Page 71 of Sapphire Tears

His voice is low and urgent. But the sound of it calms me down.

The moment that Sara cuts the line, though, the cold seeps back in. I can smell stone and mold. I walk into half a dozen cobwebs before we reach the stairs.

The steps are ancient and rickety, just planks of rotting wood that have been here since a time when the ghost who walks the halls was still flesh and blood.

I promptly miss the first step and nearly go tumbling ass over heels all the way down. But Sara grabs me, stops me from falling, and clamps a hand over my mouth so I don’t scream and give us away.

“I’m okay,” I say when I’ve got my breath back. “I’m good. Let’s go.”

We descend slowly and carefully. At some point, we start holding hands. I’m a little embarrassed by how comforting it is. But there are no more close calls.

At the bottom, we find the door Kolya described. It’s rusted and wooden, with an arched top and an ornate knob. I take a deep breath, turn the handle, and slowly pull it inward. Then I step out with my heart in my throat.

The room is empty at first. Nothing breathes, nothing moves. Then—

“Kolya!” I gasp breathlessly.

My legs carry me forward. I stop myself just shy of jumping into his arms, but it doesn’t sound like a half-bad idea. He grips my shoulders and presses me to his chest as Sara emerges behind us.

“Are you okay?” he asks, pulling me out of our embrace to check me over thoroughly.

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “We both are.”

“Good. Sara,” he barks, “take her down the garden path. There’s a pipeline that will take you to the back border of the property. It leads right into the neighboring—”

There’s a shuffle of voices—and then suddenly, I feel wind hurtle past my cheek.

No, not wind.

A bullet.

Kolya is moving before I’ve even processed what’s happening. More gunshots scream around us as he tows me through the barren kitchen and out the rear exit. Just to the right of the building is the yawning black mouth of a water drainage pipe. It gurgles like it’s alive.

“It’ll take you to the other side,” Kolya growls, pointing at it. “Hurry.”

I take one glance at the opening of the pipe and realize that there’s no way Kolya will fit through. “What are you going to do?”

“Stay,” is all he says. “Sara, go on.”

The doctor doesn’t wait. She pushes her head through the pipe and the rest of her follows. I, on the other hand, turn to Kolya with wide, pleading eyes.

“You can’t take all those men on single-handedly.”

“I’ve managed under worse odds.”

“Kolya—”

“Don’t worry. Reinforcements are on the way.”

Whether he’s lying to comfort me or telling the truth, I have no idea. I just know that my heart is throbbing and the thought of losing him is too terrifying to even contemplate.

“There has to be another way out of here,” I whisper even as another round of gunshots shrieks through the air.

“There isn’t,” he snaps, his eyes splintering in a thousand different directions. “Now, go, June.”

He grabs me by the shoulders, twists me around and forces me onto my knees. “I will find you, okay?” he promises.

Then he pushes me through.

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