Daughter of Nox

Chapter Thirty-Three

"So," she said, scrounging around her head for something to keep the conversation going. "You're a Third Year. That's crash. Where are you from?"

"Hold on one second," Alexander said, his eyes focused on the datapad. "I'm not ignoring you. Just trying to get something set for us."

Freya made a sound as if this cleared everything up. Trying not to loom over his shoulder, she looked for something that might lend her an air of looking busy.

A shot of relief eased through her as he flipped off the datapad and stuffed it into the pocket of his uniform.

He stood up. "Ready to go?"

"Oh, um," she said, caught off guard by the sudden change of subject. She glanced around. "Are we going somewhere?"

Alexander seemed to read her confusion. He leaned into the door he'd been working beside. It swung inward without a sound.

"In there," he said with a sweep of his hand. "After you."

Freya gnawed on her lip as she took a few steps and glanced in. Blackness radiated from the open door for a few seconds before her eyes adjusted. A steep stairway formed in the darkness leading down, and he smell of mildew made her nose itch. From where she was standing, the place didn't look too appealing.

She turned from the door and gave him a skeptical look. "And that goes where?"

He shook his head. "That's a surprise."

Freya looked back down the darkened hallway. "The hallway is the surprise? Or something down there is the surprise?"

Alexander gave her a knowing look. "Guess you'll have to find out for yourself."

Freya took a step toward the open door, trying not to show how unappealing the place looked. Alexander had obviously taken a risk letting her in on his secret so she didn't want to make him regret it.

She took a deep breath to steel herself, and started down the stairs.

There was no handrail on either side so Freya stuck her arms out and felt along the wall for balance. Her body blotted out the thin light from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see Alexander following, then turned back around and squinted down into the darkness. If she was getting close to the end of the stairs she couldn't tell.

She'd made it down a few more steps when the weak light winked out. Her breath caught in her throat. The sound of her feet scrambling on the hard stairs echoed against the stone walls as she felt her weight pitching forward. Her right leg flung out in front of her in a jerking reflex and her foot landed on flat ground.
She stumbled forward with two choppy steps before getting her balance.

The scrape of Alexander's boots rang through the darkness with a practiced quickness before she heard his feet hit the landing.

"You okay?" The concern in his voice was palpable.

"I think so," she said over the sound of her pounding heart in her chest. "I could use a little light though."

"That might not be such a good idea."

"Because?"

"I don't know if it's true or not, but the guys who showed me this place said there's sensors down here that pick up light."

"Light sensors?" Freya said. "In a dark tunnel? That doesn't make a ton of sense."

"I know, but that's what they told me. I guess I've never wanted to risk it."

"Then how do we get around down here?"

"No problem," he said. "I know the way."

Freya felt something brush up against her hand. When she yanked her arm away, her elbow connected with the wall behind her. A sharp yip escaped her mouth.

Freya wrapped her arms protectively around her body. "Something touched me!"

Alexander's voice sounded embarrassed. "That was me."

Freya's arms snapped down at her sides. "Could you just warn me before you do that? I'm a tiny bit edgy right now. The dark and all."

"Sorry," he said. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Freya sighed. "Let's just get to wherever we're going. Unless you're planning on pushing me down some stairs or something?" She paused. "You're not thinking of pushing me down some stairs, are you?"

Alexander laughed, nervously. "If I was, I'd make sure to warn you before I push you down the stairs. Just take my hand."

Freya reluctantly extended one arm into the darkness, sucking in a tiny gulp of air when she felt his hand take hers. His hand was warm despite the chilled air pressing in on them. It sent a tingle up her arm so that the pain in her elbow seemed distant and detached. Freya let him lace his fingers in with her own.

She forced herself to breath slowly before she spoke. "So where now?"

He gave her hand a squeeze. "Let me show you."

Alexander led her slowly through the darkness at a pace that told her he'd done this before.

"What is this place?" Freya asked after they'd walked a short way.

"Access tunnels," he said. "For maintenance on all the old pipes below Academy."

The news was surprising. "They're not self-servicing?"

"All the stuff down here is from the First Wave colonization," he said. "They have to actually come down here and fix things by hand."

Freya's head spun as she considered his words. "But the grounds are huge. There must be hundreds of tunnels like this."

"Probably thousands," he said. "Any place on Academy with running water is going to have an access tunnel."

"Who does the maintenance?" she asked. As soon as the words escaped her lips she knew the answer.

"Esque, mostly," he said, as if reading her thoughts. "Some of them keep up the grounds, but a good chunk of them don't do anything but maintain all of this."

Freya thought back to Day Zero, to the Esque she'd refused to send to their deaths. No one had mentioned what had happened that day, but she couldn't help but feel the cold stares against her back whenever she walked the grounds.

Freya's thoughts about the Esque were cut off by the sounds of metal clanking against metal.

"This is the hatch," he said. "I'm going to let go of your hand now."

Freya loosened her grip and felt his fingers slip away. Her arms tucked in close to her body as the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees.
The metallic sound hit her ears again.

"You hear that?" Alexander said.

Freya nodded, but then remembered that he couldn't see her in the dark.

"Yes."

"It's a ladder. Not too high though. I'm going to climb up and get this hatch open."

Freya had no idea what door he was talking about but decided not to say anything. The sound of his boots scraping against metal rang through the tunnel with what must have been him climbing the rungs. After a few steps, they stopped.

When he spoke again, his voice rang high with excitement, and Freya wasn't sure if she liked it.

"You might want to cover your eyes."