Page 153 of Tricky Girls

The furthermost chamber is even more wild, just wall to wall with bones. Skulls make up the top shelves, pelvic bones the second, femurs below that. The rest is just a conglomeration of mashed up bones.

‘This is super trippy.’

Haz regards the remains. There must be a hundred bodies in here at least. ‘So, according to Fina, these are all the bones of their enemies.’

‘Riiiiight.Sure.’

‘Sounds cool though, doesn’t it?’ She steps closer, running a gentle finger over a disturbingly small skull. ‘They probably go back to castle times, if you ask me. Maybe there was a battle here or something. Man, makes me wish I took History.’

‘But then you wouldn’t have met me.’

Haz smiles. ‘True. Guess everything happens for a reason.’ She pinches two fingers together. ‘Our invisible red thread drawing us together.’

I smile back. ‘I love that theory. Do you believe it?’

‘I believe there’s someone out there for everyone. Sure. Two halves of the same whole. Ball and chain.’

‘Soulmates?’

‘Yeah. Sounds kind of drippy though. Though you do make me drip, to be fair.’

‘Charming, Haz. Think of the dead.’

‘Personally I think they’d love a show.’ She wraps an arm around me from behind, both of us facing the wall of bones. ‘Must be bored to fuck down here.’

I lower my torch, creating darkness around us. There’s something to this, feeling her but not seeing her, the bones caging us, the lighting hazy. It’s like being back in Elly’s shed. A world away from the world. Just us.

Fitting that mine and Haz’s world would be a catacomb.

‘So what else is down here?’

With a squeeze, she steps away. ‘Let’s go see.’

The door at the end of the tunnel sticks when we try to open it. It’s heavy, the ancient wood inches thick. I guide it closed, not letting it latch. I’m not getting stuck down here. I understand thatcold as a tombsaying now. It’s not just the coldness, it’s theheavy dankness permeating the place. The perfect darkness. The thought that we’re under the earth, lower even than Hazelhurst’s dead.

‘Why do I get the feeling we’re going to run into something we shouldn’t?’

Haz chuckles, the sound ominous in the complete silence. ‘I get that feeling too.’

She takes my hand, pulling me down the long, crumbly tunnel. There’s a different smell down here. More acrid. Like a hundred years’ worth of rat shit. Our shoes stir up layers of thick muddy dust. I arc my light around, looking for rodents. Wouldn’t mind seeing one. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a rat tattoo for ages.

‘Elly’s sister would fuckingdiedown here,’ Haz says, kicking at the dust.

‘Dude, that’s such a dick thing to say.’

Haz looks at me. ‘Am I wrong?’

I shake my head. She isn’t wrong about much, but her delivery leaves a lot to be desired. I’m endeared to Taylor. She was my little shadow over Christmas. And I know Elly worries about her.

We find an arch, the room beyond it devoid of anything. We spend some time shuffling around it, trying to make out the faded Latin inscriptions on the walls.

‘Probs witchcraft,’ I say.

‘Oh, totes. Bet there’s tonnes of that down here. I once found a cloak in Nic’s cupboard. Not some cheapo plastic thing. Like, tailormade. Bet her and her buddies have done secret society shit down here.’

‘Is there a secret society?’

‘Wouldn’t be a secret if we all knew, Tilda.’

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