My ear had stopped bleeding, but it throbbed with each heartbeat. Rafael's breathing had gotten ragged, each inhale catching on what I suspected were bruised or cracked ribs from Constantine's bludgeon. We were both limping now, the ankle chains having rubbed our skin raw.
"Left or right?" Rafael whispered.
I ran my hand along the wall until I found the opening. "Right. We've been going right."
"We don't know that. We could be going in circles."
"Then we'll die going in circles." I tugged him forward. "But we keep moving."
Our footsteps echoed off stone. The chain clinked between us. Somewhere in the darkness behind us, I could hear Constantine'sbreathing. Not close, but not far enough. He was following, letting us exhaust ourselves.
The passage narrowed, and I had to turn sideways. Rafael followed, our bodies pressed together as we shuffled through. My shoulder scraped against stone, and I bit back a curse.
Then the passage opened up again. Wider. Much wider.
"Wait." Rafael stopped. His hand tightened on mine. "Do you hear that?"
I listened. At first, nothing. Then I caught it. A sound like wind moving through a large space. Not a passage. A chamber.
"We found something," I said.
"Or we're about to fall into another pit. We can't see anything, Lorenzo. We don't know what's ahead."
"We know what's behind us." I could still hear Constantine's footsteps. Steady. Patient. "We keep moving forward."
We stepped into the open space together, hands outstretched. There were no walls, just empty air in every direction. The echo of our footsteps changed, becoming distant, swallowed by the vastness around us.
"How big is this?" Rafael whispered.
"Too big." My heart was hammering. Being in open space in complete darkness was worse than the narrow passages. At least there we could orient ourselves by touch. Here, we were completely exposed.
Wings beat somewhere overhead.
We both froze.
"He's above us," Rafael breathed. "Constantine must be—"
A sharp whistle cut through the darkness, coming from our left. Then Constantine's voice, calm and pleasant. "You're doing wonderfully. Truly. But you must be getting tired by now."
I pulled Rafael right, away from the voice. Our feet moved faster, but the chain kept tripping us. I went down on one knee, and Rafael hauled me back up.
Wings beat again. Closer.
"Run," Rafael hissed.
We ran blind through the darkness, hands outstretched, the chain forcing us into a stumbling, awkward gait. My shin cracked against something solid, and pain exploded up my leg. I nearly went down, but Rafael kept me upright.
Behind us, Constantine's laughter echoed off walls we couldn't see.
The ground sloped upward. We climbed, using our hands when the incline got too steep. The stone was rough under our palms, cutting into the already raw skin.
"There has to be a way out," Rafael said between gasping breaths. "The center. We need to find the center. That's where the exit is."
"How? We can't see. We can't read the map. We don't even know where we are."
"Then we follow the sound."
"What sound?"
