Page 67 of Us in Ruins

The words glided over her skin, a balm for the rasped edge of her nerves. Margot would have squared her shoulders if it weren’t for the walls’ unforgiving advance.

The room grew smaller, pressing in on every side. The grate of stone against stone filled the air, but she barely heard it over the labored sound of her lungs trying to remember how to breathe. She was running out of time.

Every time she tried to formulate a plan her thoughts fizzled out. Rational problem solving had been replaced with vats of adrenaline. Think, think, think...

“Van! My phone!”

“What?” He returned, sounding farther and farther away.

“The flashlight! It’s in my bag. Somewhere south of the mini pretzels and east of Relics of the Heart.”

She imagined Van on the outside, rustling through the contents of her tote. What felt like eons passed, everything silent except for the steady narrowing of stones. Margot shifted sideways, making as much room for herself as possible.

Finally, he hollered back, “Now what?”

“Press the screen with your finger, and when it lights up, swipe up. It’ll ask for my password, which is—”

“Are these buttons? But it’s flat.”

This was worse than trying to show her grandma how to text.

“The password, Van. It’s nine-two-six-four. Just tap each number.”

A sound, something like wonder and confusion, filtered in through the wall. “Now what?”

The walls cinched tighter. Margot fought to keep her words level. “There’s something written on the walls in here. I have a translation app we can use to decipher it.”

“What’s an app?”

She was never going to make it out alive.

“Look for the little red square that says Global Dictionary underneath it and then tap it. Is it on the screen now?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to spell the words. You just type what I say.”

Her hands found the grooves on the far wall, and she traced the shape of the first letter with her fingertips. As she inched around the room, words began to take shape.

“I think I’ve got it,” Van said when she reached the last letter. “Quiesce. Praebe te fidelem aut redde quod non est tuum.”

Then, a little, tinny robot voice responded, “Be still. Prove to be loyal or return what is not yours.”

“That’s it?” Margot shrieked. “Loyalty?”

Her palms flattened against the walls, pushing as if she had the strength to stop them. When that didn’t work, she heaved a shoulder with all her weight behind it. Wedged a foot against the opposite wall. Pushed, pushed, pushed. Nothing helped.

No way could she just stand here. Be still. How was she supposed to sit here and accept that she was mere moments from being rolled as flat as sugar-cookie dough? The walls were far enough apart that she could still take a full breath, but only barely.

She clutched the shard tighter, hard enough she wondered if she’d drawn blood. “If I put the shard back, do you think they’d stop? Return what is not yours?”

“It said or return what is not yours. If you do that, I don’t think you’ll get another chance. Atlas walked in the tomb, and then he walked out with the shard. Wouldn’t tell me what happened inside, but I’m guessing it had something to do with...”

Losing his shit but trying to be really tough about it? Because that’s what Margot was about to do. Her eyes clamped shut, but it wasn’t like it made it any darker. It just felt like the right thing to do before getting squished to death. You know, so they wouldn’t pop out or whatever.

“It’ll be okay, Margot,” he said. “I’m right here.”

Her words from earlier sounded unnatural on his tongue, but she had to admit that they loosened the knot of dread that had clumped in her chest. Even if she wasn’t sure she believed him.

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