Page 92 of The Crown of Nyx

“Don’t even start,” Ivy snapped. “Let’s just keep moving?—”

As soon as the words left her lips, the magic that opened the stairwell disappeared, submerging us in darkness. Even with the witch light, the darkness here was so thick the light barely cut through it. Ivy let out a squeak as the sound of rocks tumbling echoed through the cave.

“That’s not good,” she whispered.

I wouldn’t disagree with her.

“Let’s keep moving,” Grey said. “Keep our lights up, and weapons at the ready.”

No one said a word after that. The stone steps were coated in sand, like whoever had been last to use them came from the beach. The dark substance even pooled in the corners of the stairs. I eyed it warily but kept moving. There was no other sound of rocks tumbling, and no sign of the initial sound as we climbed. I let the light of my witch light swing over the stairs, taking stock of anything that might be out of place.

We climbed silently for nearly fifteen minutes when we finally hit a landing. I blew out a breath as we came face to face with three new tunnels, three openings just as dark and uncertain as the last.

Grey moved to the one right of us first and let the torchlight fill the space.

“What. The. Fuck.” Ivy breathed deeply as she and Beckham hit the landing. Her chest rose and fell with sharp breaths. As I swung my light over her and the three males at her back, I took in her flushed cheeks and sweaty brow.

She wiped a hand over her forehead with a frown. Shit. Had we been moving too fast for her?

Kingsley pulled a water bottle from his belt and offered it to her, which she took with a grateful smile.

Grey moved from the right tunnel to the centre one. “Stairs, from what I can tell. Perhaps leading to different wings of the palace.”

Ivy lowered the bottle of water from her lips and glanced at each of the new tunnels. “Would it matter which one we picked? Unless this is some sort of test.”

My gut tightened at the idea. There were whispers that the Avalon palace had a network of tunnels beneath the palace itself that lead into the mountain. A labyrinthto confuse invaders and enemies—a precaution because of the war that took the Old World.

“What does your magic tell you?” Grey asked as she scoped out the final tunnel. I let my own witch light shine into the centre staircase, watching as the shadows within scattered to reveal more sand. I frowned.

“It doesn’t care,” she replied. “I mean, it does. But it’s not telling me anything about the options. I think it believes any are safe.”

I gritted my teeth and moved my light to the right staircase. No sand. “I think we should take the centre one,” I said, stopping anyone else from speaking up. “There’s no sand in the left or right tunnels.” With that last statement, I moved my light into the left tunnel and found nothing within. Clean stairs with no sand.

“How can you be sure?” Ivy asked, though there was nothing accusatory in her tone. She’d handed the bottle back to Kingsley and now had her arms crossed.

I pointed towards the stairs behind her. “There was sand all over them. And up there—” I motioned to the centre opening, “—more sand. Pretty simple deduction, Princess.”

I didn’t even need to look at her to know she rolled her eyes.

Grey moved to the centre opening again and flashed her light within. From the corner of my eye, I watched Kingsley approach the left tunnel. He didn’t fully enter it, instead pulling out his own witch light and turning it on. He eyed the stairwell before shaking his head.

“We should be way closer to the top based on the incline. And my light doesn’t reach anything but darkness,” he said, turning it away.

“I see something,” Grey announced. “We may have an exit ahead.”

Ivy released a heavy breath of relief, but tension still coiled tightly around us, so thick it suffocated me.

Black moved to the right tunnel and flashed a light within. “I don’t know, but this looks like a possible exit, too.”

I stiffened, moving to the Fae male’s side. I stopped in the archway, following his line of sight upwards into the darkness. Above, there was an outline of some sort, a break in the darkness that looked almost like a hatch. As I swung the light over it, the beam hit something else unusual.

A lantern, made from metal, if I had to guess. The smell of oil was barely there, but after so many years of being burned, residue still clung to the air. I wasn’t the brightest with history, but from what I knew, they didn’t use these in the Old World. Here, they’d relied on the natural and witch-made light.

Not lanterns with oil.

I stepped back with a frown, Black moving away too. The rest of the group moved to stand between the tunnels.

From the middle of the team, Ivy made a sound of frustration. “This is ridiculous. We don’t have time for this.”

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