Page 81 of Of Stars and Lightning
“Penny, you need to leave. If anyone finds out you’re here, I’m sure it won’t end well.”
“They won’t. There are no guards, the King is dumb, and I was stealthy. The tunnels run directly beneath this Villa,” She reached into her pocket and revealed a folded parchment. “From Ninanette. She is truly a ball of nerves without you.”
Sol smiled slightly and took the letter. “Tell her we are alright.”
“We saw the names of those who passed a few days ago,” Penny said softly. “The next trial should come soon.”
Sol sighed, “I’m so stupid. I shouldn’t have interfered in this.”
Penny shrugged, swaying with the gust of wind beneath her. “A lot of people think the opposite. They are just too afraid to say it.”
“I don't know what I'm meant to be doing here. I know what I want to do, but I have no way to execute it.”
Penny sighed. “Survive. Tell us your plan once you formulate one and we will help from the shadows.”
Sol smirked at the girl’s simple suggestion. “I thought your uncle was the Shadow Guider.”
She laughed. “Us Unsettled have to learn our own tricks—magic free.”
“You need to return home, Penny,” Sol said, glancing below and eyeing the dangerous distance to the ground. “You’ll force me to tell on you to your Uncle.”
“Oh, please don’t!” Penny whined with a palm to her forehead. “He is worse than my mother sometimes. He’d never forgive me for using the tunnels.”
By the sound of it, Sol could bargain he wouldn’t. She pursed her lips, bracing herself for the girl’s response. “Tunnels?”
Penny blinked her lilac eyes at her. “Have you not seen them?”
SOL HADTOsee the things for herself. Before Penny agreed to return to the Castle, she gave Sol a brief explanation of Rimemere’s subterranean connections. The land had always been uniquely curious. Aside from it harboring the temples and therefore greatly concentrated magic, it had a naturally occurring web of caves and corridors beneath it. Alix had mentioned Nina was in charge of charting the tunnels during their journey, but Sol hadn’t stopped to process what it meant.
As they lived their lives above ground, an entirely different one could be unfolding beneath it.
Penny had assured the tunnels are regularly monitored for this reason, and Jeriyah, as High Scribe, protected them with simple enchantments. For now, the only legal activity within them was merchandise transport.
As Penny had descended into the overgrown grass beside Phil, Sol asked where they were located within the God’s Villa. The girl only laughed and disappeared into the trees.
So, Sol acquired her task for the afternoon: find them.
Perhaps they could be useful in her quest to get the prospects to safety. And if they were deserted, who would know, right?
Connecting the different sections of the Villa was a daunting spiral staircase, one that had almost driven her into madness when she had first scouted for her room. As she began her descent, itagain gave her that unsteady feeling, each step calculated, the repetitive motion calming.
First she stopped on the fourth floor.
Was it likely the entrance to subterranean tunnels was on the fourth floor?
No.
But she had seen more surprising things during the last few weeks that caused a sigh to slip and her feet to step onto the level anyway with tentative expectations.
The floor beneath hers was lovely. It was decorated in vibrant greens with mustard yellows and vines draping from golden chandeliers. The carpet was a mossy green, but in an appealing way that blended with the decorative foliage around the hollow, circular loft. Across where she stood, on the other side of the staircase, Sol made out small fountains.
She wandered toward them, gently running her hands over the cool water once she reached the first one.
“Princess Yarrow.”
Sol jumped, instantly reaching for a knife in her belt she did not have. She swore to herself she would find some sort of weapon in this wretched place since she was devoid of magic. But not even a blunt fork was able to be unaccounted for after meals. She pushed herself against the wall beside the fountain, earning a low laugh from the man before her.
She could instantly tell he was an Earth Caller. His green eyes, a mirror to Nina’s, fit in with the decor around him as if he had walked out of the wallpaper itself. His brown ringlets fell around his cheekbones, and a hint of a beard softened the angles of his jaw.
