Shadow and Penn lifted their arms, both of them crying out as they pulled the roots down, down, down. Cracks webbed across the stone overhead, and the ground and walls trembled around us. Chunks of the ceiling began to fall.
We wasted no time, all of us sprinting through the sewers as the lizards scurried from the carnage. I looked behind me to see the sewer collapsing down, dust rising and rushing forward like a flood.
Penn and Shadow ran ahead of me, faster and stronger despite how weak they must be right now. Shadow had talked a lot about endurance, and now I knew why that was so important. Why Arrow had made me continue to train even after I’d thrown up repeatedly. I gritted my teeth and pumped my arms but still couldn’t keep up.
Penn glanced behind him. “Lilypad, I need you to move!”
“What . . . does it . . . look like I’m doing!”
I clutched my side, which felt like it had been stabbed with a knife.
A rock fell in front of me, and I had to jump to my left to avoid it. Penn stopped suddenly, and I almost ran into him as Shadow continued her sprint. He grabbed me by the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder, continuing to run.
“What are you doing?” I yelled over the sound of rock and debris crashing to the ground. “Put me down, Penn!”
He didn’t listen, continuing to race through the sewers, splashing up muck and water that splattered my face. There would not be enough baths in this world to get me clean.
“Surely it would be faster if you just let me run!”
“I won’t leave you behind,” he growled, determination filling every word.
Of course not. Not when I was somehow the key to helping him destroy the mirror.
At this point, I couldn’t see anything but dust and smoke, couldn’t hear anything but the thunder of stone hitting the ground. One minute I was sucking in lungfuls of dust, the next, I was flying from Penn’s shoulder and onto soft sand. I raised my head to see rock piling up in the exit of the sewer, the courtyard overhead crumbling and collapsing down.
Penn grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. “We have to find shelter,” he said, out of breath. “I don’t think anyone will be coming after us any time soon, but we can’t take a chance of being spotted.”
I thought my legs might give out from underneath me, but Penn’s and Shadow’s determined looks made me straighten and nod.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said as we ran from Jasper’s destroyed home.
Chapter Thirty-One
We eventually slowed to a walk once we were far enough away from Jasper’s home to be spotted. Rock formations jutted up, tall rocky cliffs, arches, pillars to hide us, so many shades of brown and orange I never knew existed. Bright yellow and pink flowers sprouted from the ground, cacti littering the landscape. Penn and Shadow led me to a little cave tucked into a tall and thick rock wall. Their satchels already lay here, against the wall. This must be where they stayed before coming to rescue me.
Exhausted, we all lay down and passed out.
When I awoke, Shadow was gone, and only Penn remained, sitting by a crackling fire with rabbit roasting. He was also clean, all the sand and muck gone from his pale skin, his blond hair tied back at the nape of his neck, as usual. Handsome as hell. And far too close for comfort.
“As much as I love that gown on you, it’s probably best if you burn it.” He gestured to the clean trousers and tunic that sat nearby. Shadow must’ve left them for me.
“Where is Shadow?”
“She’s on her way back to Mosswood Forest. She and the others have a mission to complete.”
“A mission? Now? When we’re stuck here?”
He shot me a grin. “No rest for the wicked.”
Great. So it was just me and the king of thieves. And his handsome face. And kissable lips. And shameless flirting. And smirk that somehow made my blood boil and my knees go weak at the same time. I didn’t know when all those things had become truths, but somehow they had, and it made me want to chase after Shadow and demand she come back and be a buffer between us.
I glanced at his stomach. “Is your wound okay?”
“It’s healing,” he said but didn’t elaborate any further. He cleared his throat. “There’s a spring nearby. You can bathe, and then we can eat.”
I just nodded and grabbed the clothes, listening to Penn’s directions on how to get to the spring.
“Be quick about it,” Penn warned as I walked toward the entrance to the cave. “We don’t need you getting spotted by anyone.”
