AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Too late, I felt her fingers dig into my ankle. They were slender and long, clawing around my boot.
Lilac toppled from the stone. And she pulled me with her.
It was a long drop to the ground. Dense brush grew around the back edge of the stone platform and it broke our fall.
She landed on her back, and I sprawled on my hands and knees over her.
“Shhhhit. ” My left knee exploded in pain, and for a moment, white lights danced in my vision. I breathed hard through my mouth, trying to scramble from her.
She snatched at my legs, grabbing me around the waist, trying to wrestle me back to the ground. “You’re dead. ”
I felt the crowd shift. Felt silent eyes watching us from alongside the ancient monoliths.
Shoving her against the platform, I clutched her close in an obscene embrace, trying to land awkward punches on her ear. “Not dead yet. ”
“I’ll kill you. With everyone watching. ” She rolled me over in the brush, slamming me against the bottom edge of the stone.
There was a deafening crack. I thought it was thunder pealing overhead. Or gunfire.
“What the—?” I looked to the sky.
She head-butted me in the jaw. My chin snapped shut, and I felt a shard of tooth scrape down my throat.
“I don’t know what your damage is . . . ” I freed my arm, and, hugging her close, rolled her over me. “But I am so sick of your shit. ” Bracing myself, I thrust my shoulder into her chest, ramming her against the base of the platform.
Air chirped from her. She caught her breath. Clawed at my hair and ear. “You’re the—”
Another thunderous crack, and the ground beneath us shuddered. We sank deeper into the brush, tangled tight with each other. There was a distant pinging sound, like gravel falling down a well.
“Stop,” she shrieked.
I clutched her neck close to mine, thrusting my knee over and over into her belly.
She scratched at my face, digging her fingers into my cheeks, trying to pull me away. “Don’t touch—”
The ground jolted. Lilac and I froze, entwined.
There was an earsplitting crack. A massive crevice split the ground along the base of the platform. A great, black chasm spewing the stench of stagnant water and stale air.
The sound of skittering gravel, far away. Closer, the heavy scrape of rocks sliding. And then the earth fell away.
Lilac and I tumbled into blackness. Tumbled down to hell.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
We landed with a splash. Water. It was deep, and I clawed my way to the surface, heart exploding in my chest.
Instinctively, I began to tread in a panicked, spastic dog paddle. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. ”
I swam awkwardly to the side and pulled myself out, scrambling away from the edge as fast as I could. I braced myself on all fours, panting to catch my breath. I shook with shock and adrenaline.
Closing my mouth, I made myself breathe through my nose. I needed to be steady, keep my head. Get my bearings.
We were in almost total darkness. It sounded like Lilac was crawling from the water about twenty feet away. I couldn’t see her. I blinked hard a few times. We’d landed in a vast, underground cavern. I thought I imagined red eyes watching me from the shadows.
Calm down. I forced myself to breathe evenly—in through my nose, out through my mouth—and tried to slow my pounding heart.
The air was close, the smell of it stale and dank. Other than the dripping water and the sound of our heavy breathing, there was silence.
