by T. A. White
He shook his head and shrugged. He hadn’t heard it either.
The three of them waited in silence.
There was a charge to the air, like what they had felt before the blue light had overtaken them and transported them here.
A dull roaring, like that of the ocean during a storm, filled the room. Under it was a high pitched sound that dipped and fell in repeated patterns.
Tate and Dewdrop backed away from the walls to the middle of the room. Gabriella echoed their movements on the other side.
Something was coming. Something that felt like fear and rage.
Tate could feel it on the air, as if the room itself was trying to warn them to get out.
“Was it like this in that other room?” Gabriella asked. She kept careful watch, eyes constantly scanning the room as she placed her back against Tate’s and Dewdrop’s.
“No. Not that I could recall.”
Ai was just there, between one moment and the next. A little girl who somehow knew Tate’s full name.
This—whatever this was—was calculated. Designed to inspire fear. It was working. The fear Tate had been missing before seemed to have saved itself for this moment. A gibbering mass of emotion that was making it hard to breathe.
Ilith rose in her consciousness, placing one paw on Tate’s mind and easing the fear back. Enough so she could think.
They needed to get out of this room. Right now they were trapped. Fish in a barrel.
“We need to get out.”
Tate left their circle. There had to be a way. There was always a way. This room hadn’t sprung into existence. It was no accident. Water and erosion didn’t create these smooth surfaces, which meant the room was man made. That meant there was an exit. Tate was willing to bet it was behind the wall Dewdrop had identified. They just needed to find a way to make it appear.
The white tables with their glass-like coating on top. Touching one had triggered something the last time she was in a room like this.
She placed her hand on one, pressing hard. Her gaze caught on the chains the cloth had turned into earlier. Now, it looked more like a tattoo of rhombuses and other geometric shapes circling her arm from wrist to elbow.
“What is that?” Dewdrop’s voice cracked as he backed toward Tate.
In the corner of the room, there was a whooshing sound, like sand spilling from a jar. This sand, however, was black and glinted in the light.
“We need to go.” Gabriella’s voice thrummed with stress. “Don’t let it touch you. It is a remnant of the Creators. It has the ability to mutate you into a monster.”
The black sand had the properties of a sinuous smoke, curling in and around itself as it crept across the floor toward them.
Tate ignored her panic, too intent on escaping whatever it was that was coming. The pressure and energy in the room had built to almost painful proportions. It felt like something was trying to squeeze her out of existence.
As she watched the altar-like table, one of the tattoo-like shapes bubbled out of her skin, the silver sliding down to where her hand pressed against the opaque glass. Silver filaments grew out of the disk and touched the glass, light cascading away from it in waves. It looked like a pebble dropped into a pond, sending ripples across the surface of the table.
Tate thought of exits and openings and the surface. She didn’t know if positive thinking would do anything, but her teachers in class had stressed visualization over and over. At this point, she was willing to try anything. Even with Ilith’s help, fear was beginning to overtake her.
Gabriella’s growls filled the room, growing ever louder until they were a chest thumping roar. Dewdrop pressed against Tate’s back with his, guarding her despite the shaking that rattled his frame.
The sounds that had been broken and disjointed before, coalesced into shouted words. “Get out. Get out. Get out.”
“Come on. Come on.” Please work.
Shapes appeared on the surface. No, letters.
Access Granted.
There was a hiss. One side of the room went mostly transparent, showing a dark tunnel overlaying the wall.
“Gabriella, head for the tunnel,” Tate shouted.
She didn’t care where it led as long as it was away from here.
Gabriella didn’t hesitate, taking off at a sprint. She pierced the hazy place where the wall should be and appeared in the tunnel.
Tate grabbed Dewdrop and pushed him in front of her.
A boy with ratty, unwashed black hair covering his face, appeared right next to the wall. Purple eyes peered through the veil of hair.
Tate didn’t hesitate, shoving Dewdrop through the wall while placing herself between him and the boy.
“Thief,” the boy hissed, his voice sounding more like an animal’s than a person’s. “Thief.”
Tate didn’t respond, following Dewdrop through. There was weird charge to the wall and it clung like sticky sap. For a moment, she feared she wouldn’t make it—that she would be stuck forever in the wall. Then she was through and sprinting down the corridor after Gabriella and Dewdrop.
She chanced one glance back. The boy glared at her from his side of the wall. He mouthed, “Don’t come back, traitor.” Somehow Tate could understand the words even though she didn’t hear anything.
Then she turned and ran.
Chapter Fifteen
“We need to stop,” Dewdrop gasped. “I can’t run anymore.”
He staggered to a stop, using the wall to keep himself upright. Tate stumbled to a stop beside him. Her legs felt shaky and she was breathing hard.
Gabriella halted, pacing back to the two of them. She propped her hands on her hips and kept moving, walking the width of the corridor.
“We need to keep moving,” she said.
