Endless Knight(48)

“If you go out the front entrance, you run the risk of more Teeth,” Lark said. To us, she explained, “My way takes us to the other side of the mountain in hours. You were heading south? This will save you days of climbing.”


Climbing?

“Finn could never make it in his condition,” she added, pretty much cementing my decision. Her two rats scurried to her then, startling the prisoners.

Even I got weirded out when the rodents climbed her like a jungle gym, clinging to the back of her coat with their tiny paws, baby-possum style.

Finn cracked a smile, as if he thought that was adorable.

At that, the locals started heading out, but the woman lingered to say, “We’re going to resupply, then make our way out the front. If you go deeper into the mine, you’re going the wrong way.” She followed the others.

I turned to Matthew, reaching up to brush hair from his forehead. “What do you think, sweetheart?”


His brows drew together, his eyes glinting. His pupils looked dilated from shock. “There’s one, there’s two, there’s three.”


“I don’t understand. Do you mean three directions?” I asked, but he just blinked at me.

As Selena looped one of Finn’s arms across her shoulders, he said, “Let’s do this—Lark’ll lead the way.”


Selena glared at him. “Why not follow the locals?”


“I know this place,” Lark insisted. “I’m saving us days.”


I turned to Jack. If we trusted her now and she didn’t betray us, we’d be locking down our alliance. Without a strong alliance, we were dead anyway.

In French, he grudgingly said, “Separating from those people is probably for the best.”


For better or worse, we followed Lark.

19


At the start of an offshoot shaft, Jack had tried to hand Lark his torch, but she’d said, “Night vision, dude.” Then she’d set off farther into the mountain, with those two rats clinging to her back.

If she was distraught over the deaths of her wolves or her missing falcon, she had a hell of a poker face. Were we seeing the Strength Card’s single-minded purpose?

Jack, Matthew, and I were right behind her, Selena helping Finn along behind us.

Lark seemed to know where she was going. In short succession, she’d made several turns, confusing me. But she appeared confident.

Even this far underground, water sprinkled down from the ceilings, making Jack’s torch hiss. As usual, we were soaked, freezing. I remained exhausted from expending so much poison, leaning against Jack for support.

I worried about his head, Finn’s leg, and Matthew’s haunted gaze. The boy was squeezing my hand so hard I thought the bones might break. Yet I didn’t say a word to stop him.

Whatever he needed to get through this night.

“Get your flashlight ready,” Jack grated to Selena. His torch was dwindling. It wouldn’t be long now before it guttered out altogether. And Finn was much too weak to conjure a lantern.

Lark might be able to see in the dark, but none of us could. And down here, dark would be pitch black.

“Finn, you doing okay?” I called over my shoulder.

“My leg hurts like hell, but I’ll live. By the way, I hate that dick! Guthrie puts the cult in difficult, huh?”


Selena said, “Past tense.”


“Yeah, waking up in his cell was like getting a glass of cold piss in the face. Thanks for offing him, Eves.”


“Uh, sure.”


We’d just made yet another turn when I thought I felt the ground moving beneath my feet. “Did you feel that?”


Jack shook his head. But to Lark, he demanded, “How much longer?” I knew this had to be freaking him out as much as it was me. We were both born and raised in Louisiana—there weren’t exactly a lot of mines in cane country. We might as well be atop the Alps. Or on the moon.

“Not long now,” she answered. Was one of the rats on her back peeking at me? Creepy. “We’re going to hit a low spot, then we’ll start ascending. We’ll see light soon after.”


When another quake trembled, I murmured, “Jack . . .”


He exhaled a gust of breath. “I felt it.”


Just then the entire shaft rocked. We had to sidestep to keep our balance. Pebbles, sand, and water rained over us.

Once Jack’s torch hissed its death, he and Selena scrambled to turn on their flashlights, the beams reflecting off a pool of water ahead.

We’d come upon the low spot. One problem: it was covered with water.

And it was rising fast, sloshing like rapids.

“This is new,” Lark said in a casual tone. “We’ll have to cross it. How deep do you figure it is?”


Jack handed me his flashlight, gave my shoulder a squeeze, then strode toward the edge. Without hesitation, he waded out into the water, knee-high, then waist-high; he abruptly sank beneath the surface. Just when I was about to run for him, he bobbed up and swam back toward us.

In the weak beams from the flashlights, his normally-tanned face looked pale, his limbs stiff as he strode out. How cold was it in there?

“It drops off. And it’s deep. We’d have to swim it.”