“But there are no constructs right now,” Lys finished breathlessly. “Bex melted all of them!”
“I didn’t meltallof them,” Bex insisted.
“You must’ve melted enough,” Desh said, sweeping his arm down the dark, empty tunnel. “I don’t know what’s going on, but there hasn’t been a patrol through here in days. The warlocks are all too scared to come in themselves, so we’ve had the run of the place. Couldn’t ask for a better breeding ground for a rebellion.”
“He’s got a point,” Lys said, starting to sound excited. “This place should be seething like a kicked anthill after the chase we just led them on, but I can’t even hear the war demons yelling outside anymore. Listen.”
They were right. The other side of the fake wooden wall was silent, and the smile on Lys’s face got bigger.
“I think we’re in the middle of a golden opportunity,” they said. “Running into that prince was bad luck, but everything else we’ve seen has been just as shoestring as the war-demon kids outside said it’d be.”
“They could still be bringing reinforcements down from the Upper Hells,” Kirok cautioned. “But you’re right. Security has been shamefully sparse. During our approach to the tower,I didn’t even count the minimum number of patrols on the collection floor.”
“It’s been that way all week,” Desh said. “That’s why I had Streya keeping an eye on the tower. I figured if Heaven’s going to take their eyes off the ball, then we’re obligated to take advantage and get a few more of our people off the chains.”
“Exactly,” Lys said, spinning around to face Bex. “I know you were worried about our disguises, but what if we didn’tneeddisguises? What if we were able to walk right up those stairs into Heaven because every warlock in the tower wassomewhere else?”
“Where else would they be?” Bex asked, confused.
“Attempting to do their jobs,” Lys replied with a grin. “Imagine what would’ve happened if we’d been inside that tower after the princess bolted. The whole office would’ve been in chaos! Forget bullying our way through. I bet we could’ve walked right up the stairs without so much as a second glance.”
“You’re talking about a distraction,” Iggs said.
“I’m talking about the biggest distraction there is,” Lys replied, pointing at Bex. “You heard Desh just now. The whole Middle Hells are buzzing about the Queen of Wrath. Now, imagine she shows up and says ‘riot!’ This whole place would go up like a powder keg. What’s left of the security force would be completely overwhelmed, leaving no one to stopusfrom scooting up to Heaven and getting everything we came here for.”
“And then we could come back down toactuallyset everyone free,” Iggs finished excitedly. “That’s a great idea!”
“No, it’s not,” Bex growled, clenching her one remaining fist. “I’m not using a bunch of starving, desperate slaves as a distraction. Even if they were willing to help, I can’t ask them to fight for me when they’re still chained to the floor. It’d be a massacre.”
Lys’s face fell, but Desh was snapping his fingers like he’d just come up with something grand.
“What if they weren’t chained?” he asked as the grin returned to his face. “If it’s a distraction you’re after, I know where there’s a bunch of demons whoaren’tcollared and who’ll definitely want to fight.”
“Are they in the Hells?” Lys asked skeptically. “Because that sounds too good to be true.”
“There’s a pretty big catch,” Desh admitted as his eyes flicked over the crowd to where Nemini was hanging at the back. “But I think we might have a way around. Here, follow me, and I’ll show you what I mean.”
Bex still wasn’t sure, but Desh had already scooped Streya onto his shoulders and started jogging down the dark tunnel with his lantern. Iggs took off after him at once. After a long hesitation, Lys did as well, tapping the bottom of Bran’s broom to let Boston, who’d been ignoring the demons this whole time in favor of fiddling with his tiny leaf-version of Adrian, know they were moving. Kirok stayed put, clearly waiting for Bex to start moving before he did, but Bex was staring over her shoulder at the only member of their invasion team who’d yet to offer an opinion.
“Nemini?” she called softly, reaching back toward the void demon, who still hadn’t budged from the shadows where they’d entered. “You good?”
Nemini didn’t reply. She’d been weirdly quiet since they’d arrived in the Hells, even for her. Bex was about to walk over and just ask what was wrong when Nemini pushed off the stone and padded after the others, her snake-headed figure slipping in and out of sight like a shadow in the flickering light of Desh’s tiny lantern.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bex hadn’t seriously considered the incredible feat that was the Founders’ Tunnels until she was walking down them. She’d thought it’d be a few back doors and connectors, but the tunnels went on forever.
They also went everywhere. They weren’t just a ring around the outside that let demons move behind the cliffside hovels without being seen. The secret tunnels went down as well, burrowing into the stone beneath the flooded sin-collection floor. The bolts that anchored the slave chains actually stuck through the ceiling in places, and there was sin-filled river water dripping everywhere. It looked like a cave-in waiting to happen, but Desh led them around every danger like an old pro, keeping the pace and pointing out all the places that were good for making camp and hiding out.
Most of these had demons in them already. Just like Desh had said earlier, there were whole camps of escapees down here. They all waved at Desh and Streya and gawked at the newcomers, but no one seemed to recognize Bex without her horns.
Bex was fine with that. It was hard enough being crownless around demons who already knew her. Having to introduce herself to a bunch of desperate, starving slaves as the Savior Queen Who Couldn’t Actually Do Anything Yet might have broken her.
Just thinking about it dragged Bex dangerously close to the empty pit left by the loss of her name. The fall Nemini had helped her climb out of was always lurking at the back of her mind, but Bex stayed out of it by stubbornly reminding herself that, even after their failure at the tower, she was still doing better than any Queen of Wrath before her. None of the other Rebexas had ever made it even close to the Hells. She just had to push a little farther, be a little cleverer, and she could snatch herstolen power back from Gilgamesh and return to being a queen who was strong enough to actually help people.
Just thinking about coming back to right all the wrongs she’d seen since they arrived was the bonfire that kept Bex moving. She was still imagining all the ways she’d smash this horrible place the second she was strong enough when Desh finally came to a halt.
“Here we are,” he said, gesturing at a stretch of tunnel that—to Bex’s eyes, at least—looked exactly the same as all the others they’d walked past. “This is the place, right?”
