Fair enough. Exactly what I’d be doing too.
I’d already mapped out three possible extraction routes if Evelene pulled through. This was just the waiting part.
“Okay,” I nodded, still a little reluctant. “You good for this now though?”
She hooked her thumb over her shoulder toward the cot and gave a tight smile. “You don’t need to worry, I’ve already slept. Come on, let’s get to it.”
Petra, the Vaduvas’ head hunter, had a map spread out on the rugged floor of the cavern. Thanks to Mom, Wes Zhang had survived his horrific injuries the fateful night she’d been abducted. Unfortunately, my father’s second-in-command had been traveling in one of the SUVs that had plummeted from the sky. Soon after Wes’s recovery, my father appointed him as his new Second in our covert war to find my mother. So, it was rather fitting that Wes had designated his son, Jiao, as my Second on this mission to capture Yezekael.
Jiao and Petra squatted down together, scouring the scratches of additional outlines made to the map of what had been searched that night, and identifying what unknown areas of the subterranean tunnels we should explore next.
Petra rose, rolling the map up, her palms a warm tawny contrast to the deeper brown of her skin. As she approached, Mela’s flashlight coated Petra in filmy light and brushed over the silver dusting her springy hair tied back into a dense ponytail. The older woman fixed sharp eyes on me, and it was impossibleto tell if she genuinely liked me or not—or anyone, really, with the permanent grim expression she wore—until her mouth tugged up into a wide smile that rounded her cheeks feathered with fine lines. “Where’s your grumpy prick of a father?”
I flicked the tips of my fingers over my mouth to tame the grin.‘Grumpy prick’was the only name Petra referred to him as. I shrugged. “Still out of state on business.”
My father liked Petra immensely. Years ago, she and House Vaduva had battled alongside him at the Servants’ Dance to thwart a Horned God who had awoken starved and in a half-dreaming state preyed on those at the dance. The very same Horned God my brother was hoping would soon arrive at the Emporium—Jurgana.
Jett hoped to pique Jurgana’s curiosity so she would demand a Goods Appraisal. Only then, if the Butcher deemed Nelle’s qualities sufficient during the appraisal, would he offer us an official invitation to the Witches Ball.
Petra murmured aharrumphbefore saying, “He’s missing out on all the fun.” She turned to address my team, and they made their way to the edge of the vast chasm.
The quickest way was fast-roping down the chasm to get to a lower floor, rather than working our way through the rabbit warren of tunnels and crudely cut stairs. Once we reached the bottom of the crevasse, we’d travel deeper into the subterranean bowels of the earth, where creatures lurked more fearsome than krekenns. Stone Eaters were down there. Great serpents that chewed through rock.
The eerie sound of scuttling had my gaze swinging wide, and I kept a close lookout for krekenns crawling about the jagged cavern walls. Hoisting my backpack over my shoulders, I tightened the straps, then tugged leather gloves on. The darkness here was as smothering and timeless as the Uzrek. Iwas curious to see if the ancient beast was going to leaf through my mind like it had the last few times I’d been down here.
I shifted to the edge of the chasm with Mela. The tips of my boots halted at its crumbled edge, and I peered down into endless black, broken only by the fluttering swarm of dragonflies to illuminate the darkness for our men and women as they descended the ropes.
Some long-ago cataclysmic event had torn a hole right through the honeycombed tomb. It was a vast crack, and silent but for the quiet murmuring of our team, the creak of rope, and a rattle of rockfall in the distance.
Petra followed everyone else down, but I hung back so I could talk in private. Mela raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “What is it?”
Stone gritted beneath my boots as I shifted to face her. I breathed deeply and spoke directly. “I need your help.”
Her dark brown eyes seemed to sparkle as if she’d been biding her time awaiting this moment. “Is this what we spoke about the first time we were down here?”
I nodded, and she grinned, a quick flash of warmth and amusement surfacing, a brief reminder of the person she used to be before grief and worry over Elyse had subdued her natural easy-going charm. “Whatever trouble you’re in, I’m here to help you get out of it.”
I dropped my gaze to my boots, gratefulness and utter relief overwhelming me. The word croaked from my thickening throat. “Thanks.”
“Tell me what I can do,” she urged softly.
Clearing my throat, I reached for the rope, grabbed hold, and pushed off the edge of the chasm, swinging over the abyss to hitch my feet around the thick cord. I eased downward, and Mela mirrored me, keeping pace on the cord opposite. The hovering cloud of iridescent dragonflies kept at bay the pitch-black nothingness that threatened to devour us whole. Theirradiance wove about us in streaks of gauzy, jeweled hues, catching briefly on Mela’s golden necklace, the oval pendant having slipped free of her armor to swing against her collarbone. As we descended, making our way deeper into the abyss, I spoke quietly and Mela listened closely, asking a few questions every so often as to what I needed from her to make this work. To make it right.
41
Nelle
Jett’s hand slipped from my mouth just as the adamere walls slammed together with a resoundingthud.
I stared at the seamless black barrier. My chance of finding Zrenyth’s Mites, gone with it. Despair sank heavily into my soul, a gray nothingness whispering that everything was lost.
Jett lowered me to the ground. Rough stone met my toes as he stepped back, circling me in silence. The overhead lights flickered erratically.
I turned to face him.
It was quiet, so quiet, but for my heart drumming in my ears.
Menacing shadows caressed Jett’s lean physique as he stared with contempt. A few errant strands of hair, damp with perspiration, framed sharp cheekbones. His calculating gaze flicked to the sealed doors, then back to me. “What are you doing here? Trying to sneak into the barracks to find a weapon?”
