Chapter Fifty-Four
FIFTY-FOUR
OUR FOOTSTEPS BEAT AGAINST THE dirt floor, and there’s a part of me that finds every curve, every angle of these tunnels to be familiar in a distant way. Like the map of them has been written on my heart.
Eventually, the tunnel changes, no longer pitch black.
First, periodic sconces shine, just barely enough to illuminate every ten paces or so.
Then the ground beneath us switches from dirt to concrete, the walls to plaster, the lights growing brighter and more frequent until we’re crashing through twin doors and fully inside a modern, private compound buried beneath the mountain. Around us, an alarm blares.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
White light flashes like a strobe, disorienting me as we run. We don’t stop until a raging roar echoes after us.
“Keep going!” He tugs me, and I follow.
We turn only twice more before shouts erupt behind us.
“Hey!” someone yells. “They’re getting away!”
We pump our legs harder. His are so much longer than mine that it’s nearly impossible to keep up, but I can tell from the cadence of his steps and the pace of his breath that something is wrong.
“Are you okay?” I huff. “Is it your leg?”
“I think there’s a blister,” he pants, “under the liner. It doesn’t matter. We need to hurry!”
“I am hurrying,” I say through gasping breaths. “My legs are short!”
My heart is squeezing painfully, and my head aches with every step.
We pass door after door, all shut and dark behind their panes of glass. I don’t have the time or wherewithal to examine the plaques nailed beside them.
“What is this pla—” I start, but Malachi skids to a halt, and I knock right into him.
Two cloaks in front of us and two far behind.
“Fuck!” Malachi mutters, turning and assessing our options. “This way,” he says, running in the opposite direction until he flings his arm out and shoves me to the side.
The hallway opens to a forked path.
“Right!” he urges, and I pivot, arms pumping at my sides.
It’s not long before we reach another set of double doors. Thank god, I think, as I press the bar to open them. They don’t budge.
“How the fuck do we get out of here?” I scream.
“Watch out!” Malachi grunts, and I jump back as he comes running, his shoulder down and body curled like he’s ready for a tackle. He barrels into the door, and it flies open.
“Let’s go,” he calls, flinging his arm out and snatching my hand, pulling me along after him.
“You guys are only making it harder for yourselves!” someone calls from behind us. “You’ll wear out eventually!”
I’m so exhausted and frazzled that it takes me a minute to realize the doors didn’t open to the outside. Instead, we’re plunged back into the dirt-walled caves.
“Jesus Christ, don’t these things ever end?” I cry.
We keep running.
A different set of footsteps trails uncomfortably close.
“Your magic!” Kai finally gasps.
My magic? “I’m a little busy running for my life right now,” I cry, head so dizzy, I’m swerving like I’m drunk.
“You have to do something,” he shouts, “there’s no point in trying to be stealthy now!”
I let him drag me, willing my legs to keep going even as I use my mind to dig into the depths of my power and yank the magic out, flinging it behind us.
The crackle of static and a bright white light.
“Shit!” someone screams, like they’ve been burnt.
This close, Malachi’s physical reaction to the use of my power is startling. His whole body clenches, his grip tightens, his hand warms in mine. “Again,” he orders.
He doesn’t have to tell me twice.
I release blast after blast until it seems like we’ve circled back around to where we began.
“This way,” Malachi says, slamming through a door.
Stairs, levels and levels of them.
“I can’t!” I whine. “I can’t do it.”
My legs shake beneath me. I’m exhausted, my magic is waning, my mind is spinning, I feel like I’m going to throw up, and I have a stitch in my side.
I’m barely putting one leg in front of the other when suddenly the world is upside down.
“What the hell?!” I yell, my face slamming against Malachi’s back as he takes off with me over his shoulder. “This is not a normal thing to do to a person!” I wrap my arms around his torso.
“Not sure what your barometer is for normal,” he grunts, “but I’d change it if I were you.”
I hold on to him with one arm as he climbs and climbs, tears streaming down my face the whole way. The pain shooting down my spine, the aching in my legs, and the stabbing in my head nearly enough to turn my vision into a vignette.
I peer into the void of the stairwell below us, one palm itching with magic and the other snaking into my pocket and wrapping around the hilt of a black dagger.
We’re already at the top of the stairs when I realize they’ve stopped following us.
Malachi doesn’t so much set me down as he just kinda throws me back onto my feet before he grabs my hand again and we’re crashing through another door.
Reality slams into me as we sprint down the hallway of the chapel.
When the light of the nave comes into view, Malachi skids to a halt.
My jelly legs give out the second I stop moving.
“Did you really think you were going to escape on foot?” Alastair asks from the yawning mouth of the hall. He sounds almost amused by us.
Peeking at him from between Malachi’s legs, I see that the color-dappled light from the stained-glass windows has backlit him so that it looks like he’s all shadow in the shape of a man.
Or maybe he really is just all shadow in the shape of a man.
Malachi inches to the left.
“Don’t even think about it, boy,” Alastair hisses.
“Harper, I always knew you were stronger than people gave you credit for,” Alastair says to me. “Such an impressive witch. Nearly as impressive as the heir.”
Gigi’s words come to me from the dream. You must find the fated heir.
“Come,” he says, curling his hand toward us. “There’s only one way out of here alive, and it’s not the hallway.
“Remember what I told you, Harper. I don’t want to hurt you.”
I grab on to the bottom of Malachi’s shirt for leverage as I stand, my knees buckling once again.
He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and I fist the fabric at his waist in an effort to stay upright.
Panic blooms in my chest when I realize I don’t have a free hand for my magic, so I tuck the blade into the waistband of my pants.
“I’ll handle him,” Malachi says through the side of his mouth. “If they attack, get behind me.”
I shake my head. “I can fight for myself.”
“It’s unfortunate it’s come to this,” Alastair says as we round the corner. “Kai, I didn’t want to believe it when he said you were lying to me. I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Thankfully, I’ve come prepared for anything. You will see the light, son. You will cooperate by night’s end.”
My stomach sinks as I turn down the aisle.
His voice hits me before my eyes have the chance to adjust to the large room.
“Hello, little witch.” I whip my head toward the corner to find the raven-faced stranger from the hedge maze. So curious that they’re in a mask and cloak when Alastair is not.
At their feet is a squirming body on its knees, arms restrained behind their back. Dressed in a heavy, white robe with a red sack over their head.
“Lucas?” I push away from Malachi and move without thinking, the rest of the world falling away. “What have you done to him?!”
“Oh, Harper,” Alastair calls from behind me. “Open your eyes, poor, sweet girl.”
“No!” The word bounces off the stained-glass windows. “Let go of him!”
“Harper, stop!” Malachi yells, his footsteps thundering behind me.
I collide with the cloaked figure, and their hands slip from Lucas’s kneeling form. We roll and they grunt as they throw me to the floor. On my way down I hook my fingers beneath the edge of the mask and pull.
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” the figure murmurs.
My heart freezes in my throat.
Baby-blue eyes. Midnight curls framing light brown skin. Dimples flattened on either side of full pink lips.
Lucas.