“Yeah, of course,” Esme said, giving her a confused look. “He’s my brother. Why wouldn’t he believe me? In fact, Isaac was so sure I was right, he’s the one who insisted we start looking for other supernatural creatures. It’s why he stayed here in LA with me, so we could look for them together. He’s the real reason we joined up with Owen and Maya.”
Jenna felt like she’d been punched in the gut. She told herself that what had happened between Esme and her brother was completely different from the situation with Connor, but in the end, she knew it wasn’t. Esme’s brother had believed her totally and without hesitation when she’d claimed to see something strange and impossible. Jenna’s brother had called her insane—and then abandoned her. Jenna was glad the tunnels were so dark, so Esme and Maya couldn’t see the tears welling up in her eyes.
Fortunately, the hole in the floor of the tunnel they almost fell through a few minutes later served to get Jenna’s head back in the game, distracting her enough so that she stopped thinking about trading brothers with Esme.
“There’s a chalk mark right beside the hole,” Maya said. She looked kind of pale, even in thebright light from their headlamps. “This is definitely the way they went.”
Jenna leaned over to peek into the hole, her light illuminating the tight confines of the passage underneath. The idea of crawling through that tunnel on her hands and knees made her want to hyperventilate all over again.
Until Maya jumped down in the hole without warning, quickly disappearing from sight. Jenna followed before she could chicken out.
The passage under the sewer tunnel was as bad as she’d thought it would be and more than a little hard on her jean-clad knees. But Esme and Maya kept up a nonstop dialogue of their life here in LA, their jobs, things they’d gotten into with HOPD, and guys—lots and lots about guys. Esme and Maya seemed to follow the maxim thatwhen in doubt, ask him out.
But the endless conversation served its purpose. Before Jenna even realized it, the tunnel was large enough for them to stand up and walk. Admittedly, there was another moment of panic when they reached a Y intersection in the tunnel, two passages leading off into the darkness, both with chalk marks scratched on the walls.
“Which way should we go?” Jenna whispered, looking from the blue mark on the rightmost passage to the white mark on the left. It was obvious the guys had split up, but she had no idea whichdirection Trevor would have gone. It struck her then that almost the entirety of her concern was for Trevor. She still loved her brother, regardless of him being a dumbass, but her first thought was still for the man she’d just met. She knew that meant something monumental, though she wasn’t sure what.
“I can’t believe they split up,” Esme whispered. “It’s like they’re begging to get eaten. Isaac, at least, should know better.”
Jenna went back and forth with Esme and Maya about which way they should go, but in the end, they decided that all they could do was pick a passage at random and hope for the best.
“You’re the reason we’re down here, Jenna, so you should pick,” Maya said, Esme nodding her agreement. “We go with whatever your instincts decide.”
Jenna took a deep breath. “Then we go right,” she said, refusing to second-guess her choice. She was going to find Trevor, and he would be completely fine.
“Do either of you hear something?” Esme asked a few dozen feet later, holding up a hand and slowing them. “Maybe it’s just background noise from being so deep underground, but it sounds like someone banging on pots.”
Jenna listened and thought that maybe she heard…something. But she couldn’t determine what it might be.
Esme shook her head. “It’s probably nothing. Let’s keep going. The sooner we find them, the sooner we can get out of this creepy place.”
The tunnel floor began to slope immediately, which actually made traveling easier, though Jenna wasn’t thrilled at the idea of how much more difficult it would be to walk back up the hill. But the thought of doing it with Trevor helped.
Small openings began to appear here and there in the side walls of the tunnel, like wormholes in an apple core, and Jenna had the unsettling sensation that there werethingsin those openings…watching them.
The uncomfortable feeling continued to build until Jenna could practically feel it on her skin. A second later, she almost screamed out loud as a figure came running up on them from lower down in the tunnel, flashlight flailing around wildly. She jerked her bat above her shoulder, ready to pummel whatever it might be, even as a little voice in the back of her head pointed out that a ghoul probably wouldn’t be using a flashlight.
Jenna realized it was Owen barely a second before she hit him with her bat. He pulled up short, a hand coming up to block the glare of light coming from her headlamp.
“What are you guys doing down here?” he demanded, swinging his flashlight around to point at Esme and Maya. “Forget it. We don’t have time to talk. We have to get out of here…now!”
Jenna immediately felt a tremor of panic as every instinct screamed that Trevor was in trouble. Esme and Maya must have picked up on the tension because they started peppering Owen with one question after another.
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asked, cutting the other two women off and taking a step closer to Owen so he was forced to look only at her. “Is Trevor in trouble?”
For a second, she thought Owen was going to lie, but then he sighed. “The ghouls know we’re here. Trevor and Hale are farther down the tunnel, trying to hold them off. We need to leave while we still can.”
Jenna turned before the man had even finished, ready to take off running in Trevor’s direction. But then Maya screamed. Jenna spun around to see her staring back the way they’d come, her headlamp illuminating the tunnel behind them—and the three ghouls crawling out of those small holes in the walls she’d seen minutes earlier.
She stilled at the sight of the creatures oozing out of the wall, their big eyes reflecting the light of Maya’s headlamp, mouths spread wide to display fangs dripping with saliva. This was now the third time Jenna had seen these things, but the sight of them still had the power to terrify her into complete immobility.
Then the first of the creatures dropped to thefloor and began to advance toward them, claw-tipped hands reaching for them.
Jenna’s insides froze solid.
Then Maya stepped forward and swung her bat at the thing. The creature let out a horrible shriek as the aluminum weapon bounced off its head. The ghoul didn’t seem hurt exactly, but it was definitely surprised—and pissed.
A split second later, it got to its feet and charged at them.
