Page 27 of Darkening Truth
Taking a deep breath, I nod and reply to Zev, “Yeah, I’m good.”
I’m grateful that Zev doesn’t question me and instead just nods. If he had, then I might have lost the small amount of courage that I’m managing to cling to.
We start to follow the kid further into the dungeon, and I deliberately make sure that I keep my eyes straight ahead and on him, not looking into any of the cells on either side of me.
The last thing I need right now is to have a panic attack.
The dungeon is a hell of a lot bigger than I initially thought. Which, when I think about it, makes a lot of sense because of the sheer size of the place. We follow the kid through twists and turns, down further into the castle, far deeper than I am really comfortable with, and the further down we go, the less put together the place becomes. Whereas the first few layers of cells were made out of stone, this hallway has a lower ceiling and is made of hard-packed dirt in the hallways, and the cells are lined completely with the same black stone that the castle is made out of.
Although the cells are smaller, they seem to have been carved out of the rock itself, their walls rough. These cells also have decomposing bodies of the previous occupants in them, but they don’t look quite like the piles of bones in the cells on the top floor, the ones that I actually looked in and didn’t avoid anyway. These ones look like they’ve got a bit more to them.
They’ve still all been dead for a really long time, but I think they most likely survived longer than the ones on the higher levels of the dungeon.
I think that’s worse. So much worse. Their suffering was prolonged, although they were in a dungeon. I know better than most that those who are in cells aren’t necessarily guilty.
I force my thoughts away from that kind of thinking. I need to keep my focus on the kid and why he’s leading us down here. If I allow myself to think about anything else, then I’m most likely going to freak out about being down here.
Chapter Ten
Farren
That wouldn’t be good for anyone. Including those who aren’t in the dream with me, because I’ll most likely start fighting, and from experience, it’s not just my asleep self that will fight.
Finally, we hit a dead end.
Zev and I share a confused look. There is literally nowhere else that we can go from here. There are cells on either side of us, a solid dirt-packed floor beneath our feet and a black rock wall straight in front of us.
Before either of us can question the kid though, he starts to tap on the wall and floor.
At first, I think that he’s actually lost it, and we’ve followed him for no reason, but then I realise that he’s tapping in a very specific pattern. There’s a rumbling sound, and Zev steps closer to me as we both move backwards away from the kid.
My eyebrows rise high on my forehead as a door appears, the kid opens it, and I’m surprised to see another set of stairs leading even further down.
He disappears through the door, and Zev mutters, “What the fuck?”
“We’re obviously supposed to follow him, but that’s a bit questionable even for me,” I reply. Looking up at Zev, I ask, “What are the chances that he’s leading us into a trap and we’re going to be stuck in the dreamworld?”
Zev tilts his head, and I feel his magic expand around us.
“It’s not a trap that’s going to keep us in the dreamworld,” he replies simply, and with complete surety.
“Yeah, you are definitely not just a Seer. That was seriously impressive,” I mutter.
He grins, “Why, thank you. Do you want to go first, or do you want me to go first?”
“I’ll go first,” I shrug. “I may as well.”
We cautiously enter the stairwell and follow the kid who is waiting for us at the bottom of the steps.
“Thanks for waiting,” I say to him.
He shrugs, “Of course, miss. I know that this is an unusual situation, and I would be cautious about following me somewhere as well.”
I grin, “Well, I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“They’re down here,” he says, and then adds as an afterthought, “watch your step.”
It doesn't take long to realise what he means by that, and as we follow him down the tunnel, we have to cautiously step over several holes in the floor that look like they are so deep that they are never-ending. For all I know, they could be. I have to repress the urge to drop something down there to see how deep it really is.
