The Claiming

Chapter Eighteen

When we slide into the front seats of his car, I stare out the window breathing hard. "Do you think they'll catch us?" I ask, reaching over to clutch his arm.

Alec shakes his head. "We'll be fine."

He starts the car and we start speeding down the mountainous trail towards the Family District. Alec intertwines his fingers with mine. I press my head hard against the seat with anxiety. "What if they catch us?"

"Belle, stop worrying. I have a plan, okay?"

"But is it completely thought out? Are you positive we're okay?"

Alec's jaw sets and he doesn't respond. Oh, crap. I'm aggravating him.

I look back out the window at the trees racing by. Alec's car emerges into the open air of the neighborhoods and we begin passing the dark lower-middle class houses. When we pass by ours, I start to shake. Some kind of realization hits me, and I start to believe that things are changing for real now. I guess my separation from Alec had never settled in because I hadn't married the prince yet. Now that we're zooming past our home, everything begins to settle on my shoulders. Everything I've grown up knowing is changing, and we're about to go outside the wall.

The small dull houses begin to transform into the larger family homes of the upper middle class of which Alec and Chance originally belonged. Alec pulls the car into Chance's family's driveway. I look nervously at Alec. "I... I don't know how to comprehend any of this."

Alec unbuckles his seatbelt. "I know, love, but we have to keep moving no matter what. Okay? Everyone is waiting for us on the other side."

"What?"

Alec smiles a little. "My family, Chance's family, and Riah are all on the outside already. I told them to go ahead and try to wait for us if they could."

A little sigh of relief escapes my lips. At least we won't be alone in whatever we're about to do.

Together we head up to the front door. Alec takes a key from the loop on his keychain lanyard and sticks it in the lock. When the door opens, silence falls all around us, especially when the door shuts again. It's an eerie, unfamiliar feeling.

Maybe everything has always seemed so loud, but now...

Alec takes my hand. "I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now, but I want to reassure you that I'm going to keep you safe."

"Thanks," I say with a squeak. Why do I always have to be such a coward?

God give me strength.

He leads me downstairs into their musty basement where a giant hole resides in the wall, leading off into a seemingly nowhere.

"Whoa." I breathe.

Alec tugs on my hand. "Right?"

And with that, we begin our trek into the cold dark tunnel.

***

We walk for about ten minutes before I see a ladder dimly lit from above. I squeeze Alec's hand. "What... is that the end?"

He nods. "Yep. We're here."

Alec leads the way up the ladder and through a small opening that creates the light shining down. I become slightly claustrophobic once I reach the small space in the ground, but with Alec to guide me, I'm able to surface into the outside world.

Outside Bayfell walls.

I stare around us in surprise.

Throughout all of my school years, we had all been taught that the outside world is dangerous, basically a wasteland with rotting corpses dotting the skyline.