The Night Has Teeth (Book One) EXCERPTS ONLY

11. Fate

That Friday we meet up at McDo’s for our habitual game, but, for whatever reason, none of us is in the right mindset for Truth or Dare. As we head down to the Métro, with Madison leading the charge, the conversation turns back to the party and what we expect to find even further underground. It’s hard to know what to predict. When I think of what lurks beneath the surface of Paris, my pulse quickens with anxiety.

It’s just a few minutes before eleven p.m., our predetermined meeting time, when we arrive at one of the remote corners of the Val-de-Grâce Hospital parking lot. Arden emerges from the shadow of a tree dressed in his usual black attire. He told us it’s an hour-long hike to the party site. Otherwise, his instructions have been pretty vague: dress accordingly (whatever that means), bring flashlights, follow closely and don’t get lost (as if that would be in our control). Most alarming to me is that he hasn’t provided any of us with a map and appears not to have one of his own. We’re pretty much at the mercy of his memory.

After a cursory glance at our outfits, particularly our footwear, Arden lets out a noise that can only be translated as disgust. I imagine it’s directed at Madison, but she’s too busy texting to notice, and he’s too contemptuous to say anything more on the matter. It’s our hides, after all. Her hair is down tonight, flowing just past her shoulders. She wears a wooly vest — like it was taken right off a sheep — over a camouflage dress. As we stand side-by-side, I notice she changed her eyebrow ring again to one with a tiny wolf’s head, and I wonder if she’s being subtly ironic: the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Bending down, Arden pulls open a manhole cover with his bare hands ― a feat we don’t have time to remark on, because he gestures for us to be quick. When I turn on my flashlight to see what I’m about to get myself into, all I can make out is a rusted ladder that descends into darkness.

Madison jabs me in the ribs with her phone. “Do it already.”

With an unsteady inhalation, I take the lead down the ladder into some kind of anteroom with passages that branch out in all directions. The sound of the manhole sliding closed above us has a finality that gives me goosebumps. All ambient light from above is sealed out, leaving us standing in a huddled mass pointing our flashlights toward various points of darkness. All I smell is mold and damp earth. Madison, who seems bent on not following any of Arden’s instructions, takes the opportunity to pull a pink glowstick out of a vest pocket and loops it around her neck in lieu of a flashlight. Like that’s going to do her any good if she gets separated from the rest of us. Arden leaps down, skipping the last few feet of ladder rungs, and promptly heads down one of the passages. Although he moves at a casual pace, he somehow manages to maintain a steady gap as we try to catch up. Meanwhile, not knowing any better, Josh tries to make small talk with him ― without any success. As it turns out, he’s a nervous talker. He hasn’t stopped since we started down the ladder. Now he echoes in the cavernous depths of the catacombs. I can’t even focus on what he’s saying. I have no idea what to expect down here. None of us do. But I follow along because a) I don’t want Arden to think he’s freaked me out and b) because I’m too freaked out to head back on my own.

It’s hard to imagine the City of Light having such a dark city below ground. But that’s exactly what it feels like. After traversing the edges of regular urban waterways, he leads us through a secret entrance that I have to shimmy through sideways. On the other side the walls are built from large stone blocks worn down with age, and the long, arched passages sometimes open up to rooms beyond pillars and wrought iron gates. These underground places were clearly commissioned by some wealthy aristocrat. To what end, I’m not sure — maybe as part of the French Revolution. We wind around corridors that are only lit by our flashlights. There’s graffiti everywhere and garbage strewn about in different places, evidence of other people crazy enough to venture down here. Some corridors look impassible due to flooding.