Page 116 of Winterfall Destiny

I roll my eyes at him, unable to resist my next words. "Yes, Professor Whitlock."

* * *

We reach the catacombs and I pull an unimpressed face. 'Catacombs' sounded cool, but I'm greeted with stone-strewn ground and patches of grass leading into an old brick structure. Some humans loiter around, sheltering from the rain nearby, who nod in greeting. I ignore them.

Inside isn't any more impressive—bricks from broken walls mixed with refuse covers the damp ground. As we move further into the dank labyrinth, the modern-day human waste disappears, and the catacombs grow darker. Water drips down the walls, running over old metal pipes and the air turns cooler.

"I thought catacombs had skulls in the walls?" I grumble. "I'd hoped to add to them."

Tobias sighs, and Jamie pulls a disparaging face. "Not these particular catacombs. And maybe don't walk into the situation with that idea in your mind."

"I feel like I should leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find my way out again," jokes Maeve.

"Huh?" I ask.

Ash chuckles. "Fairy tales, Andrei."

But Jamie doesn't smile, barely speaking as he takes in every inch of the mildewed surroundings.

"Can Maeve walk with us, Tobias?" I ask.

Jamie gives me a sharp look. "No. Maeve stays with the person who empowers her magic."

I shrug but can't shake the fear that grips me whenever Maeve isn't close enough to touch. Another intensified emotion I'm hiding as best I can—full on panic if I can't sense Maeve nearby.

"There's plenty of warehouse-style space hidden among the tunnels," Tobias comments. "For keeping contraband and hiding supes."

"I hope we find answers," says Maeve.

"I hope we don't find an empty room," I say.

"I highly doubt Dominion would clear out their base overnight. We're exploring in the daytime, so they've only had a few hours since I visited," says Tobias.

"If anybody saw you, they've had 'a few hours' to tell Gabriella," says Ash.

"Nah. Dominion would've waited for us outside, or in the tunnels before we got far," I reply.

The further I walk into this dank, disgusting place, the less convinced I am that Gabriella is here. Unless Gabriella really worried for her life, she'd never lower herself to skulking somewhere like this.

"Whoever leads the recruits will report back to Gabriella after today, though." My grin grows.

"What are you planning, Andrei?" asks Jamie suspiciously. "Tobias—tell him again to keep a cool head."

I nudge Jamie with an elbow. "I'll be on my best behaviour."

"That's what worries me," says Jamie.

* * *

I walk beside Tobias, but unusual sounds draw my attention. Creaks. Bangs. The sound of water hitting metal.

"Will you quit pausing all the time?" asks Tobias, as I stop again.

"I hear things and want to be sure nobody's nearby." I resume walking, kicking bricks out of the way. "The Dominion is smart to bury themselves beneath London where nobody can sense anything from above ground. Not even us until we head into the depths."

I'm reassured by Maeve and the other's soft footsteps behind us, but I'm increasingly confused by the labyrinth. Tobias strides purposefully, following a map he created in his head after the conversation with Natalie.

Natalie. The Dominion kid he refused to kill. What if Tobias's soft-hearted side takes hold today? Because a lot in the catacombs must be kids like Natalie. I'm all for blasting the whole lot of them with magic and ending Gabriella's army, but nobody else shares that opinion. In fact, the four think I'm joking. I'm not because, unlike Tobias, I don't give a shit who dies if they're a danger to us.

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