Page 46 of Xantera
I was wondering no such thing,I quip, curiosity like a budding bloom in my core despite my best attempts to strangle it.
Then there’s no reason for me to tell you I could make you shiver a lot harder than that.
Now my entire body is tingling, but I realize something as I come to my first split in the alleyway: the banter has made me feel so much less alone in the dark. I can’t believe I’ve already come to the next complex, where I’ll need to decide which way to turn.
Right. I need to go right. I don’t have a clear mental map of the city memorized, but the Blood Moon Palace is like a compass in my heart. As long as I keep making turns to move toward it, I should be on the lip of that courtyard within an hour.
Glancing over my shoulder, I turn and creep along this new alley, listening for any signs of life besides my own heartbeat. There’s nothing. The silence buzzes in my ears much too loudly.
You still want me to keep quiet?Lucan asks mockingly.
I’m about to reply with a biting remark of my own when a particular door catches my eye.
I’m nowhere near the complexes across from the Healing Center where I first started searching for Diggory… but thisdoor. It’s exactly like that other one was, seemingly normal but without a metal slat for meals to slide through.
Saskia, Lucan warns, his tone dropping from playful back to serious at once.Keep moving. It would be unwise to linger.
I know, it’s just that…I squint and duck my head, my hair falling to one side as I crane my neck.There’s a keyhole here.Withtrembling hands, I try the door handle, but it’s locked just like the other one was.Nothing is ever locked except for the front doors of the Blood Moon Palace.
An alarm bell blares in my head, a sense of wrongness leaking from this door as if there really might be monstrous creatures lurking behind it. I need to move on before something comes out, but the silver object in my pocket keeps me rooted to the spot. Like a tether has pulled tight between key and lock.
Forget it, Saskia.For some reason, Lucan doesn’t sound eager at the discovery like I’d expect. He sounds like he’d give anything to drag me away, actually.We’ll do this another night.
What?I try to force some humor through the fear spiking in my chest.You’ve spent centuries trying to tear this Wall down, and now you want to wait even longer?
No, I want you to stay on track. If you let a random door distract you, then it means you’re not focused, which means you’re not aware of your surroundings.
Actually, I think it means I’m extremely aware of my surroundings, given I noticed that this door is different from the others.
A growl rips through my head, pure dominance bristling through it.Stay on track, or go back, Saskia. We can think about this door another night.
You’re a bossy little Monster, aren’t you?I joke. He snarls in my head, but I ignore him,digging into my pocket to pull out the key. I bring the tarnished tip to the lock hidden in the shadows beneath the door handle, my breath frozen in my lungs.
It slides right in.
A gasp rushes down my throat, and I clap my hand over my mouth at the amplified noise. Diggory didn’t steal a key to the Blood Moon Palace, so it would be pointless to go monitor the sentries now. He stole a key to… whatever this is.
More snarling erupts in my head, but I ignore Lucan as if I’m in a trance. I turn the key, and when somethingclicks, I try the handle again.
The door creaks inward this time, exposing me to a darkness even richer than the nighttime shadows of the alleyways. This darkness is so thick, I swear it would paint my skin with ink if I stepped into it. Definitely not a housing unit, then, because all housing units have at least one window and a blinking camera to shed light on their interiors. When my eyes adjust after a few blinks, I can make out the outline of what looks like stone steps angling downward.
Where does it lead? Could this be how Diggory disappeared for an entire day—by descending a set of stairs like this one? What could possibly lurk beneath Xantera that the Guardians want to keep locked away?
Lucan’s snarling goes quiet as he processes what I’m seeing through the questions flashing across my mind. When I sense a heaviness to his thoughts, I ask,What is it? You know, don’t you?
It…He clears his throat.When my grandfather was king, there were underground tunnels and caverns called catacombs, where they buried all the royal families. But I don’t know what could be down there now that the Guardians have taken over. They didn’t lead out into the city back then.
Well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?
Don’t even think ab—
A pair of voices drift to me from around the corner of the alleyway, and I shush Lucan.
“—probably just a rat,” a man says.
“Yeah, but we’ve got to check anyway. You know how this year’s new group of blue badges is. Always trying to push the boundaries.”
“I say we throw ‘em over the Wall if they want to be that way. Treat ‘em like every other citizen.”
