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Kai looked around at the rooms and tunnels forking off in different directions. “I can’t believe we didn’t know this was real.”
“You knew about this?” Banks asked him.
But it was Damon who replied as he looked around, “A few whispers from the old timers here and there, but I didn’t know anyone who’d actually been here.”
“What is this place?” Rika asked me.
I checked the supplies on the rail riders, making sure we had everything I’d instructed. “Remember how we learned the town was settled in the thirties?”
“Not true?” Rika teased.
I shook my head. “No.”
That was either a lie or misinformation.
“Two-hundred years ago, the river forked off into three streams instead of just one, and the settlers built bridges to cross them.” I gestured to them to take their seats. “The arches of the bridges were rooted deep in the land, creating twenty-one chambers—or vaults—between the arches, underneath the ground.”
Alex and Damon took a seat in the first car, while Kai and Banks took the second, Rika and Michael took the third, and Micah and Rory took the fourth.
“Merchants stored their goods down there, and there were even taverns and stores,” I continued, checking their seatbelts. “Over the years, it changed hands, popular among the smugglers, criminals, and pirates. They hid and lived down here, connecting all of the vaults under the three bridges with these tunnels, so they could get anywhere in town undetected.”
“Shit,” Damon murmured. “That’s awesome.”
“How did you find it?” Michael pressed.
“I looked for it.”
Rory snorted as Micah smiled, looking excited about all of this.
“This is why you bought the warehouse,” Alex guessed.
“One of the reasons.” I took my seat in the first car with them and buckled in. “I also just like haunted houses.”
“Are there other entrances, other than the one at the warehouse?” Damon called up from behind me.
I looked over my shoulder, grinning. “All over town. And there are even more underground vaults in Meridian City between Delcour and Whitehall.”
“What the fuck?” Kai blurted out, but it sounded more like he was turned on than angry. His city house, the Pope, and Sensou were all in the Whitehall district and he’d have plenty of reason to use the underground transit system if he wanted. Especially if we, and the people who worked for us, were the only ones who knew about it.
“Shift the lever to three and press the green button,” I yelled back. “After that, just enjoy the ride until you see my arm in the air. Then, start to bring the lever back down and engage the brakes.”
A giggle escaped Alex as she shifted excitedly in the seat next to me. Emmy back in the catacombs drifted through my mind, but she didn’t need to be here for this.
“Let’s go,” I called out.
Pushing the lever up to notch three, I pressed the button, the hydraulics hissing, and we shot off, cruising through the tunnels at about thirty miles an hour.
Normally, I’d go a little faster—kick it up to notch five—but this was their first time, and I didn’t want anyone to lose me. Coasting left and then right, I felt the wind blew through our hair, and Alex laughed next to me as the tunnel ahead loomed black and haunting. The grips on the wheels hugged the track, no steering necessary, since I hadn’t built track leading off anywhere else in town yet.
That was on my agenda, though.
“We should have helmets!” Damon called up.
Helmets? Pussy.
“For the kids, I mean!” he clarified. “You know they’re going to use this a lot.”
I nodded. Okay, that made sense. This was going to be a blast for the boys, and when they were teenagers, there was no way we were keeping them from it.
