Page 34 of Shadow Weaver
“No. We’re on our way. Over and out.”
Ouch.
Carlo winced. “I think that’s Brady giving you space.”
Space I wasn’t sure I wanted.
Carlo gave me a nod. “Stay sharp.”
He descended into the hole.
Long seconds passed in silence.
“Carlo? You okay?”
Nothing.
Okay, just give him a minute …
“Carlo?”
Shit. He’d told me to stay put, but what if he was in danger? What if a critter had him? I mean, the fact there were steps there didn’t mean there were no critters.
Fuck it. I pulled my blade from its holster and climbed down. The earth closed in around me, and a musty smell tickled my nostrils. It was dark, but my nightblood vision kicked into gear.
“Carlo?” I whisper-hissed.
Nothing.
How far had he gone? The steps went down a little more, and then I hit level ground. A tunnel. Wide enough for a critter. A shudder ran through me. I didn’t have any protection spray on, so if there were critters down there, I was fucked. The tunnel widened as I went on, and it got harder to see even with my night vision. But then a light flared up ahead.
“Dammit, Justice,” Carlo snapped. He was holding up a penlight and waved it at me. “Stay up top. Not hard instructions to follow.”
“I was worried about you.”
“Aw, I knew you were sweet on me. Come and give me some sugar.”
I ignored him about the sugar, because it was standard Carlo speech, but joined him by the weird aperture in the wall.
“See this,” Carlo said, running the light over the hole in the wall. There was a weird blue tinge to everything. “Some kind of spray coating.”
“Yeah, like spray paint.” I reached out to touch it, but Carlo grabbed my wrist.
“Tut, tut, gorgeous. Got to be wary of the possible toxins in the paint.” He shone the torch downward to what looked like a nest. “Something was sleeping here.”
The hole was big enough for a critter or two, and there were more holes farther down with the same blue spray shit.
“We need to get a sample of this stuff.”
“Good thinking, twinkle toes.”
“How much coffee have you had today?”
“Not enough, babe, not enough.” He pulled a vial from the silver pouch at his waist—feytech material to withstand the mist. Carlo was the science guy of the troop. He even had a portable lab in a suitcase. He used a slender silver scraper thing to coax some blue shit off the wall and into the vial.
“What do you think it is?”
“I have no idea. But those steps are manmade.” He frowned. “I have a hypothesis, but I’ll need to do some tests first.”
