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In that moment, it becomes painfully clear that the monstrous threat lurking beneath the ground isn’t some external entity. It’s the very roots themselves, a malevolence that sprouted from deep within the earth.
“Get back up the ladder!” Marceau shouts, stumbling and shoving Merri toward the fire escape.
As soon as she climbs far enough to make room, Marceau jumps up to grab the bottom and starts climbing.
The roots slither closer, and I blast them with fire, scaring them back long enough to jump for the ladder and scramble up.
The fire escape shrieks and rattles as we climb, the building it’s attached to swaying ominously, but we make it to the roof without it falling.
As soon as I reach the top, I leap across the gap between buildings. Marceau and Merri catch me on the other side when the shaking building threatens to send me to my knees.
Cracks break out over the cement surface, and we hug the roofline, avoiding the worst at the center. Cautiously, we make our way to the opposite side, where the other fire escape will take us back down into the alley.
Merri reaches it first and swings a leg out over the ledge just as the metal screams, and the fire escape peels away from the building.
Marceau and I both lunge forward, grabbing her arms and pulling her back to safety.
“We’ll have to find another way down.” I look around and point at a two-story building to the right. “There. We can reach the ground safely from there.”
With a shaky breath, Merri nods, and we carefully make our way across the roof, testing it with each step to make sure it won’t collapse beneath us.
On the other side, Merri stares down at the swaying roof. “I’ll go first.”
“No, let me,” Marceau protests.
“I’m the lightest,” she argues.
“And I don’t want you to risk falling through.” Marceau gives her a little shake. “If it can’t hold my weight, then it can’t hold Darius’s, either.”
“By that logic, I should go first as the heaviest,” I point out. “If it can hold me, then it can hold both of you.”
Merri’s lips part to argue, but I take the decision away by leaping over the ledge. I hit the rooftop and roll, coming up on my feet.
My heart races as I wait to see if the rooftop will hold. When it does, I turn back to beckon the others to join me.
Marceau comes first, followed by Merri, who strides over and slaps me in the chest. “Don’t risk yourself like that! You could have been hurt!”
I catch her hand and press it over my heart. “You’re not the only one in this team who is allowed to put their life in danger, my lady.”
With an annoyed huff, she pulls her hand free and strides across the roof to the edge, where she freezes.
Worried, I hurry to join her, Marceau at my side, and horror fills me.
In the street below, more tree roots erupt from the pavement, their twisted forms snaking out to grab people and drag them to their grisly demise.
Chaos reigns as screams fill the air, a cacophony of terror that drowns out all reason. Panic-stricken beings run in all directions, some getting knocked to the ground and trampled underfoot as those around them desperately seek to escape.
But there’s only one exit from the Bone Yard, and the roots are thickest in that direction. Already, blood paints the street.
Merri grips the edge of the rooftop. “We need to get these beings out of here!”
Marceau nods, his eyes blazing with fire. “We’ll have to burn a path for them to escape through! Once they’re past the wards, they should be safe!”
Providing the ward holds in its weakened state.
Tension fills us as Marceau and I burn an open area on the ground before we leap down.
We wade into the chaos, Marceau and I burning back roots while Merri grabs people and directs them onto the scorched path.
