I was buried beneath bodies. Hands and claws scratched and dug for purchase. Spider-silk magic wrapped my fingers, my neck, my feet, choking, pulling, blinding.
I could hear the battle around me, even as I strained and struggled to drag myself out from under the creatures.
Danube snarled, throwing the Hush off like a wolf shaking off rain.
I tried to get a bead on Lu. She was a blur of deadly grace, moving faster than any human being, the blade painting red fire, Hush screaming as they extinguished into smoke and oil and darkness.
But no matter how fast she sliced, no matter how many creatures Danube fought, an endless stream of Hush poured down from above.
We couldn’t win here, couldn’t take a stand.
I wrenched my arm free, stabbed the lightning rod upward, and sent all my fury into the weapon. The lightning rod sizzled with silver magic.
“Run!” I yelled. Lightning arced from the weapon and exploded across the ceiling, illuminating a million hungry eyes. The Hush fell off me, screeching in pain.
Lu grabbed my shirt and hauled me to my feet. Her heat behind me was solid and real, her breath coming fast.
The lightning still pouring from the rod grew brighter—painfully bright—then broke with a smash of thunder.
Into that sudden darkness, we ran.
I could feel her—
—Lu—
—sprinting, her feet hitting stone and dust, dodging obstacles she could see, but I could not.
A flash to one side—quick and white—
—Abbi?—
—gone faster than I could track, running too, but not pacing us.
“Abbi.” I grunted as my shoulder crashed painfully into stone. I overcorrected, my damn tight shoes slid, and I slammed my hip into something on the other side. I swore. “Abbi ran. She’s lost.”
“We’ll find her,” Lu said over Danube’s growl which rose from behind me as he snarled and snapped at anything that drew close.
We ran.
I huffed air in and out of aching lungs, hit my arms, my thighs so many times I lost count. I stumbled over the uneven ground, wishing I’d listened to Lu and bought good shoes as she led us deeper, or maybe farther, hopefully farther out of the cavern.
A flash of white made me turn my head again, but it ducked away, disappeared before I could tell if it was Abbi, or the Hush trying to play us toward a trap. I thought I caught sight of her again, white hair, wide eyes, but she was smothered in darkness before I could even reach out for her.
We ran. Faster, though my lungs burned. Faster, though my legs shook. Faster, though panic and fear screamed through my mind.
Lu’s hand was tight in mine, my footsteps fell in the same rhythm as hers, my eyes stinging with sweat.
I thought I felt a wisp of wind—cool and green, the sigh of river and rain—then the air turned to dust and stone and sweat again.
Lu gasped, her grip jerked. I threw my weight backward, landing hard on my ass, one foot kicking out over the crumbling edge of stone she had almost fallen over.
“Stairs,” Lu grit out, pain in her voice. “Down.” She pulled. I stood, my free hand searching for a wall to one side and not finding it, my heart pounding in my ears.
“Fucking hate the dark,” I growled.
Lu squeezed my hand, already descending. The stairs jagged right, then left, then we were on a level platform.
“Out,” I said. “We need a way out.”
