She splayed her hands against the cold metal, pressing, her heart hammering, fear rising inside her like the swells of a storm. Liza was locked in the blackness. Alone.
She sat back against the wall again, rubbing her back frantically over the hard surface to ensure whatever had been crawling on her skin was crushed dead. She brought her inner elbow to her mouth and bit down on the fabric of her sweatshirt, muffling a scream.
“Liza,” Mady said softly.
She shook her head, closing her eyes even though she couldn’t see in the pitch black of the place where she sat. “You’re not really here. You can’t help me.”
“No, I’m not here. And I’m not Mady. This is your voice, Liza. It’s always been your voice. You have to trust it. Claim it, Liza. It belongs to you.” The voice grew fainter, moving away. “It’s time for me to go. You were always the strong one. Trust yourself now. You know what you have to do.”
Liza let out a small sob, opening her eyes, shaking her head back and forth against what she knew was the only way. She had to crawl forward. A fresh bout of petrified tears poured from her eyes. Think! Think! This tunnel . . . it was a water runoff tunnel. This house had been built around it. That was its purpose, which meant it let out somewhere below, near the river. Freedom. The entrance was blocked now, locked by Axel.
But there’s an exit.
You just have to get to it.
“I can’t do it,” she whispered brokenly to herself, fear rolling through her body in wracking tremors.
Yes, you can. You can do it, because you have to. You can do it, because Reed and Arryn and Sabrina and Milo are depending on you.
Reed.
God, Reed.
If she didn’t try to crawl toward help, Reed might step on that tripwire, he’d be blown to pieces. He’d be dead because she hadn’t tried. Her soul withered at the thought. She let out another quiet sob, picturing him in her mind’s eye, his smile filling her head, her heart.
Liza had never had faith in forever. That idea had always been far too painful. Because she’d suffered and she didn’t want to believe that suffering never ended. But in that moment as she pictured the man she loved, she wanted desperately to believe. She wanted to clutch to the idea that their souls were immortal and that there was such a thing as eternity, because she wanted to spend it with him.
The realization gave her strength, purpose, something to fight mightily for. To fight monsters and demons and whatever might lie in wait in the seemingly endless darkness before her. Liza turned her body away from the locked door. She put her hands down on the wet, slimy floor of the tunnel and she crawled farther into the hole.
How far do you think it is? One hundred feet? Two? What if the end has been sealed over somehow? What if the exit is underwater?
No, don’t think of that. Just move.
She crawled forward, feeling the downward slope of the tunnel, tiny rocks and sharp objects stabbing the fleshy parts of her palms and digging into her knees, her hands squishing into gelatinous puddles she didn’t want to think about. It smelled like rot and decay and dead things, both fresh and ancient. A piece of spiderweb caught on her lip, and she tucked her head to protect her face. Some creature let out a high-pitched shriek that echoed against the walls. Liza swallowed back a scream. Just a rat or a squirrel. Keep moving, just keep moving. That’s right. Reed’s depending on you. Arryn and Milo and Sabrina need you too.
A hissing sound vibrated ahead and Liza drew back in terror, her teeth chattering, every muscle in her body primed to flee from that sound. Serpents in the dark, watching her as she crawled past them blindly. Of course there were snakes hiding in there. Because it was dark and wet and there were plenty of rodents for them to hunt. Liza scooted back, sobbing silently.
No, no, I can’t do it.
What’s worse? A snake? Even twenty? Or living with the fact that Reed is blown to bits and you might have saved him? Arryn burning in a raging inferno just like Mady did?
No!
Liza took in a shaky breath, putting one hand forward and then the other.
She moved ahead, her hand slipping as she picked up speed, a low keening sound coming