by Martha Carr
What am I even thinking? Lily was doing fine before she ever met me, and the more she’s around me, the greater the chance I’m gonna have to explain to James why I’ve kept her a secret.
But every girl has a few secrets, right? And better than anyone, I can understand not wanting to leave behind friends who actually have your back.
“Every time I’m in here I feel like some killer clown-monster is gonna jump me,” Shay grumbled, desperate to focus her mind on something else.
Lily laughed from in front of her. “Who knows? Maybe one will, but I bet you could take him.”
“Maybe. I’ve tangled with a lot of weird shit since becoming a tomb raider.” Shay shrugged. “Good place for your friends to hide. I’m guessing even AET wouldn’t want to wander around in here for too long. You could hide a whole vodyanoy army down here.”
“Vodyanoy?”
“Creepy frog guys.”
“And you’ve run into these things?”
Shay nodded. “Yeah. Russia’s a fun place. I’ve made a lot of interesting friends and enemies there.”
The deeper they traveled, the darker it got. Shay used her wrist light to cut through the gloom.
Lily led the way through the forks and other junctions as they continued deeper into the tunnel system. The girl hummed quietly to herself, and Shay didn’t say much. The tight and unfamiliar environment left her on edge. Even though she’d been in the tunnels before, they weren’t home for her like they were for Lily. They were just another dark hole that might be hiding an enemy.
Every second I’m in here makes me tense, but Lily and her friends feel safer here than they do outside. Funny how that works.
After a few minutes, the pair arrived at a triple junction. One of the paths branched off to a much smaller tunnel.
Shay pointed at the smaller tunnel. “What’s with that?”
“Oh, that leads to where the escape tunnels meet the old subway tunnels. They connect in several places.”
“It’s just weird thinking about how many large, strange openings into the darkness exist under cities.” Shay snickered.
A distant rumble shook the tunnel.
Shay groaned and braced herself against the nearby wall. “Seriously? An earthquake now?”
Lily shook her head. “Not an earthquake.”
The tremor grew in strength, shaking the entire tunnel, and a loud whoosh joined the shaking.
“What the fuck is that?” Shay shouted above the whoosh.
The whoosh changed pitch and grew distant, and the shaking began to subside.
“Express train,” Lily explained.
“Express train?” Shay blinked and stared at Lily. “Underground, in abandoned tunnels?”
“Perfect place for the magicals’ express train to Europe, don’t you think? No one comes poking around and they use spells to keep the shaking from reaching anyone’s machines, so no one ever comes looking.” Lily shrugged. “Or that’s at least what Harry told me.”
“Not like the cops or anyone else has come down here, so someone must be doing something right.”
Lily held a hand up, and Shay stopped. The tomb raider went for her gun, but Lily shook her head.
“It’s nothing dangerous,” the teen elf explained. “It’s just…we’re close to where Harry and the rest are camped for the night. If I come walking in with a stranger, everyone will scatter. By the time we get it all explained, everyone will be freaked out.”
“But I’ve met Harry, and they’ve seen me.”
“Some have. It doesn’t matter. We have to be careful. Instincts. I just don’t want everyone all spun up.” She shrugged.
Shay shook her head. “You don’t have to sleep in these tunnels, Lily. You can come sleep in the warehouse—for a few nights at least.”
“I don’t need to. I have a place to stay and friends.”
“It’s hard for me just to turn around and leave you here, and not help you fix things.”
Lily shook her head. “You still don’t get it. There’s nothing that needs fixing.” She sighed. “I’ll see you soon.”
An owl hoot echoed through the tunnels.
They have owls down here?
Lily’s eyes widened, and she took off running with a panic-stricken look on her face.
3
Shay blinked. “What the fuck?”
She wasn’t sure why an owl had freaked the girl out so much, but there was no way she’d abandon Lily because a few teens might get scared. The tomb raider sprinted after the Gray Elf.
A wereowl? Is there such a thing? I’ve heard of bird shifters and bird creatures, but I don’t know.
The teen didn’t look back. She kept running through the tunnels until she hit a junction with four new tunnels.
Shay skidded to a stop, now even more confused. Harry stood panting in the middle of the junction, and sweat dripped down his face.
The boy turned to Lily. “Thank God you heard the distress call. Never know how far it’s going to reach.”
Footsteps echoed down the tunnels. Shay reached for her gun then dropped her hand as several more teens rushed into the junction. Shay recognized some of them, but not all. She assumed they were all part of Harry’s merry little band.
“What’s going on?” Lily asked.
Harry sucked in a breath. “A group was out scavenging supplies, but they’re in trouble. Some bounty hunters are on their tail. Nasty guys.”
“Scavenging?” Shay arched a brow. “Bounty hunters don’t come after people for picking cans. You sure you’ve got that right?”
The teen shrugged. “Look, we take what we need to survive. A lot of people out there have more than they need.”
“So you mean you were stealing.”
His defiant eyes locked with Shay’s. “I’m not apologizing for doing what we need to.”
“I’m not asking you to, Harry. I’m just trying to get a feel for what’s going on.”
