“You sure?” Gavin’s strained voice asks.
“Absolutely. I have a date with some demons.”
My nerve endings prickle as the hair on my arms stand at full attention. “We’ve got company,” I say, looking over my shoulder. I don’t see anything, but I feel them moving in on us.
“They’re on our heels,” Lukah shouts from the back.
“Here!” Meredith shouts. Before I know what’s happening, I’m being pulled by Jaxen against a wall. Footsteps sound from either side of the hallway. “We have to move. Fast.” She points to the shadow we just walked through. It left a sort of chalky substance in the air.
They’re coming.
“Let’s move out,” Gavin says in a hushed whisper.
My head feels like it’s spinning as I try to grasp what’s happening. I find myself turning, searching for something. Someone. Weldon. He’s not with us anymore, and I feel it like a punch to the chest. Like a knife to the throat.
“Weldon!”
His voice is sharp and fast in my mind. “Keep moving. I’m fine!”
Meredith snaps her fingers in my face. “Follow me through here. Hurry. It’s a short drop to the bottom.”
“There’s nothing there!” Gavin shouts as everyone huddles close, bouncing on their feet.
“That’s what whoever created this wants you to think.” She sits and slides her legs through the wall. The moment she does, a tight hole appears, only large enough to maybe fit one of us lying flat at a time.
“Darkyn magic,” Jaxen says before looking over his shoulder for any sign of demons.
Meredith pushes off with her hands and disappears a second later.
“Go first,” Gavin says, looking at me. “Hurry!”
I follow Meredith’s movements and hold my breath as my head disappears through the hole and my body descends into darkness. As soon as I hit the ground, I’m up on my feet, light in my hands, waiting for the next to come through.
Panic floods my system like a well bursting.
Katie, Jezi, and Evangeline fall through second after painstaking second and move off to the side, all watching the hole just as anxiously as me.
“They’re coming! Hurry!” I hear Gavin shout.
My chest feels heavy when I hear this.
Lukah drops through. Then the other Elite.
I chew on my nails, waiting for Jaxen and Gavin. Come on. Come on.
I hear demons above us yelling.
“Go!” Gavin yells.
“You first,” Jaxen yells back.
“Don’t be stupid,” Gavin retorts. “You have everything to live for.” There are shuffling sounds, and then Jaxen hits the floor beside me. Evangeline’s already there, helping him up, checking to see if he’s okay.
“We got one!” a foreign, demonic voice shouts from above. I hear Gavin growl, and then more shuffling as a leaden feeling fills my legs.
There’s nothing we can do. No way to get back up there and help him.
Jaxen’s clawing at the earthy wall, trying to climb back out. “No. No. No. Damn it. No!” he whispers through his teeth. He turns on us. “Someone give me a hand up. We can’t leave him. He doesn’t have powers!”
“Jaxen, no!” Evangeline says on a harsh whisper.
“We can’t leave him!” Jaxen whispers back, panic in his voice.
My stomach sinks to the floor.
“Ahhh!” we hear Gavin shout, his voice pained, and then silence.
“Shut off the light!” Meredith calls.
We put out our magic.
“Where did he go?” a foreign voice shouts.
“Through a shadow. Follow the trail. They were just here,” another deep, angered voice orders. “You two, keep guarding these hallways. They can’t be far from here. I still smell them.”
“I have Gavin,” Weldon says through my mind a second later.
“Weldon has Gavin,” I turn and say. Air rushes out of everyone’s lungs, but Jaxen doesn’t look any better. His face is contorted, like he’s struggling against his own thoughts wrestling in his head.
“I circled back to find you and ended up finding Gavin struggling. We’re still shadow walking.”
“They’re still following you,” I say to him, hoping they’ll be all right.
The silence between us is thick as I count the seconds, waiting for him to reply. I’m about to call out to him again when he responds, “I know. I’m trying to circle back to you, but if they have demons in the halls, I won’t risk being seen going in wherever you guys entered through.”
