Page 108 of Hijack the Seas: Seismic

Goddamnit!

But then everyone was coming, Enid running past with her long hair streaming out behind her, looking like a gray ghost in the eerie light from outside. Pritkin supporting Æsubrand, who was bleeding from a head wound but somehow still alive. And then a crap ton of dirt, rubble, and larger stones came bouncing in behind them, enough that they had Alphonse throwing himself over me as what felt like the entire mountain finally did what it had been threatening.

And came down on our heads.

Chapter Thirty-Two

I didn’t pass out, although I kind of wished I had. The only thing less fun than spiraling into unconsciousness under a suffocating mountain of dirt and vampire flesh was lying awake under said mountain, waiting for rescue. Which wasn’t coming because everybody else was in the same position!

“Okay,” Alphonse wheezed from on top of me. “I got this.”

I sincerely doubted that. But since he was the only reason I wasn’t currently a corpse, I didn’t point it out. Alphonse wasn’t Atlas and couldn’t hold the weight of the world on his shoulders, but he was doing a pretty good job of keeping a large chunk of it from crushing me.

But digging us out of here at the same time was going to be tough.

That was something he seemed to realize because a lot of huffed curses followed, as every time he tried to move, the mountain moved with him. Or at least the crap ton of it residing on top of his back, which sent cascades of sand, rock, and dust down into the little cleared space we had left. And while he didn’t need to breathe, I did!

It was getting harder. The enclosed area had no ventilation, and I didn’t know where to dig to change that, as there was absolutely no light. But the air was warm and getting warmer, and my chest was tight and getting tighter.

I had to move.

I was lying face down so I could crawl forward a little under Alphonse’s arms and feel around, hoping to locate an exit hole or enough loose pebbles that maybe I could make one. But smaller rocks and dirt had collapsed into the crevasses between the larger stones, sealing us in. And leaving me scraping bloody fingertips over what felt like a solid wall and making no progress at all.

Which was about the time I started to panic because I didn’t want to die like this!

“It’s okay,” Alphonse said, probably sensing my heart rate speed up.

“How . . . is this . . . okay?” I gasped.

“I hear something.”

I froze. “Some of those . . . monsters?”

My brain conjured up a sudden, horrible image of things with whipping tails and bat wings crawling all over the rubble, waiting for us to poke a head out so they could bite it off. I stopped breathing altogether at that point, and Alphonse wasn’t doing it anyway. Which I guessed let him hear better because he suddenly chuckled, an almost obscene sound under the circumstances.

“Nope. One of ours.”

Then it came again, magically enhanced this time, and I heard it, too: Pritkin yelling from what sounded like a mile away, probably because his voice was filtering through solid rock. “Cassie!”

“Over . . . here,” I croaked, pretty sure that was useless. But then Alphonse started bellowing, and everybody heard that. Including the mountain, which began sending tricklings of dirt and stones onto our heads.

And then more of them, and more, but not because of another collapse, but because somebody was moving them. Tons of earth and rock were being blasted off us and sent flying back down the tunnel. I couldn’t see them as I couldn’t see anything, but I heard when they hit what sounded like solid stone.

“Getting close!” Alphonse yelled. “Don’t blow my damned head off!”

They didn’t, but more boulders met more rock as layer after layer was peeled away, loudly enough that it resonated even down here. The passage behind us must be pretty well blocked by now, I thought, and perked up slightly. But I was considerably less happy by the time I was dragged out from under the remaining mountain of dirt, bleeding and filthy and gasping for air, and was immediately beaten soundly on the back.

Which I was about to insist I didn’t need when I started hacking up half the damned hillside.

And once I started, I couldn’t seem to stop, coughing and retching until I was pretty sure that I was going to lose my breakfast, only I didn’t. My deprived stomach clung to it like it was the last meal I’d ever get, and maybe it was. And my lungs finally stopped trying to throw themselves up, too, although less because they were clear and more because I was exhausted.

I rolled over onto my back when the beating stopped to see Pritkin, who had cursed every time he’d had to hit me. But his face was stoic in the watery ball of light that Enid was holding, and his eyes were focused and assessing. They were less like a lover’s and more like a soldier’s evaluating an ally in battle, and for some reason, that made me feel better.

Or maybe it was just the fact that I could breathe.

“Are you alright?” That was Enid, looking really invested in my answer for some reason. I couldn’t imagine why, as teaming up with me hadn’t gotten her much. Except almost drowned, eaten, and pulverized.

I remembered what Bodil had said about people who worked with me and hoped that wasn’t a prophecy. But I nodded because Enid looked rough, and it seemed to reassure her slightly. And then Pritkin turned my face towards his again.

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