stopping short. Caleb and Mara slammed into him from behind, almost making him lose his balance. He gestured for them to be silent. Then he closed his eyes, listening carefully.
A moment later, it came again. A loud moaning, from somewhere close by. He glanced over at his companions to see if they’d heard it too. From the looks on their faces, they had.
Without a word, he gestured for them to follow him, flicking off his flashlight and depending on his own night vision to guide them through the darkness. As they crept along, his pulse kicked up, adrenaline igniting in anticipation of whatever lay ahead.
Pushing through a door, they discovered a small spiral staircase leading down into the darkness. As they stared at it, the noise came again. Whatever it was, it was clearly coming from this pit. Taking a deep breath, Connor took the steps, winding down deeper and deeper into the abyss. Where did it lead? And was that a faint light he caught far, far below?
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the stairs ended, and he found himself on solid rock. He frowned, clicking on his flashlight again. The room burst to life, and he gasped at what he saw.
It was an apartment, carved into stone. A simple apartment: a few chairs, a crude table, a couple of hammocks serving as beds. But it wasn’t the furnishings themselves that took his breath away—rather their familiarity.
“The model home,” he whispered.
It was a photo straight from his history texts. A humble, underground dwelling that had been advertised as mankind’s salvation—a refuge from the Scorch. The powers that be had sold thousands of these apartments back in the day—before the more extensive cities were constructed years later. Those who purchased these studios were promised shelter and safety while the rest of the world lived in terror above.
But what was it doing here, now? He shot a worried look over at Caleb and Mara. Their eyes told him they were thinking the same thing he was.
“Oh my God,” Mara breathed. “He did it. He really did it.”
“Who?” Connor found himself asking. But deep inside, he realized he already knew, of course. There could be only one—the Dracken leader, Darius himself.
“He must have found a way out of prison,” Mara whispered. “He must have been here this whole time, constructing this place to wait out the storm.” She rose to her feet. “Come on,” she added. “We have to know how far he’s taken it.”
Connor didn’t know exactly what she meant by this, but he followed her anyway, out the apartment front door into a smooth hallway lined with identical doors every few yards. More apartments, he realized with growing dread. Darius and his followers must have been quite busy indeed.
Ahead of him, Mara stopped short, her breath now hissing from her throat. They’d reached a large metal door cut into the rock. Unlike the other doors, which were crude and made of wood, this door was constructed out of some kind of shiny, solid metal that looked to be titanium.
Mara glanced back at them, her eyes wide with fear. “This can’t be,” she whispered. “It just can’t.”
“What?” Connor demanded, his heart thumping hard in his chest. “What is it?”
“We need to get out of here. Now. Get back to Emberlyn and make sure she’s okay.”
“No,” Caleb interjected. “We can’t. Not until we have the Nether dust.”
“Fleck the Nether dust,” Mara cried. “Don’t you see? It doesn’t matter now! None of it matters!”
Connor opened his mouth to demand to know what she was talking about. But then, the noise came again. Louder. Closer. Whatever it was, he realized in terror, it was coming from behind this massive door.
Pushing past Mara, he grabbed the door’s handle. He yanked it open.
And he saw for himself.
• • •
Trinity dove back into the former automotive garage, her heart slamming against her ribs. Scarlet and Emmy watched her, looking confused and scared.
“Get on Emmy’s back!” Trinity instructed. “Someone’s coming. We need to get out of here. Now!”
To her credit, Scarlet didn’t argue, scrambling up Emmy’s wing and swinging her leg over her back. Trinity followed suit, joining her a moment later.
“Go, Ems!” she cried. “Fly like the wind!”
“What about the boys?” Scarlet broke in. “We can’t just leave them here.”
“We’ll have to come back for them. Or they can take the car. I’ll try to send a message.” Trin closed her eyes, concentrating.
We’ve got trouble, Connor. We’re going to have to—
But her send was cut short as