“We don’t have a choice.” Clutching her wrist, I tugged her to follow me down the tunnel. A slightly sweet odor invaded my nostrils, and something fleshy crunched under my boot, the bug’s remains sticking to my sole.
“But he—” Kali halted. “Never mind. We have another issue right now—getting lost. Rowan said these catacombs spread under the whole city.”
“We can’t go back. The soldiers…” I gulped down the idea ofhimdealing with the swarm of the military alone. “They’ll catch up to us. But the cavern is not far from here. We took two left turns from there to here, so I can lead us back to it. And then?—”
“Okay.” Her acquiescence bounced off the narrow walls. “Let’s go.”
Speechless, we took the first right turn, and the tunnel widened, its sides smooth and devoid of any niches filled with skeletons—altars to the dead.
A screech of not-oiled-in-centuries hinges pierced footfalls, the harsh noise traveling all the way to our nail beds.
“Was that…” Her flashlight’s streaks coloring our path quivered.
The catacombs’ door. Someone had found their way in.
Refusing to consider the possibilities, I muttered, “Hurry.”
We bolted, taking another right turn and falling in line as the passage narrowed. The rhythmic beat of a pair of feet chasing us drenched the space.
We burst into the cavern, the lanterns ringing the chamber put out except for one at the far side?—
“Carys!” Kali dashed straight for the girl rising on her toes and reaching for the lantern hanging on the wall.
The short, scrawny woman gaped at us, her hand hovering inches away from the lantern’s handle. So Carys was the one who’d spoken about Alora and pledged to follow Kali in our uprising.
Or more like the desolation we were set upon unleashing.
“Ah, what— What are you guys doing here?” she asked, lowering back onto her heels. The quivering flame behind the glass highlighted her shock. “Where’s Rowan?”
“Dead,” I stated. Barely reaching my chest, Carys tilted her head back, her blonde eyebrows drawing tight. Her mouth parted, but before her questions could see the light of day, I rushed out, “Can you lead us outside the city?”
“I…” She glanced at the five shadowed exits out of the cavern, one of which we’d emerged from, one a path outside the city gates, and three others—a labyrinth of death. “Well, I have a map.” Rummaging in her cross-body bag, Carys pulled out a piece of crumpled paper, a collection of lines strewn across it. “Most of us do. It’s too easy to lose your way if you miss a turn.”
“Great.” Kali puffed a breath, and the candle’s flame diminished. The wick’s glow gradually ebbed, consumed by the darkness—the creature stalking the halls of its underground dominion.
A round blob of silver fell onto the limestone ground as Kali flicked on her flashlight once more. Crumbs of dirt from hundreds of shoes cast thousands of tiny shadows on each other.
“Where to?” she asked, our ears poised for any nearing footfalls.
But nothing but a crinkle of paper disturbed the hush as Carys unfolded the hand-drawn map. Tracing the multitude of lines, she settled on tapping a spot where five tunnels interconnected. “We need to take the fourth exit from our left.”
“Lead the way.” Flanking her new friend, Kali raised the flashlight to her shoulder, dispersing up the gloom prowling the expanse.
We delved into the passage, marching down its length before turning right, left, right, right, and left again, the walls identical wherever we went, the skulls measuring us up as we passedthem, the piles of femurs the few bones who’d survived the decaying process.
The scuff of our shoes against the stone marked the long minutes that ticked by, our chats scarce, save to clarify a turn or two before taking them.
Eventually, we emerged in a long stretch of a tunnel, not a curve or a bend, and Carys spoke up. “This is where I leave you. The map says this passage should take you outside Ilasall.”
Kali pulled Carys into an embrace, tucking the woman’s head under her chin. “Will you be okay?” She cupped Carys’s face, searching her expression. “Won’t your partner notice your absence? It’s after curfew.”
The green band encircling Carys’s wrist served as a statement that she was owned by a man—her Match.
“He’s with his friends. It’s their weekly night out. He won’t return until early morning, so I’ll be perfectly fine. I’ll just follow this”—she raised the map—“to go back.”
“Are you sure?” Kali stepped back, glancing at the maze we’d left behind. “Everyone left you all alone in that cavern.”
“They didn’t leave me. It was mine and Arlo’s turn to clean up after the meeting. He let me off the hook the last time, so I did the same tonight.” Carys pointed to the source of light Kali had propped in her armpit. “But I could use your flashlight, if you don’t mind. It’s kind of hard to see in the dark.”
