“Keep walking until you reach the end. Should take you about two full days, although some have done it in one with no sleep,” he grunted. “I’d sleep in shifts since you’ve got these pretty ladies with you,” he told Noah.
Luke’s hand in mine squeezed as Chloe nodded and started into the tunnels as if what the demon said didn’t deter her at all. When it was Shea’s turn, the demon’s hand snaked out and took her left one, bringing it up to his face. He gawked at her huge engagement ring, shaking his head. “Put it away, or magically conceal it. Everything of value gets stolen down there.”
Shea yanked her hand back and nodded, while I pulled my own engagement ring from my finger, slipping it into my bra.
Shea and Noah dipped into the stairwell, and then it was Luke’s and my turn. When we passed the demon, he met my gaze. “No rules in the tunnels, so if you aren’t back in two weeks, I’ll assume you’re dead, and will sell your car.”
I swallowed hard and just nodded.
With that cheery send-off, Luke and I entered the dark staircase and went down the steps. When we got to the bottom of the staircase, it opened into a large hallway about ten feet wide, almost like a small subway tunnel. It was much wider and taller than I thought.
Noah spun, huddling us together. “We stay sharp, and we stay together. I’ll kill someone down here if I have to, but I’d rather not.”
Yeah… same.
Up high on the walls were magical lamps that glowed a sickly green, casting macabre hues along the angles of our faces, and making my friends look ghoulish. We set off then, walking for a good hour at a brisk pace, before we heard the grumbling of voices ahead.
Noah had brought his gun, and I’d brought a little dagger I found in the weapons room at school. None of us brought big swords or infinity weapons for fear of them being recognized as fancy Fallen Academy weapons. When we neared the voices, Noah’s hand went to the back of his waist belt where he kept his gun.
As the shadows up ahead emerged, I could see it was two humans. Demon gifted, I was sure. They watched us approach and one of them whistled.
“New friends!” he called out to us.
He had an open suitcase propped up, with a bunch of items inside like flashlights, and candy bars. But when I looked back up at him, I noticed the semiautomatic rifle slung casually around his shoulder. His other friend was blocking us from passing.
“Hello, new friends. Welcome to my tunnel shop. Each item is one hundred dollars, and you must each buy an item to pass by.” He grinned, resting a hand by the trigger of his gun.
Noah growled, but Shea grabbed his arm and pulled him backward.
“A hundred-dollar candy bar?” Chloe glared.
The man smiled, and I could see one tooth was missing. “It goes up to two hundred the longer you wait.”
Chloe cursed under her breath, and threw five hundred dollars at him. “Grab something!” she barked at us. After we each came forward and grabbed a candy bar or flashlight, the friend finally moved out of the way, unblocking the hall.
“How many more of these are there?” Noah pointed to the man’s briefcase.
The man shrugged casually. “Four or five.”
“Con artist,” Chloe snapped.
The man glared, his eyes thinning to slits, and he reached for his gun.
“Mind your tongue, woman!” Noah screamed, and gave Chloe a light shove in the back, urging her forward. Shea and I both looked at Noah wide-eyed, waiting for Chloe to knee him in the balls, but the man’s grip on his gun relaxed and he grinned at Noah.
“That’s right. Keep your women in line down here. We rule the tunnels, and sass gets you dead.”
With that, we scurried away. Once we’d gone deeper into the tunnel, and no one could hear us, Noah turned to Chloe. “Forgive me. I was trying to keep you from getting killed.”
Chloe raised an eyebrow. “I know, that is the only reason I didn’t lay you out right then and there.”
Shea chuckled. “If you ever spoke to me like that, even faking it, God help you.”
Noah, smart man that he was, didn’t say a word.
Chloe quickly counted the rest of the cash we had, as we continued our walk down the endless tunnel.
“How much left?” I asked her.
She grimaced. “Fifteen hundred.”
Noah nodded. “Raph gave me five grand and I added two of my own. That’s not enough to get us through the tunnels if there are four or five more stops like that.”
“And we’ll need a hotel and food when we get up top,” Chloe added.
Shea was looking at the money while rubbing her chin. “I’ve got an idea. Let me see one of those.” She reached for a hundred-dollar bill, then reached in her backpack and pulled out a small piece of notebook paper.
“I can make this paper look and feel like the money, but the illusion spell will wear off in a few hours,” Shea offered.
Noah winced. “That would only give us a few hours’ head start, the men would be chasing us down for conning them once it was revealed.”
Damn. That meant we wouldn’t be able to sleep once we gave away that fake money.
“How about we go as far as we can tonight, paying real money to the next con we see, and then sleep for the night. Tomorrow we give everyone fake money all day, and push hard to get out.”
Noah nodded. “That’ll work if we can stay a few hours ahead of the cons.”
“Agreed.” Luke nodded.
Okay, we have a plan.