“Yes, but first we need to figure out where to go.” Tate forced herself to straighten, knowing that curling up would just make breathing harder. “If this place is even half as extensive as the tunnels under Aurelia, we could be wandering for days if not weeks. We don’t have supplies. We won’t survive long down here if we’re lost. Let’s get our bearing and then continue.”
Easier said than done. Tate’s sense of direction was all screwed up from being underground. She had no idea how to make it back to the surface, and unlike last time, she didn’t have a handy guide to help her.
“Any ideas?” Tate hoped someone had something.
“I don’t think we’ve been heading down,” Gabriella said, dropping her hands from her hips. “But we haven’t been heading up either. Best guess, we’ve been on one level.”
“What does that mean?”
“The makers of these places tended to build things in levels. Much like you build a ship or a building.”
“So if we were in an alternate version of the bone chamber, we would still be one level below the mosaic room.”
Good, they might be able to find their way back if they were only one floor below that.
“More likely, we were transported a few levels down. We’d have to find our way up to the explored levels to have any hope of finding our way back to the surface.”
Tate liked her own theory better. It meant they had a greater chance of finding their way to safety.
“We also have to make sure we don’t run into more traps,” Dewdrop said.
That would be ideal.
Tate didn’t know how they had been so lucky as to not trip any in the mad flight away from the room. They’d have to be more careful going forward.
“You’re the most experienced of us,” Tate told Gabriella. “Any ideas on how to avoid that?”
Gabriella’s face turned thoughtful. “The type of traps and their triggers really depend on who created the tunnels.”
“Judging by the bones, I’d say there’s a good chance the Silva had something to do with these tunnels. Wouldn’t that mean they were created by the Saviors?” Tate asked. Jost would probably have her head for suggesting this place had ties to any of the groups before
he’d made his final decision, but in Tate’s mind, that ship had sailed now that they were lost in this maze.
“Not necessarily. Many of the tunnels were repurposed many times throughout the ages. The time after the Saviors liberated the three peoples from the Creators was a dark time. We call it the Red Span because there were centuries of war. Entire generations were lost. Since the Creators’ offspring knew many of their secrets, they could use the tunnels the way they needed to. Hard to say whether this place originated from the Saviors or the Creators. That doesn’t even take into account traps created after their rule.”
That was not what Tate wanted to hear. Unfortunately, things were rarely easy.
“What would be your best guess?” she asked.
“Hard to say. This side of the continent was considered a major strategic point. Both sides had strongholds here.”
Tate pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Since we can’t say for sure, tell us the main triggers that you’ve studied,” Dewdrop said.
Gabriella looked pensive. Her expression was unsure, and she looked uncomfortable to be in her position.
Tate could guess the reason. “Just do the best you can. Some knowledge at this point is better than none.”
“You realize I have no formal training.”
Dewdrop shrugged. “You’re what we’ve got. Besides, Tate likes to fly by the seat of her pants. This will just keep things interesting for her.”
Tate rolled her eyes at him, not that they could see it in the dim light cast by the egg artifact Tate had taken from the wall. The faint light was barely enough to see by, but it was enough so they wouldn’t trip over anything. Hopefully.
It was a good thing she’d grabbed it, otherwise they would have been trying to find their way by touch. Then they definitely would have tripped something.
“We call them traps, but that’s a bit of a misnomer. They work to deter people from investigating these sites, but there’s a common theory that they aren’t traps but rather things set up to validate someone’s right to be here. The thing is, over time and war, the key to most of these places were lost. You can imagine what would happen to someone who fails to input the right code.”
Tate could guess. At a time of war, you wouldn’t want just anyone wandering around your strong hold.
“Even then, we don’t think the traps were designed to kill but to simply detain. Unfortunately, over time they have warped so most are deadly.”
“What triggers them?” Dewdrop asked.
Gabriella shrugged. “Anything. Pressure, body heat, sound. They’re all different.”
“How do you explore the sites, then?” There had to be a way. Otherwise people would stay out.
“There’s a reason that people in this field of study have such a short career.”
Not helpful.
“For now, I’ll lead. Follow my steps closely.”
Tate frowned, not liking that Gabriella was going to take the brunt of the danger. It was a valid method, but Tate disliked letting someone sacrifice themselves for her safety.
“I’ve done this before,” Gabriella assured her, sensing Tate’s disquiet. “My sight and smell are better than yours, even considering the power your dragon gives you. I’ll have the best chance of detecting something before we trigger it.”
It was thin, but it might be their best chance for making it out.
Dewdrop touched her shoulder. “Time to let someone else take the risks for once.”
Tate’s sigh was more of a growl. “Fine. You lead; we’ll follow.”
For now.
Gabriella nodded, her face mostly in shadow from the dim light. She took the artifact from Tate. Within seconds the light had faded, leaving them in darkness.
“It’s not working.” Tate could hear a thump as Gabriella must have slammed it against her hand. “How did you get it to light up?”
Tate shrugged, forgetting that they couldn’t see her. “I don’t know. It just did.”
Something whacked her in the shoulder.
“Here, try again. I want to test something out.”
