Grayson follows him, and just as Axel said, each step feels better than the last. Easier to breathe, lighter,brighter.
It’s as if I am fulfilling some cosmic fate.
Above them the stars shine brightly.
A reminder of what is at stake.
32
October 7th
This day is endless–or has another day passed? Another rotation of the Earth.
Time is different below the surface with nothing to guide us in its passage.
But I know with certainty that I am exhausted. Bruised. Sore. Aching in places that keep reminding me of Darius, of how much he must be hurting and worried.
Unfortunately, there’s still more to do before I can rest.
We have to escape.
We quietly shoulder open the door of her prison, both of us whipping our attention up and down the hallway.
Before there was chaos outside, but now it is dead silent.
Too quiet.
“Nobody is here. What’s going on?” The question leaves my lips with my breath, but Luna still hears it.
“You said the FBI is on their way?” Luna asks.
Pushing a bit further out, I exit her cell. My nerves are shot and frayed, but I dig past them. Focusing my attention on the three pulsating purple strands.
The O’Brien brothers. They are nearly all overlapping now.
Hope fills my belly.
I hope they found each other.
A few flickering lights above provide just enough for me to make out all the way to the door to the outside. It is sealed shut.
All the other doors in the hallway are still closed too. And there are still faint sounds coming from inside, but outside of that this dungeon is mute.
“Yes.”
Luna walks out in front of me. “It’s too quiet.” She echoes my thoughts exactly.
She cranes her head up, and I follow her gaze.
The fans that had previously been moving were providing us air.
They arestillnow.
“They’re going to kill us all.” She whips her eyes to mine, and I can see the dread that settles in their depths. “Bury the truth. If the FBI is on the way, they need to cover up as much evidence as they can. And dead victims can’t speak.”
Understanding lands in my chest. Horror. “They’re going to suffocate us.”
We’re completely underground. There isn’t any air except for those fans.
