Creatures of the Night

Chapter Two

Aside from mealtimes, nobody likes being in the tunnels during the day, so when I appear belowground with a bucket and cloth, Darius and I are surprised to see each other. With a smile, I hold up my bucket to answer his question about what I'm doing down there today. "Cleaning duty. Shouldn't you be at school?"

There are only around thirty kids in the village, but until the day they turn sixteen, they're stuck here like me. They spend most of the morning at school, where they're taught writing and reading in the tunnels, or if it's a nice day, in the patch of grass before the kitchen. I was never given that luxury. When I was a kid, Charles made me learn to cook while other kids were taught to write. He said I was good at it, and it'd be a waste not to take advantage of that.

"Mom's mad at me again." He sighs. "You know what that means—cleaning duty."

"What'd you do this time?"

He shrugs. "Aren't you usually on gardening?"

"I wanted a change of scenery."

He shrugs and wipes down the table. I've always liked Darius. He's only thirteen, so he hasn't hunted yet, and doesn't look down on me because I haven't either. Hunting is a rite of passage in the village—everyone, even Cynthia, participates every now and again. And it always happens the same way: When they're young, they're kind to me; and then they go on their first hunt. The next day, I'm a distant memory and lucky to receive a smile, as if being a hunter makes them so much better than me. The only one who's stuck around is Flo.

Darius smiles at me. "So, the creature. . . . Is that why you wanted to clean?"

"No." I look at the wall again and focus on the distant dripping of water.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

I keep my head down. Seeing the creature won't be worth it if Charles finds out.

"You wanna see it?" Darius asks.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They came down a while ago to attach the new chains."

"The new chains?"

"It broke through the old ones. These ones are silver, though. They seem to have an effect on it. Charles said I have to give it this medicine every hour to keep it alive, otherwise the silver will kill it." He shows me a syringe filled with a dark-red liquid. I eye it warily. This is why I came down here, but now that the offer is right in front of me I'm struck with hesitation. "Come on, Millie." Darius leans closer and the edges of his mouth tilt up. "Live a little."

"Okay."

"Let's go," he says, dropping the syringe in the bucket and turning down the hall. Taking a deep breath, I follow him. With the absence of people, the tunnels feel colder, darker. The glow from Darius's lantern crawls along the damp, narrow halls as we move. Sweat beads at the back of my neck; the farther we get from the entrance, the thicker the moisture in the air gets.

"It doesn't talk," Darius warns. "I don't even know if it can."

Each step feels like I'm breaking an invisible string that Charles has tied me to. The deeper we venture into the tunnels, the more my shoulders tense, and the more I want to turn around. Nobody goes this deep unless there's something wrong with the pipes, and there's only two people in the whole village who work on the pipes. I'll be punished if I'm found down here, but I can't ignore my nagging curiosity. These are the creatures that murdered my parents. They're horrendous, bloodthirsty beasts hell-bent on killing innocent humans, but I've never seen one. And though the idea terrifies me, I can't stop myself from following Darius around the corner.