by Alex Steele
“Swift?” I hissed, trying to keep somewhat quiet.
A hand grabbed my arm and it took all my self-control not to shout in surprise.
“Right here,” Swift whispered belatedly. “Where is Hiroji?”
I felt around, but he wasn’t next to me anymore.
“I don’t know. Can we risk some light?” The darkness here was oppressive. I couldn’t see Swift right beside me. Not even the faint glow of her eyes was enough to cut through it. The sensation of her magic was strangely muted just like it had been when Jacobs had used that artifact to attack us.
She hesitated, then squeezed my arm in acknowledgement. “I think we’re going to have to.”
I pulled out the small flashlight we’d all been given in preparation for this and clicked it on. Water appearing less than an inch deep covered the ground in every direction. A few other lights turned on across from us as everyone slowly recovered from the ordeal. Seeing that everyone had made it filled me with relief.
Lopez staggered to her feet, panting like she’d just run a race. “She’s gone. I can’t feel her.” Her breaths increased as her eyes darted around in a panic.
Viktor pulled her in close and forced her gaze up to his. “She is still there. This place has hidden her from you, not taken her.”
I couldn’t even imagine how much harder this would be for a shifter. Their magic was part of them in ways that a mage’s was not. To be suddenly unable to shift would be terrifying.
Lopez’s fingers spasmed on his shoulders as she took a deep breath. “This feels wrong.”
Viktor nodded once. “I felt the dead when we arrived, but every moment we are here, they fade farther from reach.”
Whatever was draining us of our magic pounded at the back of my mind and set my teeth on edge. The endless pull was enough to drive you insane on its own. It was like gasping for breath with your head under water.
I turned in a slow circle. We were in a small cavern with a low ceiling. If I’d been a foot taller I would have hit my head when I stood. I could hear something in the distance. A low, steady rumble that could be running water, but it was hard to tell. The low ceiling muffled sound in odd ways.
I turned my flashlight upward. Massive stalactites hung from the ceiling in the same concentric rings that I’d seen at Stonehenge, only upside down. Somehow, Stonehenge was a perfect replica of this place. If this was some kind of doorway into Purgatory, I would have expected a guard. But perhaps no one ever dropped in uninvited.
Or a guard wasn’t necessary if you couldn’t escape.
Hiroji walked over, one hand wrapped around the handle of his katana. The bastard wasn’t even damp, and not a single hair was out of place. He must have managed to land on his feet.
“I have a bad feeling about this place. There are strange sounds in the distance.”
I couldn’t disagree. Even the air down here smelled wrong. Stagnant.
“The rumbling noise?”
He shook his head once. “No. Something else. Whispers.”
Talos approached with a small team behind him. His eyes darted around, fear plain in his expression. “We cannot linger here. This is not the area we expected the portal to deposit us.”
“This looks like it’s been here for years,” I said, directing the beam of my flashlight up toward the stalactites.
Talos looked up, but shook his head. “The water must change places somehow.”
Yamashita hurried over as well, flanked by two guards. “Is everyone regrouped? We have to move now.”
Swift wrung out the hem of her shirt, never taking her eyes off the oppressive darkness at the edge of our lights. “What is down here that you’re afraid of?”
“It’s just rumors, but…” Yamashita swallowed. “They say that if you drink enough of the water, it can warp you. Change you into something else. I’d rather not find out if the rumors are true.”
“No point in wasting time either,” I agreed with a nod. “Do you know where we should go from here?”
Yamashita pointed to our left. “South exit.”
Talos lifted his hand and everyone fell into a line with two groups ahead of us, and the rest behind us. We moved out as one, keeping as close together as possible. There was no idle chatter, just the swish of feet through water.
The exit slowly came into view. About ten yards away, the ceiling sloped down to barely four feet off the ground. Narrow holes in the wall of the cavern were the only escape. We’d have to practically crawl out of here.
Hiroji stopped, his gaze drawn backward. “Did you hear that?”
Talos lifted his hand again and everyone stopped. The sound of people moving through water did not.
I lifted my flashlight slowly. The beam didn’t extend far into the darkness, but it reached far enough. Yellow eyes reflected the light back at us. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of them.
I whipped open my electric baton. The creatures crept closer, moving into the light. Their sallow skin had taken on a grayish-blue tint. Papery thin skin stretched tight over the bones of their faces. Where they should have had legs, their bodies had been twisted into a snake-like tail. Scales crept up their chests. Some even bore them on their face.
“They look like some twisted version of lamia,” Swift whispered.
“Any chance they’re friendly?” I asked.
One of the creatures wore a necklace of bones. It was bigger than the others — their leader perhaps. It leaned into a crouch and bared sharp teeth at us with a low growl.
Swift drew her sword. “Nope.”
These creatures were no longer human. Likely no longer alive. Whatever they were had been eaten away by the darkness that permeated Purgatory. Only one thing was left in them.
Hunger.
Another leaned forward, its sinuous body bunching in preparation to attack. A screech cut through the tension and they all charged at once.
