bearings. Where was Navin? She could see the path that led down to the river, and the little town in the distance with its houses filled with watchful eyes, and then the magnificent Sunless City spread out beyond that. And yet now, at the end of the path, was a circular chamber and a high-tech escalator.
Donna felt like she had stepped from one film set to another. It was strange and disconcerting, but she could hardly say she was surprised.
Navin was waiting for her by the staircase. He looked sad, but as soon as he saw her he seemed brighter.
“Nav?” She couldn’t help herself. She had to check that it was still him. “You’re okay?”
“Sure, don’t worry. Newton’s really gone.” He glanced down at her hand. “You got the fruit?”
“Right here.”
She opened her palm and showed him the shining silver pear. Its skin shimmered beneath the spotlights that lined the walls of the escalator. It looked like one of those kitschy ornaments that people collect and keep in fruit bowls. She shoved it into her messenger back with the other artifacts, cringing as everything rattled together.
She looked at the grove one last time. Then she stood on tiptoe and scanned the surrounding roads. No sign of Demian. Were they really getting out of here? It seemed too easy. That always made her nervous.
It was quiet. Nothing stirred except her tattoos, shimmering along her arms and making her hands ache.
“What are we waiting for? We’ve got everything,” Navin said, nodding at the escalator. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll be right behind you.”
“You should go first,” she replied. “Just in case.”
He smiled, but the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes. “In case you need to protect me, you mean? We’re home free.”
“Navin … ”
His voice sounded strangely hollow. “I don’t want you to have to rescue me again. They can’t keep using me against you.”
Donna remembered the Wood Queen’s bone blade against Navin’s throat—back in the Ironwood, what seemed a lifetime ago. Her fingers clenched. “They don’t care about what we want.”
He swept her a clumsy bow. “Ladies first. I insist.”
A tiny thread of worry slithered into her stomach, but Donna did as he asked. Surely it would be okay. What could be worse than Hell, right?
Her sneakered foot hit the bottom stair of the escalator and she began to ascend. She watched as Navin stepped on behind her. He was two stairs below her, and they looked into one another’s eyes as they moved up, up, beyond the bright lights and into the dark unknown.
And then the escalator stopped moving, and Donna knew things weren’t going to be as easy as she’d hoped after all. She should have trusted her gut. Not that there had been anything she could actually do. Not when she hadn’t even known what was wrong in the first place.
Navin met her troubled eyes. “Uh-oh,” he said.
“Yeah.” She swallowed, looking below them and seeing how far they’d already traveled. They were high—impossibly high—and the escalator only went one way.
Well then, she thought. We can just walk.
“Come on,” she said. “How far can it be … ”
“Probably very, very far,” Nav muttered. But he began to climb with her and they seemed to make progress, for a while.
The stairs made an ominous grinding sound, and then reversed direction. Sending them back down into the Otherworld. Fast.
“Shit!” Navin yelled, gripping the moving rail for balance as they plummeted downward.
Donna stumbled and sat down on a step. She didn’t want to chance being thrown off entirely. Not that she figured much could really happen to you, once you were already sort-of dead.
Then the stairs stopped moving—and they were stuck again. The ground looked no closer than before, which of course made no sense at all.
Navin sat down beside her. He touched the back of her hand, and her tattoos swirled in response to his fingers.
“I think I know what might be wrong,” he said. He looked away from her.
“What?” Donna’s stomach hurt.
“It’s something Newton said just after he left my body. I didn’t want to think about it, not when I was just so grateful to be back to myself again, you know? I didn’t want to worry you.”
Donna grabbed his hand, wincing apologetically when she realized she was almost crushing him. “What did he say? You know you can’t trust him, right?”
He shook his head sadly. “I know. But even though I don’t trust him, I do believe him. On this one thing, I think I