Little Saint Bride [Death and the Maiden, #1]

Chapter Twenty Six: Piercings in Difficult Places

                  

'This is where I leave you,' Shan says, her voice coming from somewhere behind me.

I can't tell from where. The darkness that has enveloped us once the lift opened isn't mere absence of light. There's a dense moisture upon the air and a tang of metallic that whispers of a more sinister nature to these sewers. The breath that pours in through my nostrils stings my lungs, and I hold back from coughing it all out again.

I peer out into the blackness. It's an odd feeling, being able to only see a few metres in front of you; it's as if the world fades out before you, a half-finished landscape that the artist left in black despair.

The light from the lift is the only glow that lets me see my scuffed boots, the slabs of slimy stone and moss that greet them. Once the lift leaves, I'm like a rat left in darkness.

Except rats have much better perception than I do.

Shan gives a cough that's nothing to do with the stale air. 'I hope you're not having second thoughts.'

'Wouldn't you love it if I were?' My voice is lazy, hiding the fear beneath. But I am royally screwed without a light-

There's a pressure at my head, and a clicking noise that startles me. Then I realise Shan's hand is pressing on my temples, catching a switch on the band that circles my forehead in a manner that I'd laughed at earlier. But as the band clicks, and a narrow beam of light shoots from the torch bulb on my forehead, I'd like to kiss Shan's feet.

'Don't thank me,' she mutters; the gratitude on my face must have been enough to make her feel nauseated. 'That light only lasts for a couple of hours, if left on. Use it sparingly.'

'Sparingly?' I repeat, glancing back at the oncoming darkness. How am I supposed to use a light, required to navigate dark tunnels, sparingly? I would have learn quickly, or hope Shan tells me.

She doesn't. 'Yes. Normally we work in teams. There's more heads to guide the way, so to speak. You're on your own, so you've just got the one.'

I have to try. 'Can I have the one on your head?'

'No. Be grateful I even gave you that one.'

So she's still an ass. I don't feel quite as grateful as I'm supposed to. I turn away, and her sigh is a soft echo against the still quiet as she closes the lift doors with a sharp tug. I hear the levers whirring once more, and the clanking and groaning that brought us down here begins once more, only this time, slower and in the opposite direction.

'See you around...' I hear her say as the lift rolls upwards. '...maybe.'

One last time, I peer at the disappearing lift out of the corner of my eye, despite knowing the caging feeling it would give me seeing the empty lift shaft, with only squarely sloping walls for company. Without Shan, the eerie silence has set in, and the lift clanking is becoming quieter with every moment that passes.

So I turn back around to face my destiny and glare out at the darkness, beyond the edge of the light. There's only a small, narrow path that runs along the side an empty bed, where water may once have ran but now sits, an empty trough of slime and filth. Only a few hardy moulds and mosses survive down here, in the cold, dark climate, but it's enough to coat the rock on the floor to make it slippery. My feet catch at first, sliding underneath me, but I soon learn to tread with a heavy and careful foot, an arm trailing the wall, with its stones and grooves, for support.

And as soon as I've worked out how to navigate through the sewers, I reach up and switch off the light at my temple.

The beam shutters and fades away. The blackness returns, only this time, I'm ready for it. I will not be intimidated by the dark; not when I can be methodical. Tapping the stones in front of me signals me towards any corners, and I move in slow, precise movements. Every so often I whistle with my fingers, letting the echo alert me to how long the next part of the tunnel is. When that doesn't work, I flick on the light, and allow a few seconds to take stock of my surroundings.