Alva felt the force of gravity in her legs first, so much so that they gave out underneath her upon impact. She felt her body tumble against concrete and rubble, ripping at both her clothes and skin. There was no time to think about the tears as her body continued its momentum. To her horror, she watched as the world around her slowed, her focus narrowing in on the demolished part of the ledge. Large metal supports stuck out, her mind was racing in a split second trying to decide if she was even close enough to grab onto one.
A scream ripped through her throat as she scrambled and clawed wishing that they might find purchase on anything. The ledge grew closer, and rocks tumbled off in front of her, she was going over. Alva closed her eyes tight, waiting for the ground to vanish from beneath her.
But it never came. There was a tightening around her waist with pressure that felt like her body might end up cut in two. The ground, she could still feel firmly below her and her body had stopped its motion altogether. With her breathing heavy, she opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was that her feet were inches away from the crumbling edge.
"Think I'm taking back that bit about the rope being shit," Lev's voice called from behind her.
Alva scrambled away from the edge, rushing quickly over to the steel ledge, and wrapping her arms around one of the support beams. There she shut her eyes, trying to regulate her breathing, and willing the adrenaline to stop coursing so strongly through her.
"Frosty?" She could hear the concern in Lev's voice, but she ignored him. Alva just needed to get her bearings, to calm the terror that had claimed her mind.
An echo of a scream caused Alva to flinch. She was overwhelmed in a way that she had never been before. In the past, she had thought that not meeting deadlines or having multiple deadlines to meet in one day was an overwhelming life. She even thought that having the weight of the world on her shoulders and her family's lives on the line was overwhelming, but all those had been wrong. There was something far more overwhelming about nearly escaping death.
"Alva," Lev's voice was soft, "Come on, show me those pretty blues." She felt him in front of her, but she couldn't comply. She didn't want to be here. If she kept her eyes closed, she could pretend to be home. "You've faced worse, Frosty."
Her blood boiled with his lack of empathy. Did he not just see what happened? "Are you blind?" Alva snapped, her eyes flying open to glare at Lev.
Only when her eyes opened, she was greeted by a smug smirk and a hearty laugh. His large hand came up in a fist, playfully knocking it into her chin. "You're predictable," Lev told her before taking a step back.
Alva scoffed. She knew plenty of people who would argue with that.
They wouldn't.
A shiver went down her spine as the voice whispered to her. It reverberated around in a way that had her wondering if maybe Lev had heard it too. Judging by the way he turned around and moved back toward the gaping tunnel, he hadn't heard a thing.
Alva sighed, her arms beginning to loosen around the pillar, "She screamed again."
"No, she's calling," Lev corrected. It would have annoyed her more if she wasn't just a bit rattled. "We learned it..."
There was a long pause as Alva waited for Lev to finish his sentence. Out of confusion, she walked over to the entrance of the tunnel with him. She followed his gaze looking into the surprisingly well-lit corridor. Surprised to see that florescent floor lights lined the base of the tunnel walls, projecting their lights upward toward the tunnel's ceiling. She looked up at him with her eyebrows drawn together.
"Learned it?" Alva pressed.
Lev blinked out of whatever memory he'd traveled into, "Huh? Oh, she's mimicking a fox. I used to do it, too. You follow the scream, you find me. If you do it at the right time of day, right season, and all that. People will just mistake you for a fox or a coyote, sometimes a bobcat." Lev shrugged, but Alva was too focused on the haunted look in his eyes.
"How do you know it's not-"
"They're not as high-pitched, foxes don't burrow this far down, and the sound hasn't changed its location. Foxes don't sit still."
"That's not what I was going to ask," Alva said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Lev chuckled, though it sounded more like a sigh, "What's the question?"
"It could be someone else," Alva stated instead of asking anything.
"Defiant," Lev mumbled before answering, "It could be."
"If you're leading me to a trap-"
"If I'm leading you to a trap, I've wasted a lot of energy saving you so many times," Lev winked at her as he stepped forward into the tunnel.
Alva scoffed, "It hasn't been that many."
Lev held up three fingers as he continued further down the tunnel.
She stomped her foot, she wanted to argue but he had helped her out of a couple of sticky situations. Still, the words were on her tongue as she charged forward after him, "That's an exaggeration!"
"It's not."
"It was only once!"
"Blue eyes, I'd love to argue with you-"
"Alva," she interrupted to correct the nickname.
"-but I need my ears," Lev continued without missing a beat.
How someone could be so...Lev, was beyond her. Though her mind fluttered away for a moment as she thought about her lab. In another life, she would have loved to do a social experiment with Lev as a subject. He was interesting enough as it was, with the charm that Alva couldn't quite understand. She found herself wondering if he had ever met a stranger. What a gift that would have been to uncover.
