Chapter 26 #2
Topaz returns to her full height, one snake draped across her shoulders and another coiled around her waist. “You said there’s a coal chute in that other room?”
“I think so,” Leo replies.
“Then come on.” She snatches the phone from Rime and shoves him to the door. “They told me how to get down there.”
They? Oh, the snakes.
We’re taking orders from snakes.
I don’t know whether to be grateful or terrified.
Avery stands in the doorway, arms folded and one brow arched. “You want us to climb up where?”
“The chute,” Rime answers matter-of-factly.
Topaz’s voice echoes, her head and shoulders stuffed up the crumbling hole in the wall, “The snakes said there’s a way in through here.” She backs out, flicking a cobweb off her shoulder. “It looks like there’s some sort of hatch up there.”
The bad news? We have to crawl up a coal chute. The good news? There are no snakes in this room.
“Um.” Aaron clears his throat. “I’m no expert on coal chutes, but aren’t they pretty narrow?”
We all eye Rime’s broad shoulders and long legs. Frankly, Leo’s not much smaller, and Aaron, although slim, is as tall as Rime. I’m not calling the fire department to chisel two faeries and a musician out of a coal chute.
Topaz shrugs. “I fit. So would Betts.” Her gaze drops to Avery’s chest. “You, however—”
Avery smirks. “I’m not scared to go in there, but if it means squishing the girls, count me out.”
Biting back a chuckle, Leo steps to Topaz’s side and shines his phone light up the chute. “Boost me,” he tells her.
I gasp in sudden panic. “Wait!” He’ll get stuck. He’ll suffocate.
Rime shoots out an arm, blocking me from getting to him. “He’s fine.”
I throw him off, but he grabs me and holds me back.
Leo grunts as he pulls himself up, dust and chips of mortar showering the floor where just a moment ago he stood. I hold my breath and watch him disappear, the chute slurping him up like a hungry monster.
A metallic clang, as low and loud as a gong, sounds throughout the room, making me jump and gripping my throat with dread. “Leo?!” I twist, trying to pry Rime’s hands off my waist.
“Wait!” he hisses. “Just wait!”
“I’m going,” Topaz announces. Aaron steps up to help her, lifting her just enough for her to get a grip on something—god only knows what—up in the chute, then shining his phone light to help her see.
The gong rings out again, followed by Topaz’s voice, “It’s wide, but the drop is steep. ” Another clang, then silence.
But what about Leo?
I shove out of Rime’s hold. “I’m going next.”
“Whatever you wish, a ghrá.” He all but picks me up and rams me up the chute. I’ll bet he wishes there was a trash compactor on the other side.
The chute isn’t as steep as I was expecting it to be, and once my knees are inside, I’m able to crawl further up, about halfway to the top, where it becomes steeper and where I feel the frame of a hatch underneath me.
Apparently, this coal chute was designed to serve both rooms. The hatch door, as rusty and heavy as an old cast-iron skillet, fights me as I push on it, ready to snap shut as soon as I let go.
But eventually, I’m able to pry it open enough to allow a sliver of light to reach my eyes.
“Who’s coming?” Leo’s voice.
“Me. Betts.”
“Hold on. There’s about a ten-foot drop to the ground. Come slowly, and I’ll catch you.”
Heart pounding and eyes gritty with dust, I push my feet through the door, its weight threatening to cut my legs off like a guillotine.
“Watch the door,” Leo warns.
Yeah, thanks. There isn’t much I can do to keep it from mercilessly scraping my thighs and raking my stomach as I bear my weight on my elbows and send my lower body through the hole.
Strong arms wrap around my legs, just above my knees. “Gotcha.”
Stiff and terrified, I let go. Leo guides me down his body, the hatch slamming one second before my feet touch the floor. Shaking and gasping, I rest in his arms. I’m okay.
He’s okay.
As he sweeps the dust from my hair, I fumble for his face, touching every bone and hollow. Only when I’m convinced he’s real and whole do I allow my awareness to reach outward, beyond the circle of his arms.
If the room we just came from was shabby, then this one is a certified demilitarized zone. Ash blankets the floor, and the crudely built walls are plastered with dirt, cobwebs, and moss.
I approach the collapsed fireplace on the far wall. The forge. The pit of hell.
“Be careful,” Leo tells me. “Stay close to Topaz until I help everyone else down.”
I’m too spooked to realize what’s happening to me until it’s too late. I’ve breached the nest, and like wasps, the emotions are on the attack—swarming, stinging, bombarding me. I stumble toward Topaz, surprised when she grabs my hand.
“Hold on to me,” she commands, swinging my arm over her shoulder.
I’m on fire, feverish and throbbing and close to delirium. Elation lifts me; terror throws me to the ground.
They say I can’t, but I can. I will. I just need more.
Sounds reach me through the wavering heat: clanking metal, glass and rock crunching underfoot. I even make out a sneeze.
“Look everywhere!” orders a voice close behind me. “Harness, Betts!” shouts another.
Darkness surrounds me, pressing in on me and stealing my breath. I claw at it, and it dissolves into shadows that seep under my skin, that wind around my neck and choke me. They pin my arms to my sides, and no matter how hard I twist and kick, they won’t let me go.
“Betts, stop!”
Horror bleeds through my nose, eyes, and mouth. I can’t breathe, can’t scream.
“Hold her.”