“It’s me! I grabbed Pierce and we took a potion to keep us invisible, you all need to come to my room right now. We’re getting out of here.”
I can feel the pressure of a hand on my forearm yanking me to follow.
“Is this some sort of trick?” My eyes search for where she should be.
“No. I don’t know how long this potion will last, now let’s go.”
I let myself get led out of my room, Garrison and Emmet close behind. We slink through the castle, following the route to Salem’s chambers, attempting to look as nonchalant as possible. Nodding to the passing servants to not draw attention, just like we’ve done every day since we’ve been stuck down here. They seem too entrenched in their work to pay us any attention thankfully, and we make it to her corridor without incident. That is until we see the two guards stationed outside of her door.
“Fuck.” I whisper under my breath.
“Can we help you?” The guards face off, blocking the way to Salem’s door.
“Just here to see Salem.” I say trying to sound confident while the guards look at each other. I wonder what their orders are. If we’re allowed to see her freely and why guards are even needed.
“All three of you?” One says with an eyebrow raise and a hint of judgement to his tone. I see a shimmery outline of where Salem is starting to form and my heart plummets to my stomach. She’ll become fully formed soon.
“Yeah, is that a problem?” Emmet asks, folding his arms over his chest, getting the guards attention on him and not the quickly forming Salem and Pierce behind her.
“Alright, head on in.” The one guard says after a beat.
I breathe a sigh of relief and try to use my body to block Pierce and Salem’s reappearance as I push through the door. We all get in without them seeing and close the door immediately. My back rests against to wood.
“What the actual fuck happened?” I growl out as both Pierce and Salem flicker before us until they’re completely solid.
“We need to get out of here.” Salem asks, running around the room to grab her things.
“Well how are we going to do that?” Garrison asks. “There are guards right outside your door. It’s not like we can walk out of the front door.”
“Come with me.” Salem says running through the bathroom and onto the connecting closet. “I found this earlier. I can’t be sure where it leads, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if we follow it, it will take us out of here. I can feel it in my gut. But if it doesn’t work, we’ll just come back here and come up with another plan.”
She pushes a large garment out of the way, revealing a hidden door. “What the fuck, you just feel it in your gut?” Emmet asks. “I’m not feeling like pissing off the God of the Underworld today, or ever, thank you very much.”
“Typical, Emmet.” Pierce says, hands on hips with a look of disdain at our fellow fraternity brother. I don’t blame him. Emmet hasn’t been the most loyal to us, always looking for whatever best serves his interests.
Salem narrows her eyes at Emmet, “Can I trust you to be with us? Don’t you want to go home?”
“The only thing that’s waiting for me at home is an angry father and the rest of the society’s board. They’ll kill us for what we did. I’m in no hurry to experience their wrath.”
“And what about my wrath?” Salem asks, her fury painted clearly on her face as she squares up to Emmet in this closet full of expensive gowns. A closet meant for a princess. “We don’t belong down here.”
“Ah, but you do. Hades is your dad. Your father is the literal king of the Underworld, making you, his princess.” Emmet spits back. “You have a rightful place here.”
“You say that like it has any bearing on what I want for my own life. I don’t want it. He abandoned me and had the chance to know me and passed. The only rightful place I want, is one I choose for myself. Not because of what’s expected, or because of who I happen to be related to. You’re either with me or you can stay and play house with my so called father who hasn’t ever been there for me and probably can’t even name my favorite color. You’d be well suited for each other. Both of you turned out to be a massive disappointment to me.”
Emmet takes a step back like Salem just slapped him. I have half a mind to punch him square across the face. We’ll deal with the consequences of our actions once we get out of this place.
“Fine. Let’s go.” Emmet says after a moment, grabbing a candle off the wall and stepping into the tunnel.
We follow behind, staying close to the wall since there is a sheer drop to who knows where on the edge. The candlelight flickers just enough light for us to see a few feet ahead of where we’re headed. It’s silent except for our breathing and steps on the stones.
This path could lead straight to the bowels of hell, and I would still follow wherever Salem wants me to. She has my heart in a way that no other has come close to. I watch as we take a turn around the corner, cresting closer to a small opening in the wall. Hopefully, it leads us out of this place and closer to where we belong.
CHAPTER22
Chapter Twenty-Two
SKYE
