Page 23 of Wilds of Wonder
Leoni raised her hand, and water unfurled into a tall wall between us and our pursuers, similar to the one she’d made in the street earlier. The shards and fire that flew our way dissipated in the water.
We raced off the campus grounds and into the street, now clear of the thick snow, glistening, damp cobblestone underneath. Leoni’s wall fell with a crash behind us, the water washing over the snow.
Driscoll groaned. “They’re going to catch up eventually.” He bent over, breathing heavily.
Not if I could help it. I stretched out my hand, ice forming in a shimmering sheen along the street, reaching out toward the guards and Maverick. The bone collector shot another fireball our way right as he stepped toward us, his feet slipping from underneath him. The guards crashed into him and they all tumbled in a heap, trying again and again to stand but losing their footing on the slick surface.
“This way,” I said as we ducked into an alley and raced through it, the sounds of our pursuers fading into the background. “I know where we can go.”
“Lead the way,” Driscoll said, voice resigned, all of us breathing heavy and clutching our sides.
It wouldn’t be too far. I only hoped we could stay out of sight long enough to get there.
Chapter Thirteen
EMORY
We arrived at the little field behind the row of houses that lined my street. Snow reached our ankles, and we trudged through it, slow, all of us exhausted after the morning’s events.
“Why are we in the middle of a field?” Driscoll asked. “Are you about to kill us and bury our bodies here?” He stopped, bending over to catch his breath. “Actually, I don’t even care anymore. Do what you want.”
“No, I’m not here to murder you. I can think of far easier ways to kill you both than bring you out here.” I sank down and began digging with my hands, shoveling snow in big scoops.
“What is she doing?” Driscoll asked, but I was too focused on the task to answer. “Is this some weird frosty thing they do for fun?”
“You know, I’m really regretting letting you come with me,” Leoni said. “Can you just be quiet for five minutes? Five whole minutes of me not having to hear your voice.”
“That’s rude,” Driscoll said.
I kept digging, my nightgown completely soaked, my boots full ofwater, my fur cloak weighed down with melted snow. Finally, a cluster of branches and brush appeared under the frothy white, and I cleared it all aside.
Leoni gasped as she stepped up beside me. “Is that a door in the ground?”
I brushed the wet dirt and debris from it. Then I placed my palm in the center, and ice shot out and into the seams. The lock clicked open, allowing me to heave the heavy stone door aside. Stairs led down into the dark bunker.
Driscoll gulped, and I suspected he very much wanted to make a sarcastic comment, but his gaze darted to Leoni, and he clamped his mouth shut, shoving between us and stomping down the stairs.
Leoni looked after him as he disappeared into the dark. “I shouldn’t have been so harsh on him,” she said. “I’m just cold and tired, and I’ve been with him for about six months now. Every single day. All day. Full of Driscoll. It’s a lot.”
I could only imagine.
She bit her lip. “Just to make sure, you’re not planning on murdering us, right?”
“No, I’m trying to save us.” I gestured for Leoni to enter. “Now can we please get to safety before the guards find where we’ve gone?”
Leoni swallowed, then nodded and entered. I followed behind, closing the stone door over us. To passersby who weren’t paying attention, it would just look like a round rock in the ground, which was why it had made the perfect place for me to hide my collection.
I made my way down the dark stairs until I got to the bottom, the ground hard underneath my boots. I knelt down and felt around for the book of matches I kept... Ah, right there. I lit a match and held it to a group of candles I’d situated on the table in the middle of the space.
The flickering light illuminated the bunker, made entirely of stone.
Driscoll and Leoni looked around the small space in wonder. Shelves lined three of the walls, wooden and simple, ones that I’d built. Artifacts lined the shelves, and in the center of the room sat a small table, the candles now burning brightly atop it.
“What is this place?” Leoni walked to a back shelf, running her finger along the rough edge.
“Mybest guess?” I said. “A bunker that belonged to someone in the Old World when...”
“When everyone was dying?” Driscoll finished, leaning forward and studying a golden head, one carved to look like Spirit Earth, evident by the flowers and fungi strung in her hair. “I thought it was a sudden death. Boom. Everyone gone. How’d anyone have time to make a bunker?”
