Page 99 of Dead Wrong

I followed him cautiously, finding another platform of rickety wooden planks outside. Two other Unseen were out on the platform, one holding a pair of binoculars to their face and the other taking readings from some handheld device that kept beeping incessantly. I recognized them both as members of Azrael’s group from before—the Urchins—though I hadn’t learned their names yet. I took a moment to orient myself, finding us on the side of the mountain overlooking the mortal town below. Dark buildings lit from within, spilling warm light throughout the valley below.

“Just how are we supposed to get down from here?” I asked, then immediately regretted it when I saw the contraption Kaine was fiddling with.

A line of thick braided metal hung above our heads fastened onto the rocky face of the mountain. A harness of sorts was attached to the line, and I started to piece together our trajectory.

“No,” I said to Kaine, tracing the line of metal wire until it disappeared into the night. “No way.”

“It’s the fastest way down,” Kaine said, pulling on one of the harness belts from a box on the corner of the platform. “Time is of the essence, right?”

“This is insanity!” I cried, my voice getting swallowed by another gust of wind that nearly knocked me off balance. “How long has it been since these were last used? How do we know it won’t snap, and we all fall to our doom?”

“Well, if it makes you feel better,” Kaine said, latching his belt onto the hook that hung down from the wire and giving it a tug. “I’ll be going first. If I die a horrible, painful death, then I give you explicit permission to chicken out. But when I make it, then you’ll be next.”

“Take me back down, Kaine,” I said, moving toward him. But he was already going for the edge of the platform, positioning himself for the takeoff, his cerulean eyes glinting with amusement in the dim light.

“Sorry, Greene. If you want to yell at me, you’ll have to catch me.” He tipped himself forward, allowing his body to fall over the edge of the platform. The line on the harness went taut, the sound of the wheel moving on the metal wire zipping loudly. He rocketed away from us, howling with laughter and disappearing quickly into the darkness over Brierwood.

“I’ve got eyes on him,” the other Unseen with the binoculars said. “He’s going to hit the first brake in three… two… one… There he goes. He’s almost at the bottom now.”

Was it really that quick? It had only been a few seconds.

“Success,” the Unseen with the binoculars said. The other Unseen—with flaming red hair that matched the one I’d seen talking with Azrael back in the settlement—typed something into the device he held, then nodded as if he were logging data. Then he turned to me, his eyes the same fiery red, and said, “You’re up next.”

I wanted to jump back through the cavern door, but that wouldn’t solve any of my problems in the long term.

“There’s a harness over there,” the redhead pointed out. “Let me know if you need help getting it on.”

The other Unseen snorted a laugh, and the redhead slapped his shoulder with an open hand.

“Don’t blame me, you git. You’re the one who said it.”

The two continued squabbling like children while I convinced myself that leaping off a mountain was a good idea.

I grabbed a harness from the box, taking a moment to figure out exactly what parts went where. Once it was on, the redhead came to double-check my work, tugging on a few spots to ensure that the fit was tight enough.

“Kaine will be at the bottom to catch you,” the redhead told me. “Try not to kick him in the process.”

“What if he really deserved it?” I asked, humor distracting me momentarily from the paralyzing panic running through my veins.

Staring up at the wire that ran above my head, I reminded myself that this was for Lynette. If our roles were reversed, I knew she would brave far worse for me. And with that, I swallowed my fears, stepped up onto the edge of the platform, and cast off.

Wind deafened me as I struggled to hold my head up against the buffeting force. My skin was peppered with stinging impacts of what I could only assume were insects, and I clamped my mouth shut even tighter, determined not to swallow the entrails of the creatures I was eviscerating with my descent. My hands ached as I clung to the rope connecting my harness to the cable. After a few moments of disorientation, I seemed to level out, and I risked cracking an eye open to check on my progress. Below, the quiet town of Brierwood was still quite small, but I was close enough to make out the headlights from vehicles, and the chiming of the clocktower by city hall. I wondered if they could see me, too, rocketing through the sky high above. If I carried a light, would they think I was a shooting star? How many wishes would go wasted on the likes of me?

I was almost to the point of enjoyment with my ride when I hit the first of the brakes, the arrested momentum hurling my feet forward and up till I was upside down, the soles of my shoes turned toward the sky. Rocking back, I continued the descent in bursts, hitting brake after brake till my feet were almost skimming the tops of trees below me. Darkness overtook me as I cleared the tree tops, zipping down toward the pitch-black forest floor and finally coming to a stop dangling above a wooden platform attached to the trunk of a tree.

Kaine was there, holding a lantern as he waited for me, an amused grin displaying his fangs.

“Wasn’t that fun?”

I stared daggers at him. “Get me down. Now.”

He laughed as he unfastened the harness, giving me little warning as it suddenly gave, dumping me out on my ass.

“Ooo, sorry about that. Good thing you’ve got some cushion to break your fall.”

Was he commenting on my ass now? I needed to get away from this maniac in a hurry. When would Azrael be back?

The other two Urchins zipped in a few minutes later, wearing a tandem harness. The redhead—Irwin, Kaine called him—and the one with dark hair shaved close to his head.

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