They shot through the water at inhuman speeds. I lunged forward and they were already upon us. The lamia shrieked as I jabbed the baton in its gut. Without pausing, I snapped it upward and caught it on the jaw. The lamia’s head rocked back and it started to fall.
It twisted mid-fall and its tail shot out, wrapping around my left leg. I swung the baton down as hard as I could and its grip loosened, but unfortunately, the shock traveled through us both. My leg spasmed and I fell forward, catching myself just before I face-planted into the brackish water.
This was not working. These things were too tough to beat to death. Mayhem magic stuttered through me as I attempted to summon my katana. The lamia’s slimy fist hit my cheek. It pulled its arm back from another hit, but its head toppled off its shoulders before it could move again.
Hiroji kicked the creature’s body out of the way. “What the hell are you doing, Logan?”
I unwound the still-twitching tail from my leg. “Experimenting.”
Hiroji rolled his eyes. “This may not be the best moment for that.”
He thrust his katana backward, catching another lamia in the throat. Jerking his katana free, he spun in place and beheaded another.
Annoyed at being shown up, I yanked harder on the mayhem magic. Something gave and the magic rushed through me much faster than I was prepared for. I couldn’t pull it back. It took all my control to direct it away from our group and into the second wave of lamia charging us.
The mayhem magic cut through them like butter. The pieces of their bodies fell into the water, turning it red with blood.
Hiroji looked at me like I’d grown two heads. “That was a little close for comfort.”
I rolled my shoulders as I prepared to try again. “Tell me about it. Something about this place is throwing off my control.”
Swift back-kicked a lamia and knocked them up into the air. “More are coming over here!”
We threw ourselves back into the fight. The mayhem magic still didn’t seem to want to cooperate, either moving sluggishly, or bursting out of me all at once.
“How many of thes
e things are there?” Lopez shouted as she smacked another in the head with her bat.
“Too many!” Swift shouted back.
Talos plunged into a small group of them, stabbing and slicing with his short swords. His pretty boy appearance belied his skill as a fighter. He moved with the confidence of experience. Every movement had deadly purpose. Lamia fell around him before they even had a chance to attack.
A sharp scream caught my attention. I turned around and saw Yamashita being dragged through water away from us. The man I’d last seen guarding her was face down in the water with two lamia tearing at his flesh with sharp teeth.
I sprinted after her. We could not lose our guide before we even made it out of the first room. I pulled on the mayhem magic, trying once again to form a katana. A wobbly, misshapen blade stuttered into being.
“Screw it.” I released the shape and threw a blast of magic at the lamia that had ahold of her. It hit the creature in the back and burst straight through it, splitting the lamia’s torso in half. Yamashita yanked her foot free and scrambled toward me.
“They’re retreating!” Talos called out. “Run for the exits!”
I dragged Yamashita up out of the muck. She was covered in the creature’s blood and seemed to have forgotten how to walk. I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, hard.
“Snap out of it. We have to go, now.”
Her eyes finally met mine and she nodded frantically. “Okay.”
I hooked my hand under her arm and half-dragged her toward the closest hole. The twisted bodies of the creatures littered the ground around us, but we’d killed less than half. Their enraged screams echoed off the low ceiling, making it sound as if they were right behind us once again.
Swift fell into step beside us, grabbing Yamashita’s other arm. We had to drop to our knees as we reached the lowest point of the ceiling. I pushed Yamshita ahead of me. It was hard to move quickly. The rocks here were slippery with some kind of algae — I tried not to think too hard about what would grow here.
I glanced over my shoulder and regretted it. Those yellow eyes were getting closer. Too close for comfort.
“Go faster.”
Yamashita lunged forward, finally finding a handhold and hauling herself out to safety. There was a short drop from the lip of the cavern into a series of winding tunnels. We followed her down, landing in the midst of a small group of the Awakened. Some people were injured, but we hadn’t lost many in the clash.
Hiroji hopped down behind us, flinging the blood off his katana with a sharp flick. “We need to move. They’re headed this way.”
Yamashita pointed toward a steep, rocky incline. “That way. I think.”
We scrambled over rocks, sprinting along the short, smoother stretches, and cursing every bit of the way. This place was made for suffering, that much was clear. Bootstrap got winded running down the stairs at the Manor. We had to find him before he drank something, or fell down a ravine he couldn’t climb out of.
We paused on a small plateau. Spiraling up as far as I could see was what looked like the inside of a beehive. Tunnels and smaller holes dotted the stone all the way up. Narrow walkways criss-crossed the space between, making it hard to see how high it went.
“These are the holding cells,” Yamashita said quietly, pulling out her map. “Newer prisoners will theoretically be near the top, but if Atticus is paying special attention to your friends, they could be anywhere.”
I stared up at the seemingly endless number of prison cells and had my first moment of real doubt. Even if we had days, we couldn’t search them all.
Swift slapped me on the shoulder, startling me out of thoughts. “We should keep moving. The faster we make it to the top, the faster we can find them.”
She was right. Even if this was a hopeless mission, we had to try.
