Chapter 19 #2
My attention drops to a broad stone pressure plate set into the floor beneath the wall. Curious, I step onto it and somewhere inside the stonework, ancient gears groan to life. With a series of heavy clunks, a second row of footholds slides out from the wall above, completing the climb.
I stare up at them, confused. Then I notice it—a thick rope, neatly coiled beside the opening at the top of the shaft, far beyond anyone’s reach from the ground. The moment I step off the pressure plate, the upper footholds grind back into the wall with a heavy scrape.
My stomach sinks as understanding settles over me. One person has to hold the plate. The other has to climb, untie the rope, and throw it back down to their partner.
I’m still studying the chamber, trying to figure out how to do alone what was clearly designed for at least two people, when footsteps sound behind me. I turn to find Silas entering the room.
He stops as soon as he sees me. The reaction lasts no more than a second, but I catch it—the tension leaving his shoulders, the quick movement of his eyes over my bruised face and torn coat. He looks… relieved.
“You’re alive,” he says.
“Disappointed?”
He ignores me, his gaze shifting to the hatch door. “Bravo. You found the exit first,” he says. “But you do realize you can’t open it alone.”
“I’ll figure something out.”
“Or you could let me help.” A faint, sardonic smile touches his mouth, as if the solution is painfully obvious.
“No, thanks.”
I begin circling the chamber, examining the walls and the pressure plate beneath my feet, searching for some mechanism I’ve overlooked. There has to be a way to trigger the plate without a second person.
Finding nothing obvious, I search for a rock or boulder instead, something big enough to hold the plate down. Unfortunately, the chamber is bare.
Out of ideas, I decide I can just wait for Wren, Lena, or Jonah to arrive.
Sure, I don’t fully trust them anymore, but right now I’d trust just about anyone over Silas.
I burn precious minutes like that, listening for the sound of footsteps, while Silas watches me with increasingly obvious frustration.
Finally, he lets out an exasperated, almost pained sigh. “You realize we have perhaps twenty minutes left before dawn, right? You are remarkably committed to ignoring every attempt I make to help you, even when it may cost you your life.”
“Excuse me if I don’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth,” I fire back.
“Your fucked-up little buddy Rowan nearly got me killed last weekend, and Van just tried to finish the job. I suppose it’s only fitting that it’s your turn now.
” I shake my head. “Whatever twisted game the three of you are playing, I’m done.
I’m not falling for any more of your tricks. ”
“Tricks?” His brow furrows, genuine disbelief flashing across his face. “Jack, I saved you.”
“Saved me?” I let out a hollow laugh. “You dragged me into this nightmare. I just spent the last few hours watching some poor girl die and trying not to die myself.”
“Because I didn’t have a choice!” he snaps, the words ripping out of him with enough force to make me flinch.
“It was this or let them kill you the moment you walked into Veil Night.” His chest rises sharply, something almost desperate breaking through his frustration.
“I told you not to come. I warned you over and over again, but you never fucking listen!”
More footsteps echo through the passage, and then Georgina rushes inside the chamber, followed by Rowan and two competitors I don’t know. Silas goes still, his composure sliding back into place with frightening speed.
A moment later, Wren, Lena, and Jonah stagger in from another route. Everyone sees the door. Everyone sees the plate. The energy in the room changes instantly, calculation replacing exhaustion.
“You need to get on the mechanism,” Silas whispers to me, deadly calm. “Right now.”
“No.”
“Mercer. Go,” he orders. “I’ll climb first. Then I’ll help you up.”
“I already told you.” I grind my teeth together. “I’m not working with you, Blackhollow.”
Rowan and Georgina are already attempting to climb the wall, neither willing to trust the other to remain behind on the pressure plate.
Rowan reaches for another handhold, but instead of finding solid stone, his fingers tear away a loose section of the wall.
A deep groan rolls through the chamber, and then everything happens at once.
The walls shudder as a crack splinters across the ceiling.
Stone begins raining down as screams erupt around me.
A slab crashes into the floor only feet away, another blocks the passage behind us, and suddenly the entire chamber seems to be collapsing.
I look up just as another massive section of ceiling breaks free directly above, heading straight for me.
Before I can move, Silas is there. One arm wraps around my waist while the other reaches instinctively toward the falling stone.
It stops.
Not just slows.
Stops… completely.
The slab hangs above his raised hand while water drips from the cracks in its surface, trembling as though held by something I cannot see.
Then Silas throws us sideways and the slab crashes where I stood just seconds ago.
My head strikes his shoulder, dust blinding me temporarily while the chamber tears itself apart around us.
“Get on the fucking plate,” he growls at me.
“But—”
“Do it now, Jacqueline!”
Too terrified to argue further, I step on the plate. All I hear are more screams beneath the splintering timbers and collapsing earth. Jonah braces Lena against the wall just as another support beam crashes down between them, showering them with dirt and debris.
Silas starts climbing, and I watch him pull himself onto the upper footholds. For one sickening moment, I think he’s leaving me behind. I almost expect him to.
But then he reaches the opening, yanks the rope free, and throws it down.
I grab hold as the chamber shudders beneath me.
Moments later, his hand clamps around my wrist, hauling me onto the ledge just as another section of the ceiling gives way below.
Together, we scramble through the hatch door and onto solid ground.
One by one, others emerge from the tunnels. Rowan. Georgina. Wren, shaking with tears. Lena, blood running down one side of her face. Van. Several more competitors whose names I haven’t yet learned.
I keep waiting for Jonah.
He never comes.
By the time dawn breaks over the cemetery, only twelve of us stand on the wet grass. Eight contestants remain below. Some are already dead. The rest will be soon.