by Blair Drake
Reese breathed hard, and steadied himself against the wall. The clock was still ticking. As angry as he was, it was still ticking. How was that possible?
“Where is that? Do you hear that, Raven?”
She nodded and smiled. “The clock. You’re getting better at this.”
“Don’t stroke his ego,” Endel said. “It’s already big enough and there won’t be any room for you.”
“She can’t hear you,” Reese said.
“You’d be surprised by what Raven can do. Need I remind you who found you the water to quench your thirst?”
Shame worked its way up his spine until he felt uncomfortable standing there. “Okay, I get it. No ego.”
“I highly doubt this is a turnaround.”
Reese rolled his eyes. “If you going to give me shit, please give me a little bit of encouragement with it. I work better that way.”
“I’m only here to keep you alive,” Endel said. “If you listen to me, you will stay alive. Don’t listen to me, and you’re dead. You didn’t do what I told you to do, did you?”
“Silently and swiftly through the darkness,” Reese said. He didn’t need Endel to give him shit about this. Raven had almost died because of him.
“If you’re not going to listen, then I might as well sign off right now, and let you seal your own fate.”
“What is he saying?” Raven asked.
“He wants us to go on.”
“Now who’s the liar?” Endel said smugly.
“Fine. We’re stuck here in this cavern.”
“It’s a magnetic field. The epicenter. You’re behind.”
That didn’t sit well with Reese. Behind meant that the portal could close before they got there.
“That was the epicenter?” Reese blew out a quick breath. “It’s nothing more than a cavern with tar in it.”
“Yes. And it’s not tar. It’s liquid magnet. Hematite. The energy that supplies the entire underground city is there. You most likely set off a wave of magnetic energy throughout the city. We had an electrical surge all the way here in my store.”
“Really?”
“It doesn’t matter who sees you. People know someone is there. They just don’t know what or who it is. You must be careful. The only thing stronger than idle curiosity of strangers and mutants is greed. You must play on the greed of people in order to get by. You must be cunning.”
“But we didn’t get very far. We got through a scrap yard and then this big bridge that fell into this black liquid that became spikes.”
The words sounded strange to Reese’s ears as he said it. Black liquid that turned to spikes? It was insane.
“Your energy ignited the liquid magnet.”
He heard a muffle over the talisman.
“Endel, are you there?”
“Where are you exactly?” Endel asked.
Reese looked up and saw the archway. “Just through the archway past the scrap yard. We were almost over the bridge.”
“Not the bridge. The epicenter. You heard gears turning, right?”
“Yes.”
“That was a working platform you were on. You weren’t supposed to walk through there at all. There is a tunnel high above the epicenter. That’s where you should have been. You could have run all the way through it to get to the last section of the city.”
Reese rolled his eyes and blew out a breath of frustration. “How many sections of the city do we have to get through?”
“Did you read the map?”
Reese glanced at Raven, who was looking at him with confusion.
“How do we get out of here?”
“Not by going through the epicenter. All those components beneath the platform are deadly.”
“No kidding.”
“They supply all the sections of the city with power. That’s a working engine right there in the cavern and it routes energy through pipes under the city and in the tunnels. You must try to find the doorway that leads to the tunnel above the city. If you can’t find that, then you must go through the epicenter platform again. Those are the only two ways to get to the final bridge that will lead you to the portal. You can do either one. It’s your choice.”
Reese didn’t know why, but emotions surged up his throat and choked him. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep from tearing up. “Like I had a choice in any of this. We almost just died just now! How do you know we can do this at all?”
“Because you made it this far, and you’re not dead. And because the clock is still working.”
“I can’t even see the damned clock.” He touched his wrist beneath his blazer sleeve. His wrist felt naked. “Am I doing this? Making the clock tick?”
“No. That’s the point. When you first got here, you had absolutely no control over your energy, and your magnetic powers. Somewhere along the way you learned to harness it at least enough for something as simple as a clock to be unaffected by all that energy you unleashed in the epicenter. You saw the way the clock in my back room reacted when you walked through the door. Check the watch on your arm.”
Reese’s heart sunk. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Always so stubborn. Just check it.”
“I can’t! It’s gone, okay? I lost my father’s watch somewhere in that big pit where I almost died.”
There was silence for a few seconds.
“You need to rest before you can tackle this again,” Endel said.
The talisman blazed ice blue again. “There is a blacksmith about three buildings down where you are right now. It should be just before the scrap yard, or from where you are, just after the scrap yard.”
“We have to go back through the scrap yard?”
There was a pause before Endel spoke again. “It’s almost dinner time. That’s the best time to make your way back through the scrap yard. The blacksmith has an iron horse in front of the door. It’s easy enough to find. He’s a holder.”
“What the hell is a holder?”
Ravens eyes widened, suddenly excited. “There’s a holder nearby? Is that what Endel said?”
“Yeah. Three buildings down from the scrap yard.”
