months. In some ways, her entire life. The fear grew quiet in Valen’s arms, and that felt like a gift.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For being here.”

She felt his lips press against her hair again. She lifted her head to look up at him and shivered when his hand cupped her face. She held her breath, waiting, hoping. The touch of his lips against hers sent a thrill through every inch of her exhausted body. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight as he deepened the kiss before pulling back to press another kiss against her temple.

“Always,” he said quietly, his arms pulling her even closer against his body.

Evelyn tucked her head under his chin and let herself drift into sleep.