Page 60 of Lunar Diamonds
“Riley?”
How the hell was I supposed to feel about this? “Crap…”
He came closer.
I backed off.
“I’m not tricking you here,” he said. “I want to help.”
My muscles tensed, teeth clamping down on my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. The iron taste filled my mouth, triggering another tsunami of adrenaline.
“I’m sorry for how it all went down, but?—”
“No,” I cut him off. “We’re wasting time. We’ll talk about this later.”
If you try screwing me over, I’ll find something sharp to gut you with.
Yikes. Could I really do that?
We carried on.
My kingdom for some lip balm!
At the top of the second stairwell, we reached a narrower corridor with a dead end on the left and a third spiral staircase on the right.
“Up there,” Drake said.
We came to a locked metal door embedded into a stone arch. Blue symbols marked the arch, glowing slightly under the light of two electric lanterns hanging from hooks either side of the door.
“It’s in there?” I questioned.
Drake waved a hand over the symbols. “This is the attic. I’m not sure what these markings are.”
I mirrored him, tendrils of blue mist curling from the symbols as I moved my palm across them. Tiny sparks licked at my skin, the hair on my arms standing to attention.
I heard movement behind the door.
“Hello?” I tried.
“You’re here with the prisoner,” Ollie’s deep voice answered, sounding unhappy about it.
“Here to help,” Drake responded.
No answer from Ollie.
Something boomed heavily below us. Dangerously close.
We were running out of time.
“Where’s my mum?” Ollie asked.
“Downstairs,” Drake answered. “She’s been shot.”
My stomach dropped. “She’s… What?”
No answer from Ollie.
“Oh my goodness,” I added, ready to vomit.
