Page 70 of Trapped By Claws
It wasn't hard to guess what.
"Tagger, up!" I snapped my fingers at him, using the sharpest tone I'd ever used.
This time, he didn't even squeak or protest. He shot up the tunnel and past me as if he had been greased.
I then crawled back down into the hole, reaching for Corvin. "Corvin, doNOTargue with me. If you've got any strength left, you've got to help me get you out of here. Otherwise, I'm coming back in, and we can both die together. Do you want that?" My fingertips grazed his shoulder. His right arm hung limp.
He struggled to turn and thrust himself up. He slipped.
I lunged farther down into the passage headfirst, hoping I didn't fall in. The rocks cut into my belly and thighs. I just barely caught his sleeve, grunting with pain.
He fought to stand again, his muscles clenching.
Salt's bane, it wasn't just his right arm. His leg was giving out too.
He swung his hand up into the passage, his claws digging into the grooves.
I tugged and pulled. His claws cut my arm, though he couldn't grip my arm back. His blood dripped down his wrist onto me, mixing with mine. The sharp pain sliced through me, but I couldn't let go. I wouldn't.
He struggled up a little higher, and I wriggled back, pulling him with me.
Inch by painful inch.
He was so heavy and weak that I could barely budge him.
"Just a little more!" I cried out, my muscles burning with effort.
Tagger chittered, darting around the opening. He settled on my back to help me balance. His loud chirps and squeaks filled my ears in counterpoint to Corvin's labored breaths. "Come on!"
His body blocked out all view into the chasm below. But whatever was coming up had to be close by now.
He groaned, his voice tearing into me as I clung to him. The muscles in his arms trembled.
"Almost there!" I wriggled back still farther and then gripped more of his arm. "You're more than halfway."
He grunted, all movement stopping. Alarm flashed in his eyes.
It only took me a moment to see the problem.
His shoulders were stuck, and something was coming up the tunnel.
THE PORTAL
"Mena—" Corvin started.
"So help me, if you suggest I leave you behind, I will bite you," I snapped. But inside I was panicking. We had to get him out. But that would mean lowering him down into the tunnel again and then having him drop his shoulder at an awkward angle so that I could drag him up the rest of the way. An idea snapped into my mind.
"Brace yourself. I'm going to let go of you for just a moment," I said.
He nodded weakly. Sweat and salt water poured down his face, plastering his hair to his head. The light in his emerald-green eyes had faded so much, and his fingertips had gone ink-black. But he was still fighting, even as the breaths shuddered from his body.
Dashing forward, I seized my bag and dumped the contents onto the marble floor. They spilled out, a few items rolling. Tagger chased after them, herding them back.
I grabbed the bag and brought it over to him, stretching out the strap. "You're going to lower yourself down and we're going to use this to help you get up again, all right? You're going tohave to put both your arms up as straight as possible. But it's going to pinch your shoulders."
Something thudded below him. The vibration pulsed through the floor.
Panic surged through me.
