I will fucking catch her if it's the last thing I do.
34
KEIRA
Ifall through some kind of trapdoor and hit the ground hard before I even understand I'm falling.
I cry out as my body slams into cold stone or concrete, the impact punching the air from my lungs. Pain explodes through my hip and shoulder, radiating down my back.
My right heel snaps clean off.
I gasp, pulling air back into my chest, my hands scraping against rough ground as I try to push myself up.
Everything is dark.
Not the dim kind of dark. The kind where you can't tell if your eyes are open or closed. The kind that makes you forget which direction is up.
"OCTAVIAN!" I scream, throat raw. My voice bounces off the walls.
Nothing. No footsteps. No reply. Just me.
I twist my head, searching for any hint of light, any shape in the blackness.
I drag myself to my feet. My palm is bleeding from the fall. Since one shoe is without a heel, they're completely useless to walk on. I yank both shoes off and clutch them like weapons.
My heart pounds as I take a few slow steps forward, my arms outstretched, moving blindly.
The floor is ice cold and it sends a chill through me.
"Hello?! Is anyone there?" I ask the darkness and get no reply.
My nerves get the best of me and fear takes hold.
"Help! Someone help me, please!"
My voice cracks, desperation bleeding through.
Nothing answers.
I'm alone.
My breath comes faster now, shallow and uneven.
Then, suddenly, up ahead?—
A flicker.
A single candle lights up ahead of me. Then another. Then another. One by one, sconces along the walls ignite in synchronized sequence, stretching into a circle of golden flame.
They're electric, maybe. But the way they flicker, it feels real.
The chamber reveals itself slowly.
High ceiling and stone columns, and towering above it all, against the back wall?—
The statue.
The same one I was just standing in front of.
