Delving Beneath the Surface

Chapter 13

Sebastian caught Verona as she crashed into the lip of the platform. Her teeth sang as her chin cracked against solid stone. The metallic tang of blood coated her tongue as blood gushed from where she bit down on the inside of her cheek. Her legs flailed wildly, searching for a foothold. The vein on his neck popped as he fought to maintain his grasp around her forearms.

His pupils swallowed the color of his eyes – blown wide with fear – no doubt mirroring her own expression. "On the count of three, I need to you to shove off the side, got it?" She managed a small nod.

"Alright. One, two..."

She braced her heels on a crumbling bit of stone.

"Three."

She shoved off the side. With a low grunt, he hoisted her over the edge. She collapsed on top of him, burying her face in the fabric of his shirt. A silent sob wracked her whole body as an overwhelming sense of relief washed over her.

His hands shook as he took her firmly by the cheeks and forced her to look at him. He pressed their foreheads together and breathed, "Can I—"

She kissed him.

She felt everything. He laid it all out for her to see when he kissed her like this. They had almost lost each other, but that would never again, not if she had anything to say about it. When they broke apart, she was raw with emotion, both hers and his. "You caught me."

"I told you I would."

"Touching as that little moment was..." The pair jolted. Sam and Haley sat crouched around the corner of an alcove. Now that she was right in front of it, Verona could see that it continued deeper into the side of the ravine – another tunnel that led Yoba knows where. Haley continued, "We need to get out of here. That thing is still floating around here somewhere, and I don't want to be around when it—"

The stench of sulfur burned at her nose.

Verona pushed herself off Sebastian and dragged him to his feet. "Run."

The pair scrambled off the platform as another blast of fire slammed into it. Flames licked at their heels as Sam and Haley pulled them further inside. They pressed themselves flat against the wall. No one dared to speak as they waited for the flames to die out. A long moment passed, then another, but a second blast never came. They released the collective breath they had been holding.

"Now what are we supposed to do?" Sam asked. His arms were wrapped tight around Haley who shook like a leaf. She stared out the entrance – where the platform used to be. "The stairs are destroyed. How do we get back to the surface?"

"That's just it. We're trapped," Haley said hollowly, "We're never getting out."

"Don't say that. We don't know that." Verona's voice rose the octave, betraying her own panic. Haley had every right to think that. Their only way out had been destroyed by something they never saw until it was too late. She wracked her brain for something, anything, to get them out of this situation, but her mind went blank.

"Ah fuck," she hissed, "please tell me someone has an idea because I've got nothing."

"Well, we could always follow the path and see where it leads." Sebastian motioned down the tunnel. "There's got to be another way out of here. Whoever made this would know to make more than one exit."

"You don't know that. For all you know, we're going to die down here. No one will ever be able to find our bodies." Haley buried her face in her hands and sobbed. "If I'm dead, who's going to take care of Emily?"