Chapter 17
Arina
“Why isn’t it stopping?” Shreya yells over the sound of falling rock. She’s bracing herself against the closest pillar while the ground vibrates beneath us.
A rebel runs into the throne room. His head is bloody, and he’s holding his chest. “Lukasian soldiers,” he pants, leaning against the wall as the earth continues to shake. “They’ve found us!”
Lukasian soldiers are causing this? How?
“Evacuate the outer edge. Push everyone deeper. Lock down the caves. Now!” my father yells, and Raiden and Shreya jump into motion. The floor beneath me stops shaking, but a deep rumbling from dislodged sediment is ongoing.
Konnor, Raiden, Shreya, and I run through the tunnels, knocking on doors and evacuating room after room. For the most part, things are calm and orderly. Everyone works together, and nobody is panicking.
When I reach my room, I collect my things quickly, throwing only the necessities into the pack.
I strip out of the loose clothing I’ve become more accustomed to down here, and slip into my leathers.
It’s like putting on a second skin, and I feel closer to the me I was before I came to the Underground.
“Planning on fighting, little snake?” Raiden asks when I rejoin the evacuation efforts and he sees my wardrobe change.
“Well, I’m not planning on dying,” I snap at him, and return to helping with the evacuation.
We’re moving the opposite direction of the crowd, funneling more and more fae out of their rooms and deeper into the tunnels. The slope of the path starts to go up, and I wonder how close we are to the surface when an explosion sends a plume of dust and rock blasting through the tunnels.
My ears are ringing, and I can’t see a godsdamned thing. Fuck. Someone grabs me, dragging me back the way we came. Back down into the caves that are threatening to collapse any moment, burying us in a mass grave.
I’d almost rather take my chances in the Smog.
The hands on me are gruff, and my eyes burn from the debris so I can hardly open them enough to see who they belong to.
The air changes suddenly, and I think we must have made it back to one of the common areas when the ground stops trembling. My legs, however, continue to wobble beneath me until I slump down against the closest wall.
“We can’t stop moving, Arina,” my father’s voice is in my ear.
I just need to rest here. Just for a moment.
“You keep going, Konnor. I’ll bring her when she’s ready. We won’t be far behind,” Raiden tells him, and Father must agree because those same gruff hands squeeze mine, and then they’re gone.
“Are you alright?” Raiden asks, wiping strands of sweat-drenched hair off my forehead. The touch is too intimate, made even more so by the fact that I cannot see him, and I flinch away.
“I’m fine. I just got some debris in my eyes.” I wipe at them with the palms of my hands, and blink hard.
“Let me help.” And before I can say no, he’s grabbing my head, tilting it back, and pouring water over my eyes. I try to bat him away, but he holds steady.
“You’re worse than a child,” he scolds. “Now. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
I sputter while clearing the leftover water from my eyes and face. But I blink hard a few times and discover I can finally see.
My lips press together in a tight line. The caves are in shambles. Huge stalactites have crashed from above, shattering into millions of pieces. Several of the tunnels have caved in on themselves, and the pathway leading up to the gardens is crumbling in multiple areas.
“We cannot stay here, Arina. The soldiers are getting closer. It’s time to move.” The urgency in his tone brings me to my feet, and I strain to listen for any sign of the intruders. But there is nothing. Only the sound of stones settling into place.
Raiden grabs my hand and pulls me down a tunnel I have never been allowed to explore. There are large beams of wood holding this tunnel up, making it more stable.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Your father and the rest of those who evacuated will have gone this way, back toward home.”
I don’t think he can mean my home. The soldiers had to have been coming from Lukasia, which means we are heading more in the direction of Ophis Isle.
Another explosion rocks the caverns before I can confirm, and I don’t know if it’s intentional, but Raiden throws his body over mine, shielding me from harm.
His body pressed to mine makes my skin crawl with an unfamiliar sensation. Something deep in my core claws its way to the surface. Before I can name it, he’s moving away.
He runs down the tunnel faster than I can keep up, but I try anyway.
Finally, I reach him. He’s cursing and kicking a wall of boulders that has cut off the tunnel. There are shouts of fear and agony coming from the other side of the pile.
