“You were slung over my shoulders like a backpack,” Cato says with a smirk.
“I held your ass from underneath, though,” Bash adds.
I scoff. “So generous of you.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” Bash retorts.
“You can do it again if you want,” I tease as I bump him with my shoulder. “Go down the creepy hole first, then you can support me on my way down.”
Bash snickers as we glance down the opening. “You want me to carry you when you’re perfectly capable of climbing this time?”
I grin, shaking my head as I gesture at his hands. “Not carry me… just like, hold me up with your hands. Make me a little throne so I don’t have to use so much energy.”
“Fucking princess,” he mutters with a chuckle. His hand snakes around my waist, and he tugs me closer. “You want a throne, babygirl? I’ll give you a throne.”
“Can it be your face?” I ask.
Bash wheezes an embarrassed laugh, his cheeks darkening in that endearing flush.
Cato gags loudly on my other side. “I will doliterallyanything to get away from this conversation.”
“Do like I suggested weeks ago and jump out the window,” I respond with a cheery smile.
“Now that you mention it, that’s the better choice,” Cato says, turning to walk towards the stairs and calling back over his shoulder. “Go on without me. I’ll take my chances with gravity and the raid teams in the streets.”
“Sounds great!” I say with a fluttering wave.
Bash sighs as if he’s questioning his life choices. “Are you two done yet?”
I press another quick kiss on his cheek. “Yeah, I’ll be a good boy now.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Cato groans.
I can’t help my grin as I grab the sides of the concrete floor and lower myself onto the ladder. My gaze falls past the others and lands on Nelly, and she’s serene as she waves. Before I can convince myself to go to her and get one more taste of that motherly affection, I move down the rungs.
The dim lighting of the basement is replaced by blackness. My vision takes a moment to adjust, and I glance around the unfamiliar pathways. It’s strange knowing I was carried through these arched tunnels with no recollection of being moved, but I don’t have time to dwell on it as Bash follows me down the ladder. The others follow, and Bash takes my hand.
“No flashlights, boys,” Ego says as she takes the lead. “We don’t know if they’re monitoring the sewers, and we can’t risk someone seeing from outside.”
Sakane walks with Ego, occasionally referencing the maps of our planned escape route. It’s nerve-wracking knowing we won’t hear footsteps over the sound of the alarms, so we’re cautious around every corner. Any time we pass an access point, we listen for voices and watch for shifting shadows, but as far as we can tell, we’re alone down here.
We walk in silence for an hour before we come to a stop in front of a door.
“Here’s where we have to be careful,” Ego says, like we haven’t gone over the plan a dozen times already. I pay attention obediently, though, fully aware of the consequences of a mistake.
“This door goes into the bottom level of a parking garage. It’s busier than I’d like, but used by civilians and not military. There are no lights, so stick to the shadows and we should be fine. Four blocks east, there’s an entrance to the old subway system. It’s guarded, but if we time it right, we should be able to slip in without being seen. From there it’s a pretty straight shot to our exit.”
Heads bob in understanding, and Ego twists the key in the lock. It clicks open, and sirens assault our ears as she cracks the door. Moonlight casts a sliver of light across the beanie covering her blue hair, and she sticks her head out to glance around. After a moment, she waves for the rest of us to follow.
A few cars are parked on this underground level, but there are no pedestrians in sight. Cato slides his cap on, but there’s nothing I can do to camouflage my horns. My hair is parted to fall in my face and hide the eyepatch, but the shadows are my only real disguise.
We edge along the concrete walls as we climb the slope to the main level, then hop over the half wall into the alley beyond.
There are a few people loitering, even at this late hour. A human couple glances in our direction and stares at me a little too intently, but after a pause, they decide they’re not interested.
Ego leads us through a few turns between the tall buildings, and stops to peel one of her wanted posters off the wall with a grin before moving along. She peers around the corner of our next path, but whips back and charges for the group.
“Hide!” she whisper-shouts, and we turn and scramble the way we came.
