Ear to the Serpent | ONC 2020 WINNER ✓ [ PUBLISHED ]

chapter 9

author's note |
i'm so excited for this chapter. here's some character reference for my favourite aztec god ~

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I WASN'T GOOD in a crisis.

But I was significantly better than Valdez Lors.

Though he was no longer hysterical, Lorenne and I could feel the panic radiating from him. We could hear it in his uncertain steps, and see it in the way his flashlight jerked back and forth at the slightest sound. More so his breathing; though quiet, was like a child's after they had cried until they were red in the face.

The only thing that kept me from turning around and snapping at him was Lorenne, and our clasped hands.

Friends held hands and linked arms, didn't they? It was definitely more socially acceptable as females than males. To me though, it felt just as romantic as a boy and a girl. But who was to say that boys and girls couldn't be friends and hold hands?

I glanced down between us as I thought back to our argument. I wanted this to mean something.

My mind was so preoccupied with overthinking that I didn't hear the first time when Lorenne pointed down the tunnel and declared something unusual.

"Look," she repeated in exasperation, "it looks like there's an opening up ahead."

"An exit?" Valdez quipped hopefully.