"Once was all," Alva insisted in a whisper.
Lev put his finger to his lips, as he turned around to look over his shoulder, in a hushing motion. It made Alva roll her eyes; she opened her mouth to speak only to snap it shut when Lev's energy changed.
His shoulders tensed, his hand going to the knife at his belt. Lev's head was tilted slightly to the right as he listened. The man's eyes were closed, and his head appeared to be twitching. Unease grew in her bones as she watched, Alva started shifting away, reading herself to run.
"Lev, that's not funny," she whispered harshly at him.
Lev's eyes opened slowly, a calm smile accompanying the kindness reflected in his eyes. "Don't worry, just needed to listen," he assured her.
Alva nodded, relaxing her stance, and swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. She followed along slightly behind Lev, as he led the way through the ever-weaving tunnels. Occasionally, he would pause, mainly at tunnel intersections, and listen. Whatever he heard didn't reach Alva's ears, but eventually, he led them into a large chamber.
The chamber was wide and open with six tunnels leading into the large area. Tree roots twisted in and out of the walls around them, and from the ceiling, roots hung down like nature's chandeliers. Florescent floor lights lined the base of the walls, just like they had in the tunnels. In the center of the room, there was what looked like an old water well, stones stacked one on top of the other in a closed circle. The chamber was too quiet, the kind of quiet you felt in your bones when you knew you weren't alone.
"Lev," Alva said his name though she didn't know why.
Lev wrapped a confronting arm around her as he pushed her behind him. Alva went willingly, peeking around his large shoulder as they inched further into the area.
They didn't get far before a slight movement could be spotted from inside the water well. It was just the movement of a shadow, but Alva felt sick at the sight.
That was until a familiar set of curls popped into view. Alva quickly grabbed at Lev's arm as he pulled his knife. He was mid-throw when Alva yelled, "No!"
Lev released the knife and Alva watched it fly in horror. It clanged, unceremoniously into the stone of the well. "The fuck, Alva!"
She didn't care enough to respond as she rushed toward her ward. "Six! It's me," Alva called as she moved deeper into the makeshift room.
"Alva?" Six questioned, jumping out of the stone wall, "Alva!" Her voice was filled with excitement this time and as Alva got closer, she could tell the girl was trying to hold back a smile.
"Are you okay?" Alva asked when she reached the girl. A part of her wanted to reach out and touch her. To look her over and make sure for herself that nothing had happened to Six.
"Yeah, thought you left me though," Six admitted, making Alva chuckle and shake her head. "Did you find the Pidgeon?"
"He's who threw the knife at you," Alva told Six, indicating at Lev with a nod of her head.
"Won't be much help with that aim," Six muttered.
Alva felt her chest swell with pride, traveling with Lev might not be so bad now that Six was along for the ride. "Six, this is Lev," Alva introduced taking a step back and motioning for Lev to come closer.
Lev approached slowly; he stopped about a pace behind Alva. "Six? Not much of a name."
Alva glared daggers up at Lev, trying to will him to burst into flames.
"It's worked so far," Six defended effortlessly with a shrug.
Lev mimicked the shrug before stating, "You're a person. Not a number."
"It's how I was born," Six's hackles were rising as she spoke. Her eyes danced as she waited for whatever Lev was hedging around.
"Your parents named you Six?"
Alva elbowed Lev in the gut, but the man didn't even make a noise.
"No, they left me. Somehow, I made it some orphanage and... I was the sixth one." Six stated plainly. If the subject bothered her she didn't let it show.
"You're a seal then, huh?"
Alva's head snapped to the side to look at Lev. Surely, she hadn't heard that correctly. She glanced over at Six to see the girl had the same lack of understanding as Alva.
"What?" Six asked looking at Alva for an explanation.
Alva shrugged, "He says weird stuff." It was the best simplification of Lev that she could offer.
Lev laughed to himself somehow amused by the situation he'd created, "There's a seal up in the North Ocean's, great predators. Mom's leave 'em after 12 days living. They don't even know how to swim yet, they live on the ice alone, until they learn. All of it with no help." Lev paused, a whisp of something dark twirled across his features, much like the haunted look he'd had before entering the tunnels. "They're Harp seals."
"They do?" Six surprised Alva with the softness of her question. It was almost like she was too afraid to believe she wasn't the only one.
Lev hummed and nodded, "You're a Harp."
Six stood there in silence. Her lip was between her teeth as she thought. Her eyes were flicking back and forth between Alva and Lev. Alva held her breath, she wasn't sure what Six was looking for or what she needed to see. What Alva did know was she was furious with Lev. Why did he think it was a good idea to come in so hot with a young teen?
"So, Harps, you need help?"
A broad smile stretched across the teen's face, brighter than Alva had ever seen from the girl, and she nodded.