Page 78 of The Divide that Binds Us

“Ready?”I ask.

Nicholas’s Topazian glitter lips remain pressed in a hard, thin line.“Yup.”

“Hey, Nick.”Billie quickly waves with a big smile.She turns to me and winks so obnoxiously with a thumbs-up.“Have fun, you two!”

I roll my eyes.“Keep me posted on Eva.Be back soon.”

The GPS says we’reclose, but nothing looks like a possible entrance into the subway.I’m certain the old steps that used to lead below were paved over to extend the sidewalk.

We walk the remaining distance, which pings that we’ve arrived, but there’s just an alley next to a closed coffee shop called Cosmic Rush.

Nicholas peeks down the alley.“It’s too easy, like the movies.”

“I was hoping it wouldn’t be,” I mutter, blowing a chunk of hair from my face.Nicholas looks around suspiciously before walking between the buildings where a sewer lid is half open.“I’m surprised this isn’t more guarded.”

“This is not where an old subway entrance would be.This just looks like a hidden way to get in,” he murmurs.

He lifts the lid to stare down the dark void below with a rusty ladder that’ll lead us to possible answers.I put my phone in my jacket and step back; the smell is atrocious, so I don’t know how I’m going to survive down there with that filling my lungs.

Nicholas takes the initiative to lower himself.I wait for maybe a whole minute before he shouts something I can’t make out because it’s echoing too much.There’s no way to know if this is the right spot, so I send a quick text to Azul, ready to lose service and plunge into the darkness.

It’s dark and smells like musty, sour urine.I concentrate on my quivering shield, but my thoughts are too woozy to even summon it.My eyes can’t adjust to this tenebrious area until a small light emerges from where Nicholas is standing.He outstretches his hand toward me with a baby flame dancing in his palm.

There isn’t any indication we’re in a sewer tunnel.No running or dripping water but I think we’re in a smelly, hard enclosure.Nicholas leads the way, even though we almost run into the wall a few times until we find the path.The metal floorboards under me shift into firm brick as we’re walking.Nicholas’s flame brightens and stretches itself into a bigger ball, illuminating more of the surrounding area.

The further we walk, the less we need the flame as a source of light reveals itself when we walk into the bronze antechamber built entirely of brick.Nicholas’s flame extinguishes from the clench of his hand, but the oil lamp hanging from the ceiling is a warm enough glow to see the large dripping red text on one of the curving walls.

“Holy crap,” Nicholas whispers.

I try to read it, but yelp from a rat scurrying across the room.My echo reverberates in the small chamber, causing Nicholas to cackle with his mouth unnaturally large and a slight twitch in his brilliant eye.I back into the wall, ignoring the cobwebs littered at the corners of the room, and wait for him to recover.

“Are you one of them?”I ask.“I just need to know if I should kick your butt now or not.”

Nicholas wipes his nose as he powers down to a small chuckle.“No, sorry.Obviously, I don’t get out a lot.I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine,” I grumble.My hand stays glued to the wall, but I crane my neck to look at the text written.“What’s it say?”

“Nonsense.‘Welcome to our home, where we gather under safety and wellbeing.Our friend, Mildred Anguine, is the founder of our humble family.She has helped us through our darkest moments and will pave the way into a new light—a new world.’”

Holy Superior, this is feral.

I finally move from my spot and examine the text, a ribbon of panic wraps around me.

I jump from Nicholas touching my shoulder.My hands have been shaking this whole time.He frowns and squeezes my shoulder, his spiky brown hair glowing in the low lighting.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he says.

“No, dude, w-we need to get outta here right now.”I frantically breathe.“Thisis how they have so many recruits.Everyone who comes down here is done for!”

“Welcome.”

A third voice enters the bunker space, but this time, my senses are prepared.We look back at the older gentleman, donning a red robe that conceals his body except for his neck and head.He stands in front of the titanic granite door we haven’t proceeded through yet.Nicholas shifts his position and stands defensively beside me against the wall.

“You wish learn more,” the member says.

My hands are still shaking with my thundering heart.All I can think about is getting out of this space alive.I can’t believe we came all this way in broad daylight and have exposed ourselves with no escape plan.

“Correct.”Nicholas’s body heat radiates from his skin.I’m nervous about what’ll happen if this creep touches him.

---