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“Why would anyone want to live in the ground?” Yaanik exclaimed.
“Water.” Qynn pointed to the canal. “Places with oasis are few. Sometimes they dry out.”
“That doesn’t explain how the buildings fell over,” I pointed out.
“Earthquake,” Qynn declared.
“There’d be cracking in the canal network. I do wonder if it was a creature.” Jrijori had stepped closed to a building and examined the dark and smooth rounded edge of a doorway. “It’s been rubbed.”
“By what?” Yaanik asked.
As if that were a cue…
“Does anyone else feel that?” Daisy eyed the uneven ground. Now that she mentioned it, a faint tremor occurred underfoot.
It led to us all eyeing the ground as if it would suddenly explode. It wasn’t the ground we needed to worry about.
“What is that?” Anything to rattle Keen couldn’t be good.
I whirled to look where he pointed. At the highest point above us, dirt sifted down because of the undulating body that emerged from a window, a bulbous face with a few antennas, one giant orange eye, and a body of deep amber. It popped out a window, then poked its head into the next, pulling its body behind it. Then another head appeared. Also threading its way through the windows.
Then another.
Monstrously sized—
“Are those centipedes?” Yaanik exclaimed. “Damn.”
That might not be a strong enough word. The bugs weren’t tiny. Nor were they few. The chain of them kept chugging, weaving through the windows in one building before spreading to a second.
It was Jrijori who said, “Every single window is dirty.” Meaning they could emerge from any of them.
We didn’t need more encouragement to race across that city, looking for an exit on the other side. We had no choice. The centipede train had reached and stretched past our entrance. It was swinging back and forth, cutting off our route.
We came across a collapsed section of the floor, the ground sunken so deep it formed a deep crevasse. Too far to jump and we couldn’t go around.
“It’s not that deep,” Aber noted. “We’ll go down and then up the other side.”
“Too long,” Jord remarked. “Remember to tuck and roll when you land.”
“What?” Aber had a second to blink before two of the giants grabbed hold of him and literally tossed Aber over.
The man remembered to tuck at the last second and rolled to a stop before springing to his feet with a grin. “There’s no slime trail up here.”
None in the pit either. This might be our escape.
“I’ll go next,” Kya volunteered. Her lips were pressed tight as they launched her. She chose to arrow and spring onto her hands then flip to her feet.
Fancy.
“Catch!” Jord yelled as he tossed Qynn her way next.
Keen and Jrijori had already dropped into the pit and begun climbing the other side. Daisy caught up to them.
The train of centipedes neared, and everything shook with the stampede of their feet.
“Get ready, lassie.” Yaanik went to reach for me, which was when the ground underfoot rumbled.
The edge we stood on sheared off and slid downward. I remained aware enough to leap off before it slammed into the bottom.