I shove a quick image of where we entered, and then turn to find dim light emanating from Meredith’s palm. She gestures for us to be quiet and follow her further into what looks like a cubbyhole of a cavern.
“Jaxen?” Evangeline asks, looking to him to take the lead.
He looks back up the hole, waiting, and then curses under his breath. A second later, he presses the button on his earpiece. “Gav?”
We wait. His eyes lock on mine, searching for strength. I take his hand and squeeze. “Gav?” he asks again. A deflated sigh. “Mack?”
I press my earpiece so I can listen in.
Mack’s voice comes through static. “Is everyone okay?”
“We had to take a detour. Barely made it out,” Jaxen says, his forehead pressed into a line.
“I saw that. How many did you lose?”
Jaxen does a quick headcount, and then his face pales a little. “Seven, including Weldon and Gavin. Weldon’s currently shadow walking Gavin around, trying to lose our tail.”
“Damn it!” A pause. “And now?”
“Meredith has a route we can take in secret.”
“Okay. Take it. We will keep tabs on Weldon and Gavin, as well as try to find the others.”
We turn off our earpieces and wait for Jaxen. I feel like I’ve forgotten the English language, because I don’t know what to say to ease this for anyone. All I know is half our group is missing, and we haven’t even found Claire.
Jaxen plunges his hands through his hair, makes an irritated growling noise in his throat, and then stalks over to Meredith. “Where does this lead?”
“To the holding cells. It was dug by a former prisoner.”
Jaxen looks back at me, back at the hole, and then turns back to her. “Fine. Show us the way.”
“But your brother,” Evangeline says, her face scrunched in terror.
Jaxen’s face hardens. “He’s with Weldon. He’ll be okay. We have to keep moving.”
“I’m not following her.” Katie has her arms crossed, her cheeks moist from crying and her lips curled with a sneer as she glares Meredith down.
“And why is that, niece?” Meredith asks.
“Don’t call me that! You’re a traitor. You’re a bad person! You… you were just going to leave us, and the only thing that stopped you was your stupid promise. Not me! Not your own flesh and blood. I don’t want to follow you. I don’t want to even be near you!”
Meredith’s forehead creases as she watches Katie unravel. A glimmer of pain passes through her gaze, and a second later, she turns and starts walking, leaving Katie to her own tears.
“We have to follow her,” I say to Katie, pulling her into a hug. Her entire body shakes.
“I hate her, Faye. Every time I look at her, I see my mom, and I just hate her!”
I rub her back, trying to calm her down.
“We have to move,” Jaxen says, his hand on my waist.
“Come on, Kat. We’re almost to the end,” I say, smoothing her hair from her face.
“I’ve got her,” Jezi says, taking Katie’s arm. “Go on.”
Jaxen lets me go first, and then moves in behind me as we all squeeze our way through. I try not to think about how small this space is as I watch her steps, but even so, I still feel the confinement as my elbows rub up against the rocky walls. As our heated, rapid breaths steal what little bit of fresh air surrounds us.
“Just through here,” she whispe
rs. “Watch your head.” She ducks, and then drops to her stomach. We army crawl through a sort of tunnel, and I keep my gaze focused ahead and not on the damp, mushy ground we’re crawling on.
“Weldon?” I ask again, waiting for his response.
Nothing.
“Have you been through this way before?” I whisper back, praying she’ll talk to me. Anything to take my mind off what’s happening.
“There aren’t exactly five-star hotels lined up in the hallways for us,” she remarks. “This was how I managed to escape. Claire found this cavern through her cell, and we took our chance when we had it. We hid here for a few days until things had quieted down.”
My legs and my forearms burn like crazy as I drag myself forward through the slush, but I keep my focus on her words and her story.
“We would have made it too had it not been for our keeper stumbling upon us like he did.”
“How did it happen?”