My body moves of its own volition, climbing the rocks before Raiden can stop me. There’s a small hole, and if I can just reach it, maybe I can move them out of the way. Then we can get to them, and I can help whoever—
“Arina!” Raiden yells. A warning. “There isn’t time. We have to lead the soldiers away from here. It’s the only way.”
“No! We have to help them. Someone is hurt, and I can help them!” I scream back at him, even as my hand slips on a loose rock.
“This is how you help them,” he pleads.
Then I hear them. The last blast must have done it, because Lukasian soldiers’ voices echo down the tunnel.
Surely they won’t have heard us, though. There are so many other tunnels to explore, and the entrance to this one is far enough away that—
“Now, Arina!” Raiden grits out softly through his teeth.
There is a small internal struggle between my heart and my head. I jump down from my position halfway up the rocks, conceding.
“How can you leave them?” I ask.
“Let’s not pretend you haven’t spent every free moment here looking for a way out,” his words pierce through my heart, a blow I did not expect to feel.
I refuse to look at him as we make our way out of the escape tunnel.
“Besides, there is nothing I can do from here. I have to focus on the things I can control, and right now that means getting you somewhere safe. I promised to protect you, Arina, and I will keep my promise. Even if that means hauling you over my shoulder and carrying you out of here.”
I back away, moving out of reach.
His answering smirk feels out of place when we’re about to be fighting for our lives. “Better hang onto this blade, little snake. They’re not going to show you any mercy,” he says, handing me my dagger before we reach the mouth of the tunnel.
At least fifty soldiers stand on the other side of the open cavern, but my eyes land on the golden-haired one in front. Eryk.
This is my last chance at redemption. The gods have given me a choice. Go back with Eryk or stay with the rebels. Become a rebel myself.
Eryk will believe me. He will take me back to Spoikos, and I can speak with the queen. I can explain things.
But if what the rebels believe is true, then she is the reason for the curse. She would lock me up or turn me to stone. I would be of no use to anyone. Staying alive and free is my priority.
Eryk stares, sword in hand, as recognition dawns. “Keep the girl alive!” he yells, as the soldiers move around the outer edges of the cave, closing us in. The only path still open is the one to the gardens.
And my mind is made up.
“I have an idea,” I whisper, putting my dagger away. “It’s insane, but I think it’s our only option.”
Raiden’s look of shock would feel so fucking good if we weren’t about to do what I’m planning for us to do.
I allow fear to fuel me, keeping pace with the sound of my heartbeat, as I sprint to the path, and Raiden follows. The first few holes we reach are small, and we clear them easily, but halfway up, we hit a gaping space that I don’t think I can jump.
Raiden goes first, throwing himself off the edge, arms and legs propelling him across effortlessly, as if he’s flying.
When he lands, he climbs down and reaches a hand across the chasm.
“You can do this. Jump!” he yells to me, and I take a few steps back.
I have three options: die at the hands of the soldiers behind me, die by breaking my neck when I fall down this fucking hole, or die because I trusted this asshole of a rebel who has done nothing but make my life more difficult from the moment I met him.
Gods forgive me. I don’t bother whispering it. Who knows if they’re even listening anymore.
The soldiers are closing in behind me, and I do not have time to think. I launch myself directly at Raiden, and time stands still. My stomach rolls within me as I try to push my body just a little bit farther.
And then I’m falling. I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t want to see where my body will land when my soul is released into the after.
I hit so hard against him that the wind is knocked from my chest. His arm cements around my waist, and I look up into his face to find him grinning.
He hauls us smoothly back onto the path, and we sprint to the end, leaving the soldiers to contemplate their own way across.
“What now?” Raiden asks, closing the garden door behind us and placing the large piece of wood across it, locking us in.
This is the part of the plan I didn’t think all the way through. My eyes wander to the open edge of the space, where I know an angry, black ocean waits to swallow me up.
Raiden lets out a small chuckle. “Do you even know how to swim?”
I shake my head, only slightly.
“You’re not a sea snake, then?” he jokes, and I find him just as infuriating as ever.
“I didn’t see you coming up with a particularly good idea!” I shout at him over the sound of the crashing waves and blood pumping in my ears.
We stand at the edge, looking down into the swirling darkness. He grabs my hand, and I am jolted once more by his touch.
“Together?” he asks, just as something hits the door behind us with such force it cracks down the center.
I nod, and he begins counting, “Three … two … one!”