it. Reiko ended up sitting next to me. She kept her gaze fixed straight ahead, although the dragon on her hand kept sneaking glances at me, its face creased into a frown, as if it felt the same unease in the air that I did.
The driver released the brake, and the cart rolled forward and dropped down into the shaft. Nobody spoke, but this time, I found the darkness suffocating instead of soothing.
Eventually, the cart slowed, and we coasted into the shaft at the bottom of the mine, the same one I had worked in yesterday. The other miners headed into their assigned sections, but Reiko lingered by the cart, frowning down at her map as though she didn’t like what it showed—
“It’s about time!” a loud voice barked out.
I glanced to my left to find Conley striding toward me. What was he doing down here?
Conley stopped and looked me up and down, leering at me the same way he had Penelope yesterday morning. His lust punched into my gut, making me nauseous. Then his dark brown gaze moved past me, and his eyebrows drew together in anger.
“Why are you lollygagging around?” He stabbed his finger at Reiko, who was still lingering by the cart. “Get to your assignment. Now.”
Reiko’s face remained blank, but her talons punched through the paper map, betraying her anger. Her gaze darted over to mine for a moment, then she whirled around and stalked into another chamber, disappearing from view.
Conley gestured for me to follow him. As we moved through the shaft, I reached out with my magic, but all I sensed was his smugness. Sometimes, when people’s emotions were particularly strong, it blocked out their actual thoughts, and Conley was extremely pleased with himself right now.
We ended up in the cavern at the very back of the shaft. Fluorestone lanterns hanging on the wall, miners digging their tools into the rocks, half-full buckets of tearstone sitting at their feet. Everything looked the same as yesterday, but tension filled the air, squeezing my chest like a vise. Perhaps the miners were nervous because Conley was here.
An open spot along the wall caught my eye, and I finally realized who was missing—Penelope. My gaze flicked over the miners, but they were all men. Strange. Had Penelope been assigned to another chamber?
More unease filled me, but Conley jerked his head, and we stepped off to the side, away from the other miners, who kept tink-tink-tinking their tools into the rocks.
Conley got close to the chasm, but I stopped in front of him, making sure my back was facing the wall so that I wouldn’t accidentally step off the edge.
“What did you think of my meeting yesterday?” Conley asked.
“It’s not my job to think about things like that.”
He nodded, as if my answer pleased him. “Good girl.”
I bristled at him calling me girl again, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he stepped forward, so close that I could smell the eggs, garlic, and onions he’d had for breakfast.
“What did you do with the body?” he asked.
I didn’t know what Penelope had told Conley, so I shrugged and gave a vague answer. “Dumped it in a ravine where no one will ever find it.”
He stared at me, but I kept my eyes on his. Conley must have thought I was telling the truth, because he relaxed. “Good. Now it’s time for your cut.”
“Great. I could use it.”
An amused chuckle rumbled out of Conley’s lips, echoing through the cavern and bouncing back to me like a child’s ball.
“What’s so funny?”
A sly light filled his eyes. “It’s hard to use money when you’re dead.”
His snide words echoed as loudly as his laughter had. Suddenly, the tink-tink-tink of the miners digging into the wall stopped, and malevolence filled the cavern, surging around me like an icy whirlpool.
I backed away from Conley and spun around. Two of the miners were standing in front of me, and they lunged forward and latched onto my arms.
“What are you doing?” I asked, struggling to break free of their tight grips.
“Getting rid of my last loose end.”
Conley jerked his head at the men, who used their mutt strength to pick me up off my feet and carry me forward—toward the chasm.
The mountain shifted . . . and Clarissa was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The chasm opened up right under her feet.
Penelope’s voice whispered in my mind. That’s what she claimed had happened to Clarissa, the forewoman who had first reported the missing