Page 11 of Cinder's Trial

“I don’t think so.” I went to hand it back, but he scowled.

“You are not going up there without some kind of defense.”

“Fine.” I sighed and tucked it into my purse, which I slung cross-body. I’d left my suitcase by my desk, not wanting to lug it around for lunch. The suitcase contained items the bureau deemed necessary for its agents. Holy water, stakes, sleep potions, restraints, and, in my case, snacks in case I met new friends.

Levi knelt and cupped his hands. “If you see anything, you get back in here.”

“Yes, sir,” I chirped as I stepped into his waiting palms. He lifted me with ease and high enough I had no difficulty shoving the hatch up and sideways.

Levi heaved me even higher so I barely had to do anything but flop onto the roof of the elevator, barely lit by the light coming up from the hole in the cab. The cable that should have held the elevator in place was gone, which explained why it fell. The smell of smoke appeared to be of the burning-oil variety. The mechanism that ran the elevator most likely hadn’t shut off and strained.

“See anything?” Levi shouted.

“No. Hold on. Let me get the flashlight working on my phone.” I beamed the cell upwards and saw an empty shaft. However, when I glanced over the edge of the elevator where the smoke rose from, I gasped at the number of glowing red pinpricks.

Levi heard. “What is it?”

“Rats,” I whispered. “Lots of them.” Now, you might wonder at my trepidation at seeing rodents. After all, I loved mice. Mice versus rats, though? Two different kinds of beasts. Mice tended to be docile and sweet. Rats were not. Not to mention most rats were infected by the Grimm Effect, making them do things out of character for their species. Say like decide to chew through the floor of an elevator. I’d bet they’d had something to do with the cable failure, too.

“I’m coming up,” Levi stated.

“Wait. Let me see if I can talk to them.”

By talk, I meant convince them to not attack. But how? I didn’t have any food with me. Maybe I could use words and kindness to sway them.

“Hello.” I offered a cheery greeting.

The pink-nosed rodent closest to me clung to the ladder bolted to the side of the shaft and twitched its whiskers.

“I don’t suppose you’d let me and my companions pass?”

The rat bared its teeth and hissed before leaping to the roof of the cab to face off against me.

“I guess that’s a no.”

“What’s happening?” Levi hollered.

“I think the rat wants to eat me.” I went with honesty because it advanced on me with evil intent.

“Stand back, princess,” Levi advised a second before he leaped to grab the edges of the hole. He hauled himself out just as the rat launched!

And got batted aside.

The big man made the space seem impossibly tight, but I wouldn’t deny relief at him being there to handle the threat.

Levi snarled, “Okay, you mangy rodents. Let’s get this over with.”

The rat he’d batted aside had fallen between the elevator and the shaft. Apparently, the others took note and fled.

The prince below us yelled, “The scratching stopped.”

A relief of one sort, but the problem of the smoke remained.

Levi knelt down and put his hand in the hole. “Let’s go, Your Highness, before the rats decide they are hungry after all.”

Even I wasn’t immune to admiration at the ease with which Levi hauled the not-so-tiny prince through the hatch.

“Now what?” I asked.

---