With that settled, we set off to walk for about four more hours, passing a few sleeping lumps on the ground, and one other couple who looked injured and were walking slowly. We’d even passed a Porta-Potty, which was a welcome relief considering we’d already peed on the floor, and I was afraid we’d have to keep doing that. Now that I knew they were down here, I’d hold it.
After walking a total of about six hours since we’d reached the tunnels, we came upon another con man.
“Hello, friends!” he said cheerily, pointing to his suitcase of goods that consisted of half-torn magazines and a few cracker packets.
Chloe groaned, handing him five hundred dollars, but skipped from taking any merchandise.
“Have a wonderful night,” he cooed, nodding to his henchmen to let us pass.
We were about a thirty-minute walk away from him, when we found a little room cut out into the side of the hall. We’d noticed them about every hour or so. Little stop points where you could roll out a sleeping bag, and lie fully flat without taking up the walking room.
As we started to lay out the sleeping bags we’d shoved in our backpacks, Noah checked his watch. “By my calculations, tomorrow will have to be a fourteen-hour walk without stopping, because we’ve only gotten so far using the real money.”
Chloe nodded. “We can do it. We’ll sleep when we get to the city.”
Noah gave her a curt nod in return. “Luke, you sleep first. I’ll wake you in two hours to take next watch. I’m only letting everyone get four hours’ sleep total. The less time we’re down here, the better.”
Luke nodded and started to zip into his sleeping bag.
“Good night,” Shea whispered, and we all whispered it back.
Within minutes, I could see the even breathing of my three friends. Noah was sitting cross-legged at the entrance to the cave, gun in hand, looking out at the opening.
“Noah?” I called out in a soft voice.
“Hmm?” He turned back to look at me.
“You think Lincoln will be excited to see us?” I smiled. I kept envisioning him seeing me for the first time. Shock, of course, and then a big wide grin.
Something dark crossed Noah’s face. “I honestly don’t know, Bri. He’s not the same man you left before. I want to prepare you for that.”
My stomach dropped at his words. “What do you mean?”
Noah sighed, looking conflicted. “After his parents died, he went to a really dark place. He was like a robot with no feelings, no care for his own life, reckless. But after a month or so, he pulled out of it. With you gone… he’s still in that dark place, and I couldn’t pull him out. None of us could.”
Oh, Lincoln. The trauma from losing so many people in such a short time had left a permanent mark on my man, and it broke my heart.
“I’ll pull him out,” I promised.
Noah was silent after that, and I lay there a long time, just listening to the sound of the others breathing, while thinking of Lincoln and every happy moment we’d ever had together.
Finally, sleep took me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was awoken to someone shaking me.
“Wake up, Bri.” Shea shoved an elbow in my rib cage.
I groaned, peeling my eyes open. “What time is it?”
Shea shrugged. “I have no idea, since my cell phone doesn’t work down here, but according to Noah, we’ve slept four hours.”
Four hours! That was nothing. Now I had to walk another fourteen nonstop. Without coffee.
“We almost got jumped twice in the night. I had to pull my gun. I want to get the hell out of here,” Noah told us. He looked haggard.
“You should’ve woken me,” Luke scolded him.
Noah waved in dismissal. “I never intended to, just said that so you wouldn’t argue.”
Shea gave Noah her stank face. “Babe, you can’t go all hero and be without sleep. You’re going to collapse before we even get out of here.”
He chuckled. “I’ll be fine. I gave myself a small healing an hour ago. No one saw, and now I feel refreshed.”
Shea just shook her head, as we started to pass out breakfast bars and waters to our small crew.
Chloe was chewing her lip, looking anxiously at the entrance to the cave where we were.
“What’s up?” Noah asked her, obviously noticing her apprehension.
She turned, slightly red in the cheeks. “Hypothetically, if someone had to poop, where would they go?”
Luke, Shea, and I busted out laughing. Chloe reached out and punched Shea in the arm since she was closest. Only Noah seemed mature enough to keep his cool.
“There’s a Porta-Potty up here. I’ll escort you while everyone else eats,” Noah told her with a straight face.
She tipped her chin up in a dignified way, and walked after him. “Thank you.”
It was a funny moment, and yet right then, Sera popped into my mind. If she were here, she’d have a joke to crack as well, but she wasn’t. I was having fun without her, laughing without her, and I felt guilty for it. I was leading a rescue mission for Lincoln and not for her, and I felt guilty for that too.
And then there was Raksha. Did Lucifer suspect that she helped me? Was she okay? I just didn’t know.
I ate the rest of my bar in silence.
After we’d all gone to the bathroom and had our breakfast, we started our grueling walk. After we reached our first scam checkpoint of the day, the clock started ticking. In a few hours, that guy’s money would turn to misshapen pieces of paper, and as soon as he noticed he’d be on our asses to enact revenge. We speed-walked without taking breaks for ten hours, making great time, until Noah collapsed.