52. Alexander
ALEXANDER
“How many times are you going to drown?” Kallias shouts over the running water.
Alexander laughs. “I doubt this will be the last time. It’s definitely not the first.”
“You should hate water by now.”
They were just one foot away from their last mirror when this stupid glass box rose from the floor and trapped them both in a rapidly filling tank.
Alexander splashes Kallias so that he’ll make that scrunchy face Alexander loves so much. He’s not disappointed.
“Every near drowning, I love the sea even more.”
Kallias rolls his eyes. “You would.”
“What does that mean?”
Kallias smirks and leans against the glass. “It means you like things that aren’t good for you.”
“But I like you,” he replies, feigning innocence, “and you’re so good for me. Or, would you be bad? We haven’t quite reached the point where I would know that yet.” He walks forward until they’re nose to nose, and Kallias’ face is impassive but bright pink.
“I wouldn’t be good,” Kallias responds, head tilted and eyes dangerous. “Especially not if you’d like me to be.”
It’s a damn shame he can’t drop to his knees right here, but he doesn’t think Kallias would appreciate that on live television.
“I guess we’ll see,” Alexander says.
Kallias’ expression flickers into something indecipherable. “I guess we will.”
Half a second later, the glass walls disappear into the floor and the water splashes harmlessly to the ground.
“That’s strange,” Alexander says.
“No.” Kallias wrings out his shirt. “It’s Ophelia. She must be in the control room. She’d have overrides for the booby traps there,” he explains, already jogging to set up the final mirror. Once he’s done, he pulls the large, curved one out of his cargo pants pocket.
“Alexander,” he urges with a nod. “We have to put this thing up before—”
He cuts off. Shining bright, bouncing off every other mirror, is a red laser. Eudoxia and Zeno.
“Everyone is ready,” Alexander exhales in awe. Not that he didn’t expect it to work, but… well, yeah, he definitely didn’t expect it to work.
“So we need to be too. Come on.”
Kallias hands him the mirror, kneeling so Alexander can climb on his back.
“You know, I always thought you’d be the one riding me,” he jokes, wrapping his legs around Kallias’ waist.
Kallias scoffs. “Next time,” he says, and Alexander almost falls off at the sheer prospect.
He bites his lip hard enough to split skin because he needs to focus on positioning the mirror correctly before he sticks it into the wall.
“Now, for the real test,” Alexander says, sliding off Kallias’ back.
Kallias pulls the laser pointer out of Alexander’s pocket and angles it toward their first mirror.
It hits one, then ping-pongs down the hall until it’s out of their view and, God willing, hitting the wall behind Eudoxia and Zeno.
Alexander’s lungs burn from holding his breath until a red light flashes back.
“Forms, yes!” Kallias shouts along with Alexander’s whoops. “Get by the button,” he says.
Their pointers turn off, then Kallias flashes his once and the others respond. When both lights shine at the same time a second later, Alexander pushes down on the emergency exit button, a slightly misshapen cobblestone.
For a long moment, nothing happens.
“Why isn’t it—”
A scraping noise—metal on metal—rings so loud he covers his ears. The weirdest part of the noise is that he doesn’t know where it’s coming from. Because nothing is actually happening.
At least, not that they can see.
“What was that?” Kallias asks.
Alexander doesn’t respond. Instead, he tests a theory.
Something opened, he heard it. But, as he’s learned again and again, this place plays with your perception.
He walks slowly toward the wall, catching Kallias’ hand on his way, before stepping up to—and straight through—the cobblestone.
Static runs up and down his arms until he and Kallias come out on the other side into the escape tunnel.
“How did that… What just happened?” Kallias asks, bracing himself like he expects to be attacked.
Alexander opens his mouth to start a long tirade about the holograms or whatever they are, but he stops himself. They have more pressing matters to attend to.
“I’ll explain later. For now, let’s hope Xia and Zeno figure it out and get moving.”
Kallias eyes the wall curiously, then nods. “Lead the way.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he sighs, lazy already. “If only this exit took us right to the docks.”
This tunnel spits them out in Arc Four, which leaves the whole exposed stretch to Arc Eight ahead of them that he’d really prefer to avoid.
“Let’s be happy this managed to work at all.”
Alexander grins as they walk. “I am happy. How could I not be, when I’m here with you?”
Kallias gives him a half-hearted smile.
He’s probably just tired.