I shouldn’t get involved. This isn’t my business. If I get wrapped up with bounty hunters, it might lead to trouble and cause the wrong people to look my way.
Harry nodded to Lily and the new arrivals. “We need to get going. I know a shortcut we can use to catch up, but we don’t have much time.”
Shay sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.
Am I really going to let some bounty hunters beat down a bunch of desperate homeless kids? It’s not like I can judge them for stealing. I was murdering people for money when I was their age. They’re fucking saints compared to me then and now.
“I’ll help,” Shay announced. “I can deal with a bounty hunter or two.” She nodded toward the other teens. “And I’m more than enough to help you out. More people just means more targets for the bounty hunters, and I guarantee I have a lot more experience fighting than any of you.”
Lily blinked, then smiled. “Thanks, Shay.”
“Fine,” Harry shouted. “But we need to go now.” He pointed at a wispy blonde girl. “Casey, you come, too. We might need a little witch help.”
The girl nodded.
Harry ran off, and the other three fell in behind him. The boy ran like a rocket, not explaining anything as he sprinted from tunnel to tunnel and passed through forks and junctions. The footsteps and heavy breaths of the group echoed, along with the occasional splash as they struck puddles.
They have the run of the city under here. They could do some seriously dangerous shit if they wanted.
Harry’s shortcut brought them to a tall ladder that he scurried up. Lily followed, then Casey. Shay brought up the rear.
When Harry reached the top, he hit what appeared to be a sealed manhole cover. He quickly traced a pattern with his finger along the cover, and it glowed, then flew off with a pop.
“Come on! We don’t have much time.”
The rescue team emerged into a darkened alley within a minute. Harry kicked the manhole cover back onto the hole, and it shimmered and blurred until it looked like the rest of the asphalt in t
he alley. Perfect camouflage.
How many of these things do they have around town? Do they have one near my place?
They’d arrived in an older business district. The flaking paint, occasional barred windows, and rusted signs were proof the decades hadn’t been kind to the area.
Shay’s head shot up at loud shouts from above. Several dark forms leapt from building to building. A moment later, mocking laughter cut through the air, and several more people jumped across.
The tomb raider’s eyes narrowed, and her jaw tightened. Even at a distance, she spotted familiar colors. The boy had been wrong, and that changed the entire situation.
“Good news, Harry. They aren’t bounty hunters.”
Harry stared at her. “You sure? One of the others said he spotted bounty hunters. That’s when I broke off to go find help.” He frowned. “Who the hell are they, then?”
“That’s the bad news. They are Demon Generals.”
Lily, Casey, and Harry grimaced at the mention of the vicious street gang.
Good. At least these kids have enough street smarts to be afraid of the gang.
Shay turned to Lily. “Any visions?”
The girl shook her head. “I…can’t see anything.” She frowned and looked away.
“We’ll just deal with what’s in front of us, then.” Shay searched the alley for some way to get to the roof and spotted a convenient drain pipe. “If a bunch of these guys end up dead, it’ll only be worse for you. They’ll come looking in force, and it’ll also get the cops involved.”
The teens nodded.
Shay started shinnying up the pole. “But if we knock ‘em around a little and run, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Just need to catch up and distract them so your friends can get away.”
The tomb raider and the three teens made it to the roof in time to see the gang members leaping after the others.
Fucking Demon Generals. When did they get so brave?
Shay and the others rushed toward the edge and leapt at the same time. They landed with practiced rolls that maintained all their momentum.
The teens in front of the gang members hit a fire-escape and jumped off it to a narrow ledge on the original building. They pushed off the ledge and hopped down to another similar-sized ledge. The gang members took one look at the ledge and rushed down the stairs instead.
Not so brave now, are you, assholes?
Several shouts sounded from the ground. A pack of Demon Generals was closing in from both sides.
Fuck.
Harry, Lily, Shay, and Casey stopped and looked around.
The teens would be able to get away if only the first set of criminals had been a concern, but with three groups of gang members now on them, escape looked a lot less likely.
Shay sighed. “Damn it. I’ll handle the guys on the ground. If the others can just shake the guys following them, this’ll work.” With her heart pounding, she hopped down to a balcony right beneath her. She landed with a thump, then leapt from balcony to balcony until she hit the narrow street.
Fuck. There’s no way I can stop both groups without killing a bunch of them. Even if I take the guys on one side out, the others will probably go for their guns. Guess I have no choice.
Shay reached for her gun.
A sudden hard gust of wind howled, shoving back one of the groups of Demon Generals on the ground. Several of the men hit the ground with loud grunts. Casey stood on the edge of the building with her eyes closed and her hands out in front of her.
I keep forgetting that Lily’s not the only special one, even if their shit is unreliable. Just hope Casey can keep it up.
Harry and Lily leapt from the edge of the building, and Shay’s heart rate kicked up. It didn’t look like they were going to clear the roof. At the last moment, they grabbed the edge of the next roof and pulled themselves up and ran after their friends.
Damn! Impressive.
Shay charged around the corner and approached the four ground-level Demon Generals. They were so focused on tracking their prey and their men above that Shay was able to down two with quick kicks to the knees before they even realized they were under attack.
