After the Walls

Chapter 14

My teeth clatter together as I hug my body. The wind lashes at my hair like claws and burns my face as the trees bellow and shake around us. Through the canopy, spots of dark grey storm clouds taunt us.

A flash of lightning illuminates the forest and, for a moment, I swear I catch a pair of eyes looking at us. But the forest plunges into darkness all too soon.

"Seems like the universe wants to delay our arrival to the Red Movement as much as possible," Aston says, the first to speak in about an hour.

I snort and pull my sleeves over my almost blue fingers. "Maybe it's an omen."

Thunder shatters the sky and the earth. We keep moving anyway, through the bone-deep cold. My fingers stiffen. I don't even have the strength to grasp my knife.

"This is miserable," Ajax says, squeezing through the tight gap between two trees.

I heave a sigh. "We need to figure out how we will give Edward the Devil's Ivy when we return."

"And we need to figure out our excuse for leaving," Ajax says, pulling the hood of his coat over his head.

"The Red Movement took me," I say, waving my hand dismissively. "I bargained my way. We'll figure out an excuse. Edward is... a little obsessed with me. So, I think I can return to his good side with little effort."

"Do you have to go back to Edward, Elle?" Ajax asks, looking over his shoulder with tight brows.

I press my lips together and step over a thick tree root. "Yes. I made a deal with him. My loyalty in exchange for your lives and safety. But if we can weaken him with the Devil's Ivy, maybe we will have hope."

We continue through the storm and the rain and howling wind until the trees thin. A red light washes the clearing forest like an angry sun. I almost fall over with relief. My muscles certainly beg me to.

But we are so close. Rest will await us when we finish the task. The Red Movement building swallows the clearing before us, surrounded by the forest on all sides. Only a few crimson lights still burn, flickering on their last legs. Rain falls sideways, flecked in red, as the wind pushes it around.

We quicken our pace, hugging the shadows like vampires as we slink into the empty train tunnel that dips underground below the Red Movement complex. The darkness in the tunnel is absolute. We follow the rusted, abandoned train track, walking right through the middle all the way through the tunnel and onto the platform beneath the Red Movement. A single light bulb with the tiniest breath of light pulses in the corner of the ceiling. After climbing onto the platform, we pause.

"I think we should split up," Ajax says. "I'll go with Aston, and we should meet back here in an hour."

"Why can't I go with Aston?" I say with a groan, slumping my shoulders and grimacing when my voice bounces back down the tunnel.

He rolls his eyes. "Because you two need to sort out your differences." His finger flicks between Ruben and me. "Maybe working together will help you out. Besides, Aston and I will check for any of the Red Movement crowd."

I pout as Ajax and Aston disappear into the stairwell, their shadows merging with the darkness.

"Perfect," I say, huffing.

At least, the complex provides us some relief from the raging elements outside. I snatch the knife from my belt and skulk up the winding stairs, ignoring Ruben as he follows me.

"So, we think it's in the prison cell, right?" he says, voice a decibel too loud and I cringe.

I push the door open as we reach the top, watching Ajax and Aston turn a corner at the end of the hall. "Yes."