Page 13 of The Catacomb King
He kept moving. He was carrying me like a sack of flour, and he wasn’t even out of breath. Now that I could see, I realized thatthe tunnels were empty. Weren’t these tunnels supposed to be teeming with hideous godling-monsters? “Where is everybody?”
“We’re still too near the surface. No one wants to live so close to your world, human.” A pause. “Don’t worry. We shouldn’t see too many people until we’ve reached our destination.”
“Don’t worry?” I sneered. “Worry about what? That someone else might steal me and eat me before you’ve had your turn?”
He barked out a laugh. “Don’t joke.”
Something in his voice made my blood run cold.
The dim, glittering light was brightening. We’d reached a new part of the underworld, where the tunnels were wider. And now, I could see, thereweresome creatures. But they weren’t slithering around or leering at me like I would have expected. Instead, they were curled in unmoving lumps on the ground. I couldn’t even really see what they looked like. Were they plate-skinned and many-eyed, like the escaped girl of two hundred years ago had said? Or human-looking, like the Prince? But maybe the Prince, too, was hideous under all his muscles. Perhaps he’d peel his human flesh off later, like a coat.
The increased light and population could mean only one thing. We had to be getting closer to the center of the underworld.
The Prince darted into a series of side caverns. We didn’t travel long before we reached an area where the light was even brighter here, the tunnels taller and wider and smoother and almost totally unpopulated, more like corridors than anything else. Then the Prince swung sideways, through a thick beaded curtain, taking such a sharp turn he made me yelp. Behind the curtain was a heavy metal door.
Behind that door was a bedroom.
My whole body jumped. For the first time, I dropped my basket. I balled my fists. Everyone had always suspectedsomething like this; the godlings, after all, only kidnapped girls. But to have it confirmed…
My breath had gone shallow. My heart was pounding in my throat. I knew I would only have one chance — maybe a millisecond — to defend myself. In my heart of hearts, I knew I couldn’t stop this enormous motherfucker from hurting me.
But the least I could do was hurt him first.
The Prince dumped me on the bed.
I rolled instantly onto my back. I lunged upward. My muscles were coiled, my fists clenched, my whole mind and body refusing to go down without a fight —
The Prince turned on his heel and walked away.
I blinked. I sat indignantly on the mattress, glowering at his retreating back. “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?”
The metal door slammed shut behind him. I heard thek-chunkas he deadbolted it.
“What?” I shouted. I couldn’t believe it. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
The silence demonstrated that he was not, apparently, kidding me.
I was alone.
I looked around. The eerie, beautiful blue bioluminescence was absent from this room. Instead, an enormous fireplace was built directly into the glittering onyx wall. It was so large I could have slept in it. Warm orange flames roared, exactly like the fire in my hut at home.
Where my mother was currently shivering and coughing.
My mother. I hadn’t thought of her while I was being spirited through the tunnels. Now that my body was calming down, I could think again. I cursed myself for having forgotten her even for an instant.
It was still the middle of the night, possibly edging toward morning. When was Josie leaving for Corcagia?
If it was today… would she think to visit my mother first? If she did, she would take care of her, and she would notice my absence. She might even tell Calix that I was gone. And Calix might guess what had happened to me.
But if Josiedidn’tvisit my mother…
No. I couldn’t think about that. The best way to help my mother was to help myself.
And that meant getting the hell out of here.
The Stalagmite Throne
Idrew my knees into my chest and found my body shivering of its own accord. My bravado was leaving me. I tried to ignore it and looked around the rest of the bedroom. Surely there was something in here that I could use as a weapon.
