Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) - Marissa Meyer Page 0,153

looked like it had since it had first been carved out by molten lava billions of years ago. Back then, Luna had been a place of heat and transformation. It was difficult to fathom now in these cold, barren caverns, left to exist in quiet darkness.

When Earthens had first built their colony, they had made temporary homes of the vast interconnected lava tubes while the domes were under construction, and afterward converted them into storage and shuttle rails.

Only recently had they been used for something violent and grotesque.

“Secret barracks for a secret army,” she whispered to herself.

“All right, time out.” Scarlet stopped and settled her hands on her hips. “Do you even know where we’re going?”

Winter tugged on a lock of her own hair this time, like a spring curled against her cheek. There was still a bump on her scalp where she’d hit her head, though the headache was mostly gone. “Many of the lava tubes that were not used for the shuttles were converted into underground training facilities. That is where the soldiers will be. At least, those who have not been sent to Earth.”

Scarlet blinked, slowly. “And how many lava tubes are there under Luna’s surface?”

Winter blinked, slowly, back. “I do not know. But did you know Luna started its life as a giant ball of magma, liquid and burning?”

Scarlet knotted her lips to one side. “How many wolf regiments are left on Luna?”

This time, Winter did not answer at all.

Exhaling, Scarlet rubbed at her brow. “I knew better. I knew better than to listen to you. Winter. We could be wandering down here for days and not see a single person. And even if we do find one of these regiments, or packs, or whatever they call themselves, they are most likely going to eat us. This is suicide!” She pointed back the direction they’d come. “We should be looking for allies, not enemies.”

“You go back then.” Winter continued down the endless tunnel.

Scarlet let out a bedraggled groan and stomped after her. “Thirty minutes,” she said. “We are going to walk for thirty more minutes and if we haven’t seen any evidence that we’re getting closer, then we are turning around and going back, and I am not taking no for an answer. I’ll club you over the head and drag you back if I have to.”

Winter fluttered her lashes, amused by the thought. “We will find them, Scarlet-friend. They will join us. Your Wolf is proof that they are men, not monsters.”

“I really wish you would stop comparing them with Wolf. Wolf is different. The rest of them … they are monsters. I met Wolf’s pack in Paris, and they were brutal and terrible. And that was her special ops, and they’re still mostly human! You can’t reason with these monsters any more than you could a … a…”

“A pack of wolves?”

Scarlet glared. “Exactly.”

“Ryu was my friend.”

Scarlet threw her hands into the air. “What are you going to do, play fetch with them? You are thinking about this all wrong. They are under Levana’s control, or whoever their thaumaturge is. They will do what they’re told, and that will be to eat us.”

“They were young boys forced into a difficult situation. They did not ask for this life, just as your Wolf didn’t ask for it, but they have done what they needed to do to survive. If they are given the opportunity to break their binds of enslavement, I believe they will take it. I believe they will side with us.”

Winter heard a distant, low howl, and shivered. Scarlet didn’t seem to hear it, though, so she said nothing.

“You have no idea whose side they’ll take. They’ve been so messed with, they’ll side with whoever is offering them a bigger piece of steak.” Scarlet hesitated. “What’s wrong? Are you hallucinating right now?”

Winter forced a smile. “Not unless you are a figment of my imagination, but how could I ever be sure one way or the other? So I will go on believing you are real.”

Scarlet looked unimpressed with her logic. “You know what these men become, don’t you? You know they can never be normal again.”

“I would think that you, of all people, would believe in their ability to change. Wolf changed because of his love for you. Why can they not change also?” She started walking again.

“Wolf is—it’s not the same. Winter, I know you’re used to batting your eyelashes at everyone who walks by and expecting them to fall in love with