“We must have gone too far and gone out the wrong tunnel door,” Raven said, biting her lip as she appeared to be backtracking the route they’d taken.
“What’s a holder?”
“It’s like a boarding house,” Raven said, and then she shrugged. “But not nearly as nice.”
“A safe house,” Endel said. “Raven stayed in one for a few days before she took to the tunnel.”
“Raven did?” He glanced at Raven, who was still lost in thought. “Why did she leave, I mean, if this place is safe, why couldn’t Raven have just stayed there?”
“Safe is a relative term,” Endel said. “Movement ensures safety, too. But everyone needs a safe house from time to time. The houses are frequented by strange…beings. These beings don’t necessarily want anyone to know who they are. Many of them are not of this world, but don’t want anyone to know.”
He sputtered. “Are you telling me they’re mutants? You want us to go stay in a place where mutants stay?”
“It’s a safe place for people who are transient and not of the underground world. They can blend in easier there.”
“Well, we aren’t of this world either, so we’ll have something in common with these mutants.”
“You can’t let anyone know that,” Endel said firmly. “If there is one time you should be discrete, it’s definitely in a holder house. Some of these beings are dark creatures. And they would sell you out if they got suspicious, or even for sport. They don’t believe in the portal.”
“Then how did they even get here?”
“They don’t know, and they don’t care. But you should. You’re a yungin’. They’ll automatically be suspicious of you and Raven. You need to go there with a purpose but reveal nothing. Do you hear me?”
He glanced at Raven who looked terrified by the one-sided conversation.
�
��Then maybe we should just sleep in the tunnel again.”
“You need food. That’s the only place you’ll get it. It’s risky, but you can risk one night to help you gain your strength again so you can finish the journey. The holder will feed you. It’s a given. And there’ll be a place to sleep. But then you must be gone before second bell. Before any of the other people at the holding house rise. Do you understand? It has to be before second bell or else the beings and the men working in the scrap yard will become suspicious if you don’t leave with them to wherever it is they roam or work.”
“Okay, how do we know this blacksmith will let us in?”
“He’ll let you in. And that will be the easy part.”
Endel insisted the holders building wouldn’t be hard to find. The scrap yard was virtually empty when Reese and Raven quickly made their way through it again before they got to an open city square. This part of the city was unlike the first part where Endel’s shop was located, and even less like the busy square where Reese had stolen bread from the bakery. It was old and in some ways seemed like a shantytown. The doors had markings on them as if beaten with a blunt object.
Reese wasn’t comfortable with Raven walking into a place without knowing what kind of people were there. He’d seen the way the men in the scrap yard had looked at her. She was a pretty girl, but dressed down to blend in. But that was impossible. Her dark hair and blue eyes were too striking. It was hard not to notice a girl like her in the crowd even with baggy clothes.
The quicker they got to where they were going, the quicker they could rest, and then leave. Reese took Raven by the hand, and stepped down a long row of concrete steps to the main street. Endel said it was dinnertime, and most everyone was either in a restaurant or at home eating their meals. Endel also said they would have to apologize for being late. The holder didn’t like tardiness, and usually locked the doors once dinner was served.
Reese and Raven didn’t speak as they moved. There was no one on the street, but they didn’t want to risk anyone overhearing them.
Reese glanced over his shoulder every once in a while as they walked, just to make sure Raven was keeping up and not struggling with his pace. She kept her head down as if she were a submissive servant and afraid to talk, something that seemed so strange to him since she’d been so strong the whole time. It was almost as if she was purposefully trying to take attention away from herself. And maybe she was. She’d been to a holder’s house before. She knew what to expect. Anticipating her next move was probably how she survived alone for as long as she had.
“There are three red doors,” Reese said with sudden frustration as they reached the main street. “Endel didn’t say anything about there being three red doors. And where is the iron horse?”
Raven kept her face tilted down. “We’ll go in the first door.”
“Why?”
“The first one is the right door. I…just feel it.”
“Feel it. Are you psychic?”
She didn’t answer his joke. He didn’t blame her. He was hungry and tired and didn’t feel like joking with anyone either.
They walked a few yards. He kept his eyes trained on that first red door, trying not to rush to it and bring attention to them. But Endel had said that once dinner was served, the holder would lock the doors. He didn’t want to miss it.
His gait was longer than Raven’s. But he wouldn’t force her to run. Running would only bring attention to them, even though no one was on the street. Someone might be watching from above.
Just as they reached the first door, he caught a glimpse of the iron horse etched into the wooden door as it swung open wide. Laughter from inside the room spilled out into the street, and three large men who were laughing about something filled the doorway and vestibule. For a split second, Reese wondered if they were at the right door. But the iron horse was clearly there, just like Endel had said it would be. It had to be the right door.
One of the men glanced down at Reese like his stepfather used to do when he was angry at him for doing something as simple as leaving his socks on the floor in the den.