“We got too confident. After we climbed out of this hellhole, we found ourselves in the maze of hallways, surviving on rats and other vermin. It was Claire’s idea to use our handprints like breadcrumbs. She’s sharp. Knew right away that we wouldn’t be finding our way out any time soon. I think that’s what led him to us. He was determined to find us. We were his charge and, without us, he would be put to death.”
The end of the small tunnel approaches, and I suck in air as if I had been held under water. Meredith busies herself with summoning cots, and then sets a small, blue flame on the ground.
“We’ll rest here,” she says, looking around the room once everyone has filed in. She stares at the cot next to me, ghosts swimming in her gaze, and then shimmies out of her robe, fumbling for vials she has stored in them.
My mind feels like it’s inside a cyclone as I stand. Every decision about what I should do or what I should have done tosses violently around inside my head. I settle on something simple, taking the safe route. I use a little of my magic to clean myself up, and then sit on the cot, reaching out to Weldon’s mind.
“Are you there?”
Silence.
“Weldon?”
Still nothing. I tell myself he and Gavin are okay. That he’s not answering because he’s probably still focused on keeping his trails confusing, but there’s a pit in my stomach that won’t go away. A sinking feeling that has me clinging to the metal edges of the cot to keep myself upright.
Jaxen sits next to me, staring off into space as everyone picks a cot and drops onto it while Jezi makes rounds with Katie, who’s pulling on my magic, healing whoever needs it. Derek, pale and sweaty, has his palm pressed against the wall, as if he’d topple over if he didn’t have its sturdiness to rely on.
I feel Meredith’s gaze on me as if the sun were inches away from my face, studying me, and I straighten my shoulders and push my chin up in the air. Mess with my bag, count what weapons I have left, and stack them around my cot for easy access.
Meredith stops in front of me. “You know, despite being a complete and utter ass, your friend has a good head on his shoulders. He’s going to be all right.”
“I know,” I say, glad it came out as confident as I wanted it to.
“He was right there,” I hear Lukah say as he rocks back and forth on his cot. Evangeline has her arms around him, trying to shush him. “He was right there, and he slipped through my fingers.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Evangeline says, her voice trembling within the quiet space.
“He can’t be gone. He can’t be,” Lukah says before his head falls into his hands and his quiet sobs surround us.
We all bow our heads, tucking away our tears for those who didn’t make it this far. Toby and Bianca’s image passes through my mind, and I have to grit my teeth to keep from screaming. Seven. We lost seven.
Katie has her legs pulled up to her chin, tears pouring down her face. Meredith sees this, but she doesn’t do what an aunt would. She doesn’t try to console her. Doesn’t ask her if she’s okay or try to distract her. She just looks away and sits in front of the fire.
“We have to eat,” Meredith says a moment later as she summons a small cauldron to rest over the fire. “Did you bring something?”
Jaxen drops his bag at her feet without saying anything.
She digs through it and starts putting together soup from the cans he carried with him.
“Are you okay?” I ask him, running my hand over his cheek. He lies back on the cot, pulling me with him, and then tucks his hand behind his head.
“I saw it in his eyes,” he says, staring at the endless darkness above us. “I knew what he was doing.”
“You couldn’t have stopped him,” I say, running my hand over his cheek. “He’s more stubborn than you when he wants to be.”
Jaxen rolls his face to the side, the sheen in his eyes ripping at my heart. “I don’t think he plans on surfacing.”
My tongue is twisted in knots. My heart is in my throat. I don’t know what to say, because anything I say will be a lie. I think we all had a fear that Gavin would try something like this. That he would sacrifice himself without thought, just to ease the pain of losing Cassie.
So I don’t say anything. I just hold Jaxen close and try to close my eyes against the sobs around us.
THE SILENCE IN THE AIR is broken by the faint sounds of tortured screams. They’re bloodcurdling, eye-twitching sounds that make my skin crawl with the need to get out of here.
Meredith shifts uncomfortably on her cot near me, and then turns so she’s facing me.
Instantly, I wish I had kept my eyes closed because she knows I’m awake now.
“Do you know my sister?” she whispers to me.