Tate grasped for the artifact that Gabriella was shoving into her. The light created fissures along the surface of it, illuminating the tunnel around them.
Gabriella’s face was much closer than Tate had expected. She jerked back in surprise.
“Fascinating,” Gabriella’s voice was hushed.
Tate swung the artifact and then tried to hand it back. Gabriella refused to take it, watching her as if she was a fish that had just learned how to speak. Even Dewdrop was considering her with an assessing gaze.
“What?”
“It’s an artifact.”
“I figured as much since it was discovered down here.”
“An artifact that only responds to you.”
Tate frowned. She glanced at the object.
“Come to think of it, it wasn’t until you touched the tiles in the mosaic room that the chamber beneath was accessible,” Gabriella said, thinking out loud.
Dewdrop’s silence was as loud as a shout. She could practically sense the thoughts that were flying through his mind. He was probably putting this together with what had happened the last time she’d been in tunnels like these.
“And the tunnel didn’t appear until you touched the table,” he said softly.
Tate’s shoulders jerked up in a shrug. “Coincidence.”
His gaze was sympathetic. He knew as well as she did it wasn’t coincidence. This meant something. You would think she’d be happy, considering it was another sign of her past. Instead it made her feel like even more of an oddity.
“Your family must be descended from one of the architects of this place,” Gabriella said.
Tate hoped not. She had a sneaking suspicion it was built by the Creators. The boy in the room had definitely seemed like something a Creator would dream up.
“Let’s not rush to any conclusions,” Tate said. “For all we know others could make this work. All it seems capable of right now is putting off a little light. Hardly an artifact worth protecting.”
“I couldn’t make it work.”
Tate shrugged. “There could be lots of explanations for that. Maybe it only works for humans.”
“You’re not human.”
“I am too.” There was a bit of outrage in Tate’s voice. “The dragon makes me no less human. In fact, I’d call it more of a human plus situation.”
Gabriella arched one eyebrow, which gave her face a monstrous cast in the odd light. “Let’s try your theory, then. Have your friend hold it.”
“That’s not an accurate test,” Dewdrop said. “I’m a banshee. I don’t think we quite qualify as human. Especially to the people who created that thing.”
Gabriella, even without being able to see her face well, gave off a vibe that said she wasn’t happy with that answer.
“This is a problem,” she said. “I can’t lead if I can’t see. Since you’re the only one who can make it work right now, it makes everything else difficult.”
“Then I’ll have to lead,” Tate said.
“We’ll lead together. I still say my senses are more likely to pick up on danger than yours.”
Tate shrugged.
They set off, Dewdrop following a few feet behind them, Tate and Gabriella shoulder to shoulder.
Now that their panic from earlier had faded, Tate was able to take in the tunnels. The faint light made it difficult to distinguish details, but these tunnels looked similar to those that had led them to the mosaic room.
Gabriella grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop.
“What are-?” A hand landed over her mouth.
Dewdrop froze behind them.
A whisper against Tate’s ear. “Careful. I think we may be near a trap. It could be triggered by sound.”
Tate nodded once. Gabriella’s hand slid away.
“What do you suggest we do?” she whispered, remaining motionless.
There wasn’
t anywhere to backtrack to. They’d come across no branches in the tunnel, just one long, unbroken line that jogged every few hundred feet.
“Let me think.”
Yes, Tate would let her do that while they stood here waiting to trigger what may or may not be a trap.
“We can’t go back,” Dewdrop said softly. “The chamber is the only thing back there.”
That left forward. Tate eyed the area in front of them. It seemed like an odd place to put a trap. It was just more of the same as what lay behind them. Unless it wasn’t. The chamber had already proven their senses could be fooled. Perhaps, what they saw wasn’t the only thing that was there.
Tate crouched and tapped the stone in front of her.
“What are you doing?” Gabriella hissed.
Tate ignored her and continued. At least two feet in front of them was clear of traps. Tate thought.
She took a breath and stepped forward. Gabriella clutched at her arm, trying to drag her back. Tate shook her off and waited. Nothing happened.
She let out a breath.
Gabriella stepped up beside her. “We’re still not safe.”
Something clicked and a sheet of green light coursed down the tunnel, tingeing everything with the color before running past them.
“You tripped something,” Gabriella shouted.
“Should we run?” Dewdrop asked.
“I don’t know.”
That was the problem. They didn’t know anything about this place, and Gabriella didn’t know as much about tunnels on this side of the continent as she did those found in her own land.
“Stay put for now. There might be other traps.” Gabriella sounded like she was trying to convince herself of the soundness of her plan.
The walls shimmered and suddenly they found themselves in a chamber with three tunnels branching off it.
“Are you seeing this?” Tate asked, looking around.
Gray stone blocks interspersed with metal sheets made up the room. Arches highlighted the entrance to each tunnel. Tate assumed the tunnel directly behind them was the one they’d just been in. Dewdrop stood right in front of it, only one or two steps into the room. Gabriella and Tate were a few feet ahead.