Taken Raven’s lead, Reese kept his eyes focused down at the ground, and didn’t stare at the man or give into the urge to run.
“Sorry,” Reese said quietly.
The bigger of the three men took a step outside, and stared at Raven. Panic struck Reese hard in the chest when he realized it was one of the gnarly men from the scrap yard who’d chased them. He stood holding his breath, and waited for the other two men to move onto the street. Holding the door open, he let Raven walk into the vestibule first when he saw that it was safe and no one else was standing there.
The big guy with the evil stare looked over his shoulder and gave Reese a hard look again. Reese didn’t wait to see what he’d do. Endel said they would be safe here. They’d be treated like everybody else who was traveling in the city. It would do no good to get into an altercation with someone on the street now or make gnarly guy have a reason to stop them tomorrow when they left before second bell.
Reese watched the door float closed just to make sure the men didn’t follow him and Raven into the holder’s house.
Raven tugged on the sleeve of his blazer. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
But Reese didn’t let out a relieved breath until he heard the latch of the door lock in place.
Slowly, Reese and Raven walked into the room. Like everywhere else in the city, the room was almost entirely built of concrete and stone. Colorful empty bottles lined up along a shelf on the wall. A long, high banquet table commanded the center of the room. The table was made out of battered wood, most likely from the distress of so much use. But seeing wood after all this concrete seemed out of place. The stools up against the banquet table were covered in red velvet with black hammered nails. The walls, what wasn’t covered with bottles and mugs, were smooth in places and uneven in other places as if someone had slapped up cement when they were drunk and didn’t do a good job of making sure the job was done right.
“Well, look who we have here.”
It was a female voice, which immediately seemed odd. He hadn’t met any women, besides Raven, since he’d come to the underground city. Reese searched the room among the men to find the source of the woman’s voice and found it behind a long bar filled with food. The woman was older than his grandmother would’ve been had she lived long enough. But the voice sounded the same and it brought back memories of the teakettle whistling and picking fresh vegetables in her garden in the hot sunshine.
Reese never thought he’d miss sunshine. But in those moments where he was lost in memory, he did.
The woman was seated at the bar. But unlike any of the bars he’d seen in movies or pictures, there was no liquor behind it, and no bartender mixing drinks. He had no idea what was in the small drawers of the cabinet that sat hugged up against the concrete wall.
“It’s not often we have a female in here,” the old woman said with a smile. “Most of the time it’s just me and a bunch of smelly old men.”
That earned a rousing bit of laughter and protest from the men seated at the banquet table.
But the old woman laughed it off. “Oh, be quiet and eat your food.”
“Are you the holder?” Raven asked carefully.
“No,” she said. “I just help run the place. I’m guessing neither of you have eaten yet?”
Raven shook her head.
Nervous energy skirted through Reese’s veins. “She’s with me,” Reese said.
The old woman climbed down off the stool with more grace than he could’ve imagined was possible for a woman so old. “I can see that.”
She walked a few feet toward the table. They stayed on the far side of the room, far away from the men already eating. As the woman moved toward them, she picked up empty glasses and plates from the table and tucked them in the crook of her arm.
“I guess that means you haven’t eaten either,” she said, looking at Reese.
“No, ma’
am.”
Her eyebrows stretched far up her forehead and her eyes widened unnaturally. Reese wanted to laugh at how comical she looked but he feared it would only anger her. They didn’t need trouble.
Some of the people still seated at the table turned to look at them.
“Do we sit anywhere?” Raven asked.
The old woman pulled out two chairs away from the table at the place where she’d picked up the empty glasses and plates.
“These two seats will do. I’ll bring you both some dinner in a minute. Have a seat.”
Reese nodded. “Thank you.”
She started to turn, and then stopped, looking over her shoulder with amusement. “I haven’t gotten anything for you yet.”
“No, ma’am.”
This time she chuckled. It was something deep and guttural, and almost unnatural. Maybe even a little grotesque. “Dante, when was the last time we had anyone in here with manners? It’s quite refreshing.”
One of the men at the table stopped eating and turned to glare at Reese and Raven as if that somehow breached an unwritten code.
Raven quickly sat in the chair furthest to the end of the table. Reese took the seat next to the empty seat next to the man who’d just belched so loud it reverberated against the concrete walls.
When they were both seated, the man turned to him. He reeked of body odor and smelled of rotten eggs. Reese second-guessed his decision to sit here, but he didn’t want Raven to have to sit next to him. Reese could tell by the panicked look on Raven’s face that she was uncomfortable with being the only girl in the room.
“Never seen you two here before,” the man said accusingly.
“It’s my first time,” Reese said. “I usually stop in at the one on the other side of the city.”
The man frowned. “The one?”
Raven leaned forward, and turned to the man but kept her voice low. “Madame Hobbs place. I’m sure you know Madame Hobbs?”
