“Louisa?” Max’s head snapped back.
“I’m here.”
Max hurtled over to us, but his face paled when he laid eyes on me, struggling to raise the upper half of my body. “Fucking hell, kid. I guess she always did have a weird thing for hair. But never mind how you look. Can you walk? That’s the question.”
“Never mind if I can,” I managed to say. “I will. We have to get out of here, now.”
“Well, the main exit’s blocked off,” Max began. “Elevator’s fucked. And all the outdoor pathways leading out of the pit are now rubble.” He brushed some dust off his shoulders. “But hey, on the bright side, Obadiah’s dead.”
“What about Noam?” I asked warily.
“Long story. Look, there’s still a chance. My father built at least one secondary exit.”
“You know where?”
“I knownotwhere.”
“Good enough. Lead on.”
Max helped Louisa to her feet first. She had a sprained ankle and bruises that were quickly darkening, obscuring the burns just now starting to helpfully scab over. Her face was grim with pain, but she didn’t complain. My own injuries seared hot and cold, but the pain felt secondary at this point. We had to move.
Max helped me up next, slinging one of my stiff arms over his shoulders. For now, I could hobble, which was enough. Louisa slid under my other arm with her slight weight.
I blinked into the gloom, scanning for an exit in the tangle of fallen beams and rocks, but another wave of nausea hit me, the room briefly spinning on its axis. We were already running out of time.
A metallic glint caught my eye and I squinted through the haze. There—a narrow opening in the rubble leading fartherinto the mine, back the way Resi had dragged me before. Max nodded, starting toward it without words. It was our best shot.
“Thanks for coming back, Max,” I said quickly, only to have Louisa and Max exchange one quick, knowing glance.
“What?”
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about our agreement, slave.”
Resi was not quite there, in more ways than one. She looked almost ethereal in the dim light, round eyes vacant. She wasn’t coated in asbestos or copper dust like the rest of us, and her hair sparkled under Louisa’s weak flashlight, now rolling around on the ground. She still looked clean—except for the blood and mascara smeared across her face like some kind of neo-expressionist mural.
Then it hit me. She’dplannedthis. She hadn’t gone crazy on me for trying to blow up the place. She’d gone crazy on me for trying to do it beforeshegot the chance.
But the knife at Louisa’s throat—the very knife Louisa herself had dropped earlier—was real as fuck. And ofcourseshe’d gone for Louisa, the only one of us she was strong enough to physically restrain.
“You know, Obadiah tried this already—” Louisa’s voice cut off with a sickening gurgle, and my stomach dropped as blood cascaded down her throat like a trail of rubies. Not an artery. Maybe a vein.
“Did Obadiah dothat?” Resi sneered. “Stupid dead toothless fuck. Good riddance.”
“You fucking—” I bit my tongue so hard I tasted copper, choking on my helplessness, as trapped as when I’d been locked in that goddamn trunk.
Louisa wasn’t looking at me. She hissed through clenched teeth, her breaths rhythmic, controlled, like she was forcing herself to stay calm because she knew panic wouldn’t help.God,she is brave.And what was I doing?Standinghere. Barely. Body broken. Mind foggy. Useless. No plan.
“Let her go,” I said, hoping it didn’t sound like a pathetic plea, even though it was. “Look at this place, Resi. This isover.”
“Resi,” Max broke in calmly. “I know I should have asked you this a long, long time ago, but just what the fuck is your problem? Do you seriously not understand that we’reallabout to die if we don’t find a way out of here right now?”
“Thereisno way out of here.”
My heart pounded. She was lying. Wasn’t she? How had she planned on getting out otherwise?
“And you won’t shoot me.”
“No, I won’t,” Max replied.