Thirty-Nine
I pressed my back against the damp stone and held my breath. The guard’s footsteps drew closer. Everything echoed in this place. The wails of prisoners floated down from above. I was almost thankful for them. Without the constant noise, I was sure we’d have been spotted already. It was hard to disguise the sound of so many people walking.
The guard’s shadow preceded him around the bend. He was coming straight toward us and there was nowhere to hide. I met Hiroji’s eyes across the corridor. He put one hand on his katana and prepared to draw it.
I’d hoped to avoid detection for longer, but it seemed we’d run out of luck.
The guard turned and took one step toward us. His eyes widened as Hiroji’s white katana flashed through the darkness. He didn’t even have a chance to open his mouth before his head hit the ground. His lifeless body fell back with a dull thunk.
We all stayed frozen in place, waiting for an alarm to ring out, or someone to yell. Our harsh breaths remained the only sound.
Swift looked at the body, her mouth twisted into an unhappy frown. I met her eyes and shook my head. There was no other choice.
I grabbed the guard’s arms and dragged him further down the dead-end tunnel. We’d been searching for Bradley and Bootstrap for what felt like an hour. The prison cells had been carved directly into stone. A path wound almost straight up with switchbacks and short tunnels that led nowhere. There were a few walkways that cut across the cavernous space, but they were too exposed for us to risk.
Fortunately, guards were few and far between. They had no real reason to worry about prisoners escaping here. Even if you made it out of your cell, there was no way out of Purgatory. You’d either starve or end up twisted and cursed like the creatures we’d fought in the watery cavern. Everything about this place was designed to rob you of hope.
I dropped the guard’s arms but stayed crouched as I made my way back toward the others. Part of me hated killing him, but we had no way to subdue him, and couldn’t risk blowing the whole operation just to avoid killing one person.
An arm shot out between the narrow window in the door cell to my right. A man missing most of his teeth pressed his face against the bars as if attempting to squeeze through.
“I saw what you did,” he hissed.
We hadn’t had time to clear these cells before the guard had approached.
I pressed a finger to my lips and walked over. This idiot needed to stay quiet or we’d all be screwed. Talos and Swift hurried down the corridor toward me.
“I know you aren’t one of them. Why are you here?” He was getting louder.
I leaned in close. “Shut up.”
“Take me with you or I’ll scream. All the guards will come running. I’ll tell them you’re here. I want out.”
“Do you know your way around the prison?” I asked. We couldn’t afford to let someone tag along. I didn’t want to hurt this man — there was a fifty-fifty shot he was another innocent victim of the Mage’s Guild.
He nodded, straining harder to reach for me. “I know every nook and cranny. Got out once for a few days before they caught me wandering. I’ve seen everything. All of it.”
Talos grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it farther out, slamming the man’s face against the bars. He leaned in close, that winning politician’s smile on his face. “You want out?”
“Yes,” the prisoner pleaded.
“Then you have to help us.” He pressed the man’s arm a little further down, straining the tendons to their limits. “Do you know where they keep new prisoners? Some friends of ours just arrived here, and we need to know where they are.”
“I know where your friends are, but you have to take me. You have to. You have to.” His blood-shot eyes grew wider with every word. He was desperate. I had no doubt he would scream if we tried to leave. But I didn’t trust him. I didn’t trust anyone in this forsaken place.
I reached through the bars and grabbed him by the neck. “How do you know where they are?”
His throat convulsed under my palm. “They always put the fresh meat in the same place. The Pit.”
“What is the Pit?”
“A
testing place. If you’re strong enough, you crawl out. If not, you die.”
“Could they have been moved since then?” I demanded. Bradley might survive a place like that, but Bootstrap was soft. He had no defenses other than his magic.
The man hesitated, then nodded. “Maybe. But they could still be there. I swear they could. I can show you. Please.” His whole body trembled as he stared at us, eyes darting from me to Swift to Talos. “Please.”
I turned my back on him to discuss it with the others. “I don’t trust him, but I also don’t think he’s lying.”
Talos nodded in agreement. “It’s risky, but not any more than wandering this place without a clue where we’re going.”
Talos looked over my shoulder at the man. “If he attempts to betray us, we will simply kill him.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I turned back to the prisoner and crouched down to eye level. “Listen carefully.”
He nodded, hands clenched tight around the bars. “We’re going to let you help us, but, if I get even the slightest inkling that you are going to betray us, I’m going to let him—” I pointed at Hiroji who was still standing near the opening of the corridor. “Cut off your head. Got it?”
The prisoner’s eyes focused on Hiroji’s katana as he nodded frantically. “I get it. I won’t. I swear I won’t.”
I stepped back and let Talos take my place. He pulled out a lock-pick and with a few short twists, the lock gave way.
“This could be a trap,” Swift said, eyeing the prisoner as he stumbled out into Talos’s arms.
“If it is, then our friends are the bait. Bootstrap’s arrest, all of it, has been drawing us here. Atticus wanted us in this prison.” I tightened my grip on the baton. “We have to take the bait though. And we know he’ll likely betray us, so we can be ready for it when it happens.”