The two other gang members reached for their guns as they turned around. Shay rushed forward to throat-punch one and slapped the gun out of the second man’s hand. With the first man on the ground clutching his throat, she threw a series of quick punches.
All the tattoos in the world didn’t make up for a lack of solid training and near-daily practice. The man grunted under her hits, staggering backward. She finished him with an uppercut that sent him to the ground.
Not wanting to repeat her enemies’ mistake, Shay didn’t turn her back. Instead, she rushed back to the three other men and made sure they were unconscious with a few solid kicks to the head.
She hissed at an ache in her side. The Demon Generals hadn’t hurt her, but she risked opening her wounds from the Central Park fight.
Lily’s really dragged me into a lot of unprofitable fights. Don’t know how I feel about that, but I might as well finish what I’ve started. Not like I don’t have my own reasons for not liking the Demon Generals.
Shay sprinted in the direction of the fast-moving teens and gangbangers still above her. The howling wind from before had died down, but the reinforcements didn’t come around the corner. Maybe Casey’s wind had knocked them out.
The front group of teens was closing on a construction site where a massive crane was parked, but there were no decent buildings anywhere nearby. Other than jumping to their deaths, they had no options close enough that Shay could see.
Come on, get the fuck away.
The tomb raider pushed herself, her lungs burning as she tried to catch up. The night might still have to end with gunfire. She wouldn’t let assholes like the Demon Generals kill these kids.
The fleeing teens didn’t turn. Instead, they dropped straight down off the edge of the building.
“What the fuck?” Shay froze and stared at the teens.
The now-falling teens kicked off the wall, which sent them sailing toward the crane. Shay held her breath as they flew toward the crane and jerked to a halt as they landed on different parts of the boom lattice. Their gloves saved their hands from being shredded, and they immediately scrambled down the boom.
Okay, that was pretty badass. I was getting good at parkour, but I guess I have a lot of things to learn if I want to be on these kids’ level. Like always wear gloves.
The Demon Generals who’d chased them stood at the edge of the building. One threw his hands up in the air.
You guys are too chickenshit to try to follow them, or maybe too smart. Just walk away. This shit is over.
Shay looked past the gang members for Harry and Lily. The pair were bounding between the walls of two buildings to make their way back to the ground. She couldn’t see Casey.
The Demon Generals milled around on the roof, clearly uncertain what their next move should be.
The teens on the crane reached the ground and disappeared into an alley. Shay sped toward it and caught up with Harry, Lily, and Casey.
“Another hidden manhole cover?” Shay asked between pants.
Harry nodded. “Let’s hurry.”
“No complaints here.”
When they hit the alley, it was empty. Harry ran to the center and knelt, again tracing a pattern with his finger. The manhole cover popped into existence, and he pulled it up. The sweat-covered teen girls hurried in.
Harry gestured to the hole. “Hurry. I’ve got to seal it.”
Shay wasn’t used to taking orders from teens, but he was the local expert. She nodded and went to the ladder.
A few minutes later, all the teens and Shay were making their way back toward the main nuclear escape tunnels with Harry in the lead. No one said much of anything as they tried to calm their hearts and catch their breath. A few of the rescued teens eyed Shay with suspicion, but they didn’t talk to her.
They reached the original junctio
n where Shay and Lily had run into Harry.
The boy put his fingers to his lips and made another bird call, something more like a songbird than an owl. He sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead. A few teens popped out of the tunnel with cautious looks on their faces.
Shay glanced at Lily.
“It’s his all-clear call,” the girl explained.
Harry turned toward the tomb raider, his breathing no longer labored. “Thanks, Shay. First, we saved you, but now you helped save us, and we don’t forget things like that.” His gaze cut to Lily for a moment, subtle emotion playing on his face.
Not all that long ago Shay might not have recognized that look, but given that she was in a relationship, she could spot love.
Shay took a deep breath and slowly let it out. It’d be best if Lily pulled away from her friends entirely and started a new life, but it wasn’t like the tomb raider could ask her to do that. Which meant that if she wanted to help the girl, she’d need to help all of them.
She sighed. Not only that, but she could relate to these kids—even if they all had strange, if unreliable, magic powers. She’d also been forced to make her own way when she was a teenager, and at least Lily and her friends’ path didn’t involve murder for hire.
Shay offered Harry a slight smile. “If you need anything, let me know. Supplies, another rescue. Just reach out.” She nodded at Lily. “She knows how to get in touch with me.”
The tomb raider wasn’t worried about the girl betraying the locations of the warehouses. She’d already had the chance and hadn’t. Trusting people still tightened Shay’s stomach, but between Peyton, James, and Lily, she was slowly getting used to it.
Harry offered his hand. “Same here. I get that you probably don’t need supplies from us tunnel rats, but you’ve seen how we travel all over the city. We see things—things that some people don’t want to be seen—so if you ever need good intel or a few extra eyes, we’re for hire.”
Lily laughed. “Harry’s always looking for ways we can make money. Guess that’s why he leads us.”
Shay shrugged. “Not a bad instinct for a man to have, leader or not.”