He didn't say another word but simply turned on his heel and stalked off. His companions gave me one last glance before following. I rolled my eyes but hastened to catch up, more eager to get away from the infuriating temple and its priest than anything else.
“What happened?” I asked, guessing that Tiberius’ dark mood was about more than my abandoning my assignment for the day.
“A cave in,” he replied, jaw clenched.
“Which tunnel—”
“Not one of the ones that go to Sanctuary.”
I froze so suddenlyRoibenhad to halt as well to avoid running into me. He muttered an annoyed curse under his breath before sidestepping me and walking on.
“If it doesn’t go to Sanctuary,” I started, blinking in shock at the potential implications, “where does it go?”
Tiberius hesitated enough to turn back to me. A muscle in his jaw twitched but he just shook his head and kept walking, not bothering to answer my question.
Newfound curiosity spurring me on, I hastened to follow, catching up to him and the others quickly enough. I didn’t bother asking any more questions. I could tell, by the set of Tiberius’ shoulders and his imperious mood this afternoon, they wouldn’t be answered anyway. So I kept my thoughts to myself and followed the hulking supervisors through the halls of the upper floors and back to the elevator bay.
The crowd parted the moment we approached, women pulling their wide-eyed children out of the way as men muttered questions about what sort of task might require four supervisors to attend to, and Fallen at that. Tiberius ignored them all, his gaze firmly on the elevator doors as we waited for them to open.
Those already in the elevator crowded to the sides to admit us. I settled in at the back, staring up at the backs of the tall men before me. Cocking my head to the side, I noticed a tattoo on the back ofRoiben’sneck, barely visible above his collar. A whirling pattern encapsulated in what appeared to be a thin spiderweb. I stood on my tiptoes for a better look at it but, before I could look any closer, the elevator dinged and the doors whooshed open and we were striding into the dark hallway beyond.
Cursing myself for getting so distracted I hadn't glanced at what floor we were going to, I followed. But Tiberius and his men didn't turn toward the residences, nor did they walk straight toward whatever specialty this level held. Instead, they turned away from both, going in the third direction, the one I'd learned from Roxy and her brother sometimes held common areas and spaces for conviviality on some levels.
Level four held a bar that utilized the grains their agriculture produced to create liquor only slightly better than what the Finnegan brothers brewed. Level eight sometimes threw parties.There was supposedly a restaurant of some sort on level two. I'd never gone to any of them but I knew now that this level was none of those because beyond the dimly lit passages of the elevator bay, there was nothing. Just pure, thick darkness so complete I stumbled over a loose stone and nearly fell face first onto the ground below.
“Adjust your vision,” Tiberius growled the reminder.
I blinked rapidly, urging my senses to make the leap into the supernatural capabilities theGeisthad “blessed” me with. Dante and I had practiced with our enhanced senses enough that a simple thing like night vision should have been easy for me. Unfortunately, I'd neglected my so-called “blessings” ever since I'd arrived in the Underground, choosing instead to put them behind me and do the best I could to forget about them as I'd done with everything else having to do with the infernal Trials and the partner who'd betrayed me. It took me longer to adjust than the others but, once I did, I found myself striding through the darkened tunnel just as easily as they did.
Roiben’sstride was easy ahead of me. He didn't even turn to see if I was following, just stayed on the heels of his leader, eyes straight ahead.Mosihung back beside me and seemed to breathe a breath of relief when I began walking faster, more sure of myself, when I'd obviously managed what they'd all accomplished instantaneously.
I followed along, eyes sweeping the corridor around me. Smaller stones skittered beneath our feet as we walked and kicked them along. The stone here was not the charcoal gray of the mines or the lighter gray of the upper levels. It was black and shimmering in a way that made it appear oily on its surface. I could tell, from the massive cracks running along the walls from floor to ceiling and branching off in all directions, this was likely not the first cave in this level had experienced.
We stopped so suddenly I nearly collided withRoiben’sback. The man’s lip curled as he stepped away from me. Once he moved, I could see why we'd stopped. The path forward no longer existed. It was blocked entirely by enormous chunks of the same oily black rock that seemed to make up the walls around us.
The cave in was recent. The dust still hadn’t settled. It rose up in plumes around us, encasing the fallen rock and the corridor before it.Mosicoughed, waving an arm in front of his face and stepping back as if trying to avoid soiling his uniform. Pointless, I thought, if I had any indication of what Tiberius intended.
As it turned out, I was right.
“We’ll use our enhanced strength to lift the boulders out of the way. Then the miners will come up here and use the material we can salvage to repair the walls,” he announced, eyes swinging from his men to me as he issued his orders. “Youcanuse your enhanced strength, yes?”
I crossed my arms and shot him a scowl that used to have Warren raising his hands in surrender.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” I snapped.
“Somehow,” Roiben muttered.
My gaze jumped to him, lips already opening, poised to respond.
“Let’s get to work,” Tiberius said, interrupting our argument before it could begin. “This tunnel grows weaker the longer we wait. The sooner we can repair it, the better.”
Without any further argument, we stepped forward as one and began our work in silence. I clenched my fists, willing the strength within me to infuse my limbs the way Dante and I had practiced. Gritting my teeth against the very thought of my former partner, I reached for one of the looser boulders before me and pulled.
And so we worked, speaking only when it was necessary to communicate which boulders should be removed and in what order. If we pulled too much from the bottom, we risked the top collapsing on top of us. ButMosiand I were the only ones small enough to scrabble up to the top of the pile in order to toss stones down to the other two to set aside. That process was slow going as well and I found myself wiping sweat from my brow, dirt and dust streaking across my face, despite my enhanced abilities.
Hours later, we'd cleared enough of the central stones to have created a path for the miners to join us. They sorted through the rock we’d set aside, making piles of their own as they decided what could still be usable and what was far too old and disintegrated to assist in any repairs. It was a small team of them, only five that I counted. I couldn’t help but wonder why Tiberius hadn’t recruited more for the repairs. If it was as important to get them finished completely, as he'd said, wouldn’t more workers finish the job faster?
I scrambled up the pile on the right side of the path we'd cleared, still wondering about Tiberius' choice of workers. Tiberius himself waited at the bottom for whatever stones I would pass down for him. He was currently turned away, addressing the miners working below.Mosiwas opposite me, balancing precariously on the thinning pile of rocks to the left of the pathway, passing down stone after stone to scowlingRoiben.
