Page 28 of The Chosen Fae

He thought he saw light coming from above one of the ladder-like rusty metal pieces. He glanced around to see where Rune was. He had to get her attention, but he didn’t want to forewarn the others. She was on the other side of the building.

He raced across the building to reach her, and everyone else watched him. “I found a way out, I think. There’s a light coming through a crack in the wall. If we can move the stone, we might be able to get out that way.”

“The floor has a loose tile here,” she said, “right where I’m standing. What if it’s a way out?”

He glanced back at the other fae. They headed in their direction. Water started to seep onto the floor.

“If the water is coming from the floor, we don’t want to go down there. Where is the hole?” she asked.

“Straight across from where we are standing. It’s about seven feet high. Let’s go left and right and meet where that rusty metal is, and we’ll climb up it and see if we can get out that way.”

“All right.” She and he ran in opposite directions, heading across the room away from the ladder. When they reached the wall, they began to work their way under the metal scraps and over rocks to reach the place where he had seen the light.

The other fae, in the meantime, were looking for Rune and Stone. A bunch of copycats. He supposed that Lolita had won anyway, so it really didn’t matter. But he wanted Rune and himself to get out first before the others, since he had found what he hoped was a way out.

He finally reached the ladder, climbed up to the hole, and tried to move the cement block. Rune soon joined him.

The water was already half a foot deep.

The other fae were wading through it back to where they saw him and Rune on the ladder.

“Is that it?” she asked.

“Yeah, but I can’t move the block.”

She worked her way around him and tried to move the block herself, but she couldn’t budge it. “Together?”

They both tried to pull it at the same time, but they needed a crowbar.

“I saw something that might help us. I’ll be right back.”

He kept trying to move the block on his own. He saw that the other fae were nearly to the ladder he was on. Where was Rune? She wouldn’t make it in time before the others did.

The water was at a foot now. Vesper had reached the rusty ladder contraption.

Then Stone saw Rune with the crowbar, wading through the water to get to him. She tossed the crowbar to Stone so he could remove the block.

He pried at the block with the crowbar and loosened it. When he pulled the block free, Vesper knocked him off the ladder, and Stone fell into the water. It was two feet deep now.

Rune was standing in the water and came to his aid as the other fae were climbing the ladder to get out. She waded through the water, took his hand, and moved him to one of the rocks. “Climb,” she whispered.

“We were up there. We didn’t see anything.”

“The water will carry us to the ceiling. We’ll remove the tiles.” She looked up at Vesper. He was trying to move something that still blocked the exit. “Another block?” She was climbing the rocks next to Rune that rose the highest toward the ceiling.

“Yeah, you could still see the light beyond, but there was something else blocking the exit.”

The water was at four feet now, while Vesper frantically tried to move whatever was blocking the hole Stone had started.

The water rose to six feet.

“Hurry up, Vesper,” Pari said. “We’re all going to be swimming soon.”

Rune and Stone moved to the top of the stone. And then they waited for the water to reach them.

“I hope you’re right about this,” Stone said.

“Well, Lolita got out first, so she’s the winner. But we want to finish the challenge in any event.”