“Eliza?”
She nods.
“Unfortunately, yes,” I say, trying to tune out the screams. Peeking over my shoulder at Katie, who’s fast asleep.
“She married that god-awful man Jonathon, who smothered her with his goodness. I tried to warn her—”
My blood is boiling when I say, “She was lucky to have his goodness, though she never deserved it.”
She perks up. “Was? Is that past tense I’m picking up on?”
“You know what, Meredith? I’m tired and I really don’t feel like discussing anything with you. In fact, I don’t know why you’re even talking to me in the first place.”
I lay back, using my emptied bag as a pillow, and roll to face Jaxen, who stirs. I wish we were anywhere but here.
The screams surround us again. I pull my bag from under my head and cover my ears with it, but it barely dulls the sound.
Meredith’s voice creeps through the sounds. “She has a daughter.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, praying for patience.
“I never had the pleasure of meeting her until now.”
“And maybe that was a good thing,” I spout off as I roll back to face her. “Her name is Katie. You know… the one you keep ignoring and making feel uncomfortable? She’s right over there, and she’s my best friend. We grew up down the street from one another, and she’s one of the bravest, kindest people I know. She rose above your family’s anomaly of wanting to fight for the wrong side, and she’s still standing against you, just as I am.”
Meredith’s forehead forms into a valley “So you know her well then?”
“Very well.”
“And… how is she?” A pause. “Is she happy, I mean?”
“Not really, and you can thank your kind for that,” I say, thinking about the attack in the forest she went through. And about everything else in between.
“What do you mean?”
I shake my head, growing agitated by the twenty questions. “Before everything started, Bael issued an attack on the forest at the Academy. Katie only made it out thanks to the Watchman who trained me. The very same Watchmen who are here, trying to help you see your promise through”
“Is that what happened to her eye?” I’m almost surprised by the genuine concern I hear in her voice, though it sounds almost
uncomfortable. Like she isn’t used to caring.
I huff. “Yes. She was attacked by werewolves. One of them tried to drag her off and managed to scratch one of her eyes. She can’t see out of it anymore. After that, she was taken by your leader Clara and tortured as a way to get to me.”
“I have no leader anymore,” Meredith says sharply.
“And why is that? You keep asking me all these questions, yet I know nothing about you.”
“I told you. I’m not a Darkyn anymore.” She looks off to the side, curses under her breath, and then says, “You should get some rest while you can. We’ll have to move soon.”
I roll back to Jaxen, trying not to let my imagination run rampant in my mind, and close my eyes. I nod off somewhere between my worries, my mind too fatigued to fight any longer, and wake later to the sound of footsteps. I shoot straight out of bed, a summoned flux in my hand, but Meredith holds her hands out, telling me it’s only her.
“We’re close to the prison cells. That’s the footsteps of the keepers you hear.”
“You think Claire’s there?” I ask, stretching out my back. Every muscle in my body feels like it’s been wound tight.
She sadly shrugs. “I hope so. There’s no telling though.”
Jaxen moves next to me, slowly waking. Evangeline sits on the edge of a still-sleeping Lukah’s cot, moving his hair to the side. Jezi’s sandwiched between Katie and Derek, offering them bowls of whatever Meredith cooked.
I reach out to Weldon in my mind and still feel his silence. It’s like being alone in a dark room. Like having an anchor tied around your ankle, and then being dropped into the ocean. He should have returned to us by now. I should be able to reach him. The thoughts rush up my throat like vomit.
“They have him,” I say before I can stop myself.
Meredith is the first to answer. “Probably.”
That one word lights a fire in my stomach for so many different reasons. Because she’s right. Because there isn’t anything I can do about it. Because I have to keep going, despite being stuck with someone who I don’t trust and who is going to turn on me the moment she gets what she wants.
You’ll be fine. You were meant for this. You’re strong enough, I tell myself, bottling away my emotions and switching them off.
Everdeep (The Night Watchmen Series Book 4) Page 24
