Page 31 of Splitting Secrets
Maybe I’m stupid enough to believe Raze, but I don’t have to subject them to the same disappointment.
“Did any of you get a chance to see where the keyholes are on these doors?” I ask instead.
“What?” Jonah grumbles.
“Do you have a key?” Beatrix interrogates.
I shake my head at them in the dark, teeth digging into my bottom lip as I reach over as far as my arm can reach outside the door and feel around.
“It’s on your left side, about a foot down,” Ava answers.
I could kiss her.
But of course, my arms won’t reach that far through the small hole in the door.
Fuck. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to get this far andfailbecause my arms are too short.
I won’t accept it.
“He gave you a key, didn’t he?” Ava guesses.
“Yes,” I finally admit, my voice strained with the effort of climbing up further on my toes. Beatrix lets out a quiet cheer, clapping her hands together once.
I stand back on flat feet and slam my palms into the metal door in frustration. The sound echoes around us and through the corridor a terrifying amount of times.
This place is so far underground. We don’t even really know how to get out. My little trip to the interrogation room was proof enough that one wrong turn can lead us even deeper inside. Who knows when they’ll be back for more punishment?
“Use your bed,” Ava suggests, interrupting my downward spiral.
When I don’t reply right away, she repeats herself. “Use the blocks under your bed to get a better angle.”
I turn on my heel, running to the bed to rip the wood planks off the cinder blocks and drag one of them toward the door. It takes me a little longer than it should to maneuver it around with the roaring ache in my head in the spot where I fell on it earlier, and the open gash across my fingers. But after a few minutes, I manage to get it perched against the steel door and step on top of it, reaching my hand through the bars.
I have to press my chest fully flush against the metal, practically stretching my arm out of its socket to reach, but the key finally reaches the lock. Another few minutes pass before I can get it lined up perfectly, and the key slides into its home with ease.
“I got it,” I declare excitedly, twisting until I hear the metal of the lock click out of place.
There are whispered sounds of celebration as I step off the cinder block and push it out of the way with more ease than before, my victory fueling a new wave of adrenaline.
I’m still filled with shock when the heavy steel door shifts against my palms, opening into the empty space between cells.
“I’m out,” I tell them. “I’m going to see if this key works on your door, too.”
It’s so dark, I have to hold my arms out before me to feel around for their door. I know that Matilda’s cell is directly across from mine, and try to avoid the thought that her body is probably still sitting there, untouched. Veering off to the left a few feet, I stumble forward until I run into the cold, rough stone wall, then I slide my hand against it until they hit the smooth metal of my friend’s door. I quickly brush my fingers across the metal to find their keyhole. When I finally do, I jam the key in, certain it’ll work.
But it only makes it halfway in before something stops it. Reality settles over me like a wet blanket, snuffing out all my joy. I fall to my knees, leaning my forehead against the cold steel.
The key doesn’t work.
“What’s going on?” Ava asks, but she already knows.
“It’s a different key,” I answer dejectedly, inhaling a deep breath to calm my racing thoughts and form a new plan.
The disappointment wafting off them nearly cripples me.
“It’s okay, Sonny,” Beatrix mutters sadly. “Get out of here and find help. We’ll be okay until then.”
“No,” I bark. “I won’t leave you.”
