The rosary flame flickered. Once. Twice.
Then it died.
Complete darkness slammed down around us like a prison. I couldn't see Rafael even though he was right in front of me. Couldn'tsee my own hand when I held it up to my face. The blackness was so absolute it had texture, pressing against my skin like water.
Rafael's breathing went ragged. "Lorenzo."
"I'm right here." I reached out in the dark and found his arm, his shoulder, his face. My fingers traced the line of his jaw, the strap of his eyepatch, his lips. "Right here."
"I can't see anything."
"I know. Me neither." I pressed my forehead against his. "But we're okay. We just need to stay calm."
There was suddenly a sharp whistle right in front of us. The eagle swooped in and something heavy swung through the air. I heard it coming and jerked Rafael sideways. The club missed my head by inches and cracked against the stone wall.
Talons grazed my ear. I screamed and swung blindly with my bludgeon. The wood connected with something solid. Feathers and fury surrounded us as Caesar attacked again, his talons barely missing my shoulder this time.
Constantine's bludgeon came at us again. I heard the whistle of displaced air and ducked. Rafael wasn't so lucky. The wood hit something and Rafael grunted in pain.
"Rafael!" I swung in the direction Constantine's attack had come from. My club hit nothing but air.
Blood ran hot down my neck. Rafael was shouting, swinging his own club in the darkness. The chain between our ankles tangled as we spun, trying to fight two enemies we couldn't see.
Constantine laughed, the sound coming from my left now. He was moving, circling us. "Come now, boys. Surely you can do better than this."
I swung again. This time my club connected with something solid. Constantine grunted, and I heard him stumble backward.
Caesar shrieked and dove again. I hit the ground. Rafael swung wildly and connected. The bird screamed.
"Genug!" Constantine's voice was sharp. "Caesar, zu mir!"
Wings beat in retreat. I could hear the eagle moving away, the jingle of the chain as it landed near Constantine. Then footsteps, moving quickly away from us through the darkness.
"Excellent effort," Constantine's voice echoed from somewhere distant now. "You actually managed to land a hit. I'm impressed. But we have hours until dawn, boys. Hours and hours. Caesar and I will give you a moment to catch your breath. We'll be back."
His footsteps faded. The darkness pressed in, absolute and suffocating.
"Lorenzo?" Rafael's hands found me, running over my arms, my chest, my back. His fingers came away wet. "You're bleeding."
"I'm okay." My ear was on fire where the talons ripped a hole, but I’d had worse. "We need to move before they come back."
We stumbled forward in the darkness, hands outstretched, feeling for walls that didn't come. This chamber was larger than the others. Big enough that we couldn't find the edges. Big enough that we were completely disoriented.
Constantine could come back at any moment. We'd landed a hit on him, yes, but he'd been toying with us, wearing us down. Constantine had all the advantages: he knew the maze, could see in the dark somehow, had that fucking eagle as backup.
We had each other. That was it.
Rafael's hand found the side of my face. "Lorenzo, I can't—I don't know where we are. I don't know which way to go."
"It's okay." I pressed my hand over his. "We'll figure it out."
"How? We can't see. The map is useless. Constantine is hunting us, and that fucking bird can pick us off whenever it wants." His voice cracked. "We're going to die down here in the dark, and Ican't—I can't—"
"Rafael." I grabbed his face with both hands despite the pain in my shoulder. "Listen to me. I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, and I'm not letting you die in this place. We're getting out. Together."
He was shaking. I could feel it under my hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have held onto it tighter. I should have kept it in my pocket, or—"
"Stop." I kissed him in the darkness, and tasted salt from his tears. "It was chaos. We both fell. The map could have landed anywhere. This isn't your fault."
