Superior

Chapter 41

Chapter Forty-One

Caleb

I nodded to a guard as I passed him, making my way down the hallway with as much nonchalance as I could manage. He inclined his head toward me respectfully before continuing on his way. I waited until he had entered the ceremony hall before quickening my pace and hurrying to the stairwell where Christopher and I had planned to meet. After casting a quick glance at my empty surroundings, I ducked into the small space, where my brother was waiting.

"God, Caleb, took you long enough," he muttered as soon as he caught sight of me.

"Sorry," I replied as we mounted the stairs. "I got trapped by Miracle." Christopher's eyes widened, and I assured that it was nothing, not wanting to get into the details. Thankfully, my brother didn't ask any more questions as we descended down five flights to the unused subbasement that connected to the Pro-Inferiors' entry tunnels. We were only one floor below Leary's laboratory, but I was trying not to think about that.

"Any idea where we're going?" Christopher asked out of the corner of his mouth.

I jumped off the last step and looked around warily before nodding affirmatively. We moved quickly down the simple corridors, hardly making a sound. I followed Nessa's direction in my head, all the while remembering my conversation with Ms. Shea a couple of days before. I was distracted, to be sure, but as we sped around a corner, my worries were penetrated by the sudden feeling that there was someone behind us.

I froze in my tracks and turned to my brother. "Do you hear that?"

He frowned, glancing over his shoulder into the dim corridor behind us. "What am I supposed to be hearing?"

"Never mind," I murmured, shaking my head. "My ears must be playing tricks on me." I waved him along, still plagued with the feeling that we were being followed.

"Maybe you should wait in there," I told Chris, gesturing to a dusty supply closet as we neared the rendezvous point. "They don't know that you're here, and I don't want to give them any unexpected surprises."

Christopher gave me a thumbs up, obligingly ducking into the closet and easing the door shut behind him. A suspicious feeling tingled at the back of my neck, but I brushed it off and strode toward the trap door that Nessa had told me would be built into the ground. It could only be unlocked from the outside, and Nessa and Perfecta hadn't wanted to risk coming down to open it earlier.

I crouched next to the ancient trapdoor, grabbing the chain that bolted the door to the ground and pulling it apart with surprising ease. After tossing it aside, I grabbed the handle and tipped back the metal slab, propping it against the wall.

At first, the only thing I could see in the gaping hole was darkness. But after a moment, a bright light powered on, illuminating a woman's face. She blinked up at me through pale gray eyes—then her hand moved, and suddenly I found myself staring into the barrel of a gun.

"It's a Superior," she hissed, as if I wasn't there. "Do I shoot it?"

Struck by anger, I reached forward and grabbed her gun, crushing its barrel in my fist as if it was a piece of paper. The woman behind it backed up and let go, leaving the damaged gun in my hand. I tossed it aside, then stuck my head into the tunnel entry.

"I am not an it," I snarled. "I am a human being. I'm also your ticket into the Capitol, so I'd suggest you treat me as such."

The woman shrank back into the shadows, so that all I could see were her big eyes, which were staring at me in shock. From behind her came another figure, this one male, who smiled at me as he came into sight.