Page 17 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

I nodded, saying nothing, and stepped forward to take his hand. He squeezed my fingers, and even though I appreciated his comfort, I felt somehow lopsided, and my chest ached in a way it had no right to for someone who clearly never thought twice about me.

6

LONNIE

THE SEWERS, INBETWIXT

Even knowing we’d be walking through the sewers, somehow I had not thought the smell would be quite so potent.

I tried to think of anything else as we trudged along, the stench of decay clawing at my senses, but the sewers were a suffocating maze; a foul miasma that threatened to overwhelm me. The scurrying of rats echoed off the walls, their tiny claws skittering in the darkness. Fortunately—or unfortunately, as it were—I had much to dwell on that was equally foul.

Glancing at Bael, I found him already looking at me. “What are you thinking about, little monster?”

Nothing good.

I kept my voice low, though, with the echoing tunnels and the closeness of our group, it hardly mattered. “Did you not want to go to Overcast? Even the slightest bit?”

He scoffed. “I take it you’ve never been to Overcast.”

Cross laughed a few paces ahead of us. “Dreadful place, lass.”

“I thought that was your northern outpost,” I said, more of a statement than a question.

“It is. But simply in terms of the land itself, there are many reasons to avoid a visit.” Bael gave an affected shudder. “It’s built almost on top of the Wanderlust, and it’s downwind from Aftermath. Trust me, little monster. We’d be happier in the center of the Source itself.”

I laughed, though I did not feel all that humorous. “I take it you’ve never been to the Source, itself?”

He rolled his eyes, seeming to assume I’d been joking. I hadn’t been.

We walked for nearly twenty minutes, the dark tunnels stretching endlessly like tangled yarn. A rat ran across my feet and I stifled a scream, if only to avoid breathing in any more of the putrid air.

Finally, when I was not sure I could take another minute of the stench, it seemed that the stone beneath our feet began to slant upwards. I nearly skipped with excitement. “Are we nearly there?”

“Almost,” Cross replied.

“Where does this tunnel end?”

“It goes around the entire city, of course, but we’re going to be stopping off near the eastern gate.”

I pressed my lips together, and only nodded. I was not overly familiar with the geography of Inbetwixt, but it was easy enough to understand where each gate must lead by the name alone. Aftermath was in the North-west of the country, on the opposite side of the walled city from the eastern gate. That gate would lead to the shipping docks, and was the furthest from any road that might take us toward our destination. Still, complaining would do little good now.

To my immense relief, we finally came to a halt at the base of a simple, metal ladder, which ascended into a hatch in the ceiling.

Cross stopped in front of it, flanked by Siobhan and Arson, and I stood behind him, with Bael and Aine hanging back slightly. Again, as in the wine cellar, I could see what Bael had meant about the too large group. Hopefully Cross knew what he was doing, and there would be no problem with being overly conspicuous as we left the city.

“You’ll need to stay below ground for a moment while I check the area,” Siobhan said. “The gate isn’t far from here, so as long as no one is waiting around for you it shouldn’t be difficult to leave.”

I swallowed and nodded, feeling a bit like her statement was a bad omen—almost inviting trouble the moment we moved above ground.

Siobhan received a leg up from Arson, and began to ascend the ladder. “I’ll shout when it’s safe.”

Reaching the top of the ladder, she opened a hatch and there was a small whoosh of a fresh breeze, a sliver of night sky, before she disappeared and we were plunged back into semi-darkness.

“I’m going with her,” Arson said roughly, speaking for the first time all evening.

Cross nodded, and he too climbed out of sight. The passage immediately felt roomier, though I still wished for nothing more than to escape into the open air.

Bael squeezed my hand and I gave him a weak smile, unable to muster anything in the way of words. I should be ecstatic to be finally beginning our journey, but I couldn’t help but focus on what I was leaving behind.

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