“Laylen!” I hollered over the thudding of the books hitting the floor. “What are you doing?!” A book flew straight at me, and I 495/695
had to dodge to the side to avoid getting smacked in the face by it.
“There’s a key somewhere around here…” He glanced inside a book and tossed it on the floor, “To a trapdoor just below that rug.” He nodded at a black and red checkered rug on the floor. “We can hide you there until…” He chucked a book over his shoulder and it landed on the floor right in front of my feet.
“Until what?” I asked anxiously. Jeez, would he just finish a sentence already.
There were tons of Death Walkers heading right for us, burning with the desire to kill me.
He ripped an old leather-bound book from the shelf and flipped it open. “Until I can lead them away from here…get you out of dan…” His blue eyes lit up as he plucked a small, silver object out of the inside of the cover. He dropped the book on the floor and hurried over to me. “Here we go.” He held up 496/695
the silver object, which as it turned out was a key.
“What’s it for?” I asked, my voice taking on that high, pitchy sound that seemed to come out whenever I was in a stressful situation. I flitted a quick glance over at the window, wondering how close the Death walkers were, but couldn’t see anything because of the curtains. “Laylen, I really think—”
“Just a second.” He went over to the rug and flipped it over. There was a small square carved in the hardwood floor that had a key hole and an indent for a handle. It looked like one of those trapdoors used on stages back in the olden days. He knelt down and slipped the key into the keyhole. Clickand then he raised the door up. “Hurry up and get inside.”
Was he kidding me? I stared down at the mysterious dark hole, my feet glued to the floor. “You want me to do what?”
“Get inside and hide.”
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I stole a glance back at the curtain-covered widow. The air was getting chillier by the second. Goose bumps dotted my arms and legs. They had to be getting close.
“Gemma.” The sound of Laylen’s angry voice snapped my attention away from the window and back to him.
“But what are you going to do?” I asked.
He gave me a duhlook, and I understood. He was going to stay up here and fight while I hid like a coward. My gut twisted with guilt just like it had back at the Black Dungeon when Alex and I had run away and left Aislin and Laylen behind.
I started to argue. “But I—” He cut me off. “Look, I know it’s hard—always being the one who has to hide.
But that’s just the way it has to be. You can’t change who you are no matter how much you want to. Trust me.”
“This isn’t right.” I told him.
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Ignoring what I said, he held out the key for me to take. “This key also locks the door from the inside. Make sure you lock it when you get in.”
Frowning, I snatched the key from him, stomped over to the trapdoor, and sat down on the floor with my legs dangling in the hole. “I still don’t think this is right,” I said as I lowered myself down into the hole.
It was dark inside, and the ceiling brushed the top of my head. If I’d been a sufferer of claustrophobia, I’d have been in trouble.
Thankfully, I wasn’t.
I looked up at Laylen and he reached down. In his hand was a golden handled, silver bladed knife.
“If something does happen,” he said,
“take this and aim it straight for their heart.
It might weaken them enough to give you a chance to run away.”
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I reluctantly took the knife, the handle feeling cold against my skin. “And where exactly I’m I supposed to run?”
“To the car. The key’s in the ignition. Try to find your way back to Adessa’s. She’ll be able to help you, at least until someone gets there.”
Yeah, fat chance that was ever going to happen, seeing is how it was dark when we’d driven out to Vegas, and I had a really bad sense of direction.
A loud thud. It sounded close—maybe even inside the house.
“Don’t come out until you know it’s safe,” he whispered, before dropping the door shut.
Darkness suffocated me. I reached up and fumbled around until I found the lock. It took me a minute to get the key in it, but I managed. Above me, I could hear a lot of banging. The cold had crystallized the air and was biting against my skin. I shivered 500/695
and chattered and every one of my senses felt hyperaware. I couldn’t see the outcome of this situation ending well—Laylen up there alone, trying to fight who knows how many Death Walkers without the Sword of Immortality, while I hid down here, freezing to death. Even if the Death Walkers didn’t kill me, the cold probably would.
Okay, so I don’t know if you’ve ever hidden in a trapdoor before, but let me just say, for those of you who haven’t, considered yourself lucky. With absolutely no light, and no way to see above me, I had no clue as to what the heck was going on. There was a lot of thumping and scrapping, and all I could do was stay hidden, crossing my fingers, hoping that by some miracle Laylen would suddenly throw open the door and tell me it was okay to come up.
Of course that never happened, though.
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The noises did start to dwindle down, which made me start to consider going back up. I mean, what other option did I have? I couldn’t just hide down here forever. Laylen had said to wait until it was safe. Quiet had to mean safe, right? Yeah, that might have been a little bit of a stretch, but I was going with it.
I took a trembling breath, trying to calm my nerves. My hand quivered as I felt around and found the lock, the metal frost-ing my fingertips. So not a good sign. I slid the key in and unlocked the door. Okay, you can do this.I let out a breath and pushed on the door. It didn’t budge. I tried again. Nothing. Something was on top of it. That something I hoped was the rug. I put the knife into the back pocket of my skirt, and using both my hands, I shoved as hard as I could against the door, grunting and cursing, until the thing finally flew open, hitting the floor with a loud thud, which was so not a 502/695
good start. My gut twisted, and I could feel the eggs I’d eaten earlier on the verge of forcing their way back up. I waited a second, listening for any warning sounds, but everything had grown eerily still. A good sign or bad one, I wasn’t sure. But there was only one way to find out. With shaky arms, I heaved myself out of the hole and scrambled to my feet. I did a quick scan of the room.
The window was shattered, the bright sunlight seeping inside. Books were strewn about the floor, but Laylen had done that early. The most terrifying thing was the icicles hanging from the ceiling, long and pointy and sharp.
The Death Walkers had to be close.
I needed to come up with a plan. And quick. I knew what I was supposed to do—run out to the car and go to Adessa’s—but the thought of leaving Laylen behind was gnawing at my insides. So 503/695
instead, I did something really stupid. I started for the door to go find Laylen.
I took the knife out of my back pocket and cracked opened the door. Peeking out into the hall, I could see my breath rising in a cloud in front of me.
Another bad sign.
I inched the door open and glanced up and down the hallway. The coast looked clear. I opened up the door the rest of the way and stepped out.
The floor was glazed with ice, giving it an ice-skating rink effect. Now as you all know, I am not Miss Coordinated by any means, so I had to brace my hand against the wall as I slowly crept down the hallway toward the back of the house, my feet slipping with every step. I made it about halfway when it occurred to me just how dumb of an idea this was. Why, you ask, was it a dumb idea? Well, because a Death Walker had suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway, and at the 504/695