When the Shadows Fall by Elise Noble

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 39 - SKY

I WEDGED ONE end of the Danger of Death sign under the door, then stuck two pool noodles under the other end to form a rudimentary funnel. Did it matter which chemical I poured first? I hoped not, but I had a fifty-fifty chance, which was a whole lot better than zero. I hefted a drum onto one knee and began tipping it. Colourless liquid splashed onto the sign and ran under the door. How much was I meant to use? All of it? Perhaps I should have paid more attention to Sofia’s ramblings.

Glug, glug, glug.The hydrochloric acid didn’t smell of much, but I sincerely hoped nobody splashed through the puddle before I got to the good bit. Finally, the last dregs ran out of the drum, and I tilted the bleach in the same way. Yuck. That stank.

The first shout came a minute later. A confused, “What’s that smell?” followed by footsteps. Time to get ready. I crouched down and fastened the buoyancy control device around my chest. I didn’t need to use it, but I’d strapped the scuba tank onto the back, which made it a lot easier to carry. The cylinder had fifty bar of air left in it, about a quarter full—not great, but if I didn’t exert myself too much, it should be enough to get me out of there. I put the matching mask on to protect my eyes and nose and tucked a spare into the BCD’s pocket. Okay. Ready. I picked up the baseball bat and waited.

Waited.

Waited.

It wasn’t long until the bolts shot back, clunk, clunk, one after the other. Somebody coughed. Muttered, “You little bitch.” Saul? Or the waiter again? That seemed like something either of them might say. I stood to the left and waited for the door to open wide enough that I could see who was on the other side, and once I’d confirmed it wasn’t Asher, I let fly with the bat. The waiter’s skull caved like an eggshell. There was surprisingly little blood.

During my training, I’d wondered how it would feel to kill a man. I always knew I’d have to do it someday. But now that I’d popped my cherry, so to speak, I felt nothing. Nothing at all. A man’s actions determined his fate, and he’d deserved it.

But where was Asher? Had Saul taken his nephew with him? The chamber was deserted, a soupy cloud of yellow gas making everything look blurry. Running feet sounded in the distance.

I took out my regulator and nearly choked when I opened my mouth to yell.

“Asher!”

Please answer. Please.

A shout came back, the voice unmistakable.

“In here!”

In where? The shout had come from my right, and I ran towards the sound. Those swines. Those utter bollocking fucktwizzling cuntwaffles. They’d left Asher with one hand cuffed to a wooden railing in a small room that looked like a shrine crossed with an office, all shiny wood and carvings and weird little statues. He had his eyes screwed shut and his shirt over his mouth, and anger burned through me like red-hot lava because his family, his own flesh and blood, had left him there to die.

I fumbled the spare diving mask over his head, and when he opened his eyes, I stuffed the backup regulator into his mouth and removed my own for a second.

“Breathe slowly. We don’t have much air. Do you understand?”

He nodded, eyes wide, then ducked as I picked up a stone figure that might have been a saint or a sinner and swung it like I was aiming at Saul Rosenberg’s head. The railing splintered, and I tugged the handcuff free, then grabbed my bat again. Asher hesitated, and I hauled him towards the door, pausing to check the cavern was clear before we exited.

Don’t fucking stop.

But when I tried to run towards the exit, towards the music room, Asher pulled me in the other direction. No, no, no. I knew where I was going. I shook my head, but still he wanted to head the other way.

He spat out his regulator. “Uphill. Go uphill. Chlorine gas…heavier than air. Sinks.”

It did? Sofia had failed to mention that little snippet of information. But now that I thought about it, the air near the ceiling did look clearer. I followed Asher, and we set off at a slow, stumbling jog, leaving the light behind as we got farther along the highest passage. The waiter had taken my cell phone, so we had no way of lighting the path. How much air did we have left? I had no idea. I couldn’t see the gauge.

All I could do was keep walking. Keep breathing. Until I couldn’t breathe anymore. I tried to inhale, and there was nothing but a horrible sucking sensation, as if someone was trying to pull out my lungs. Asher’s fingernails digging into my palm told me he was experiencing the same. The air was still hazy, and I tried to quell my panic as I undid the clips on the BCD and let it fall to the floor. Losing that weight was a relief, at least. It had to weigh twenty pounds, and my thigh muscles were burning.

“Keep going,” I gasped.

Asher didn’t answer, but he did start walking again, which I took as a good sign. What wasn’t a good sign? The wall of rock I bumped into thirty seconds later.

I clawed at the edges of the passage, but it was a dead end. Where had we gone wrong? We didn’t have time to go back and find a different route, and when I gave in and took a breath, the air was acrid, pungent with the stink of chlorine.

“Over here,” Asher told me, and he guided my hand to something sticking out of the rock. Smooth metal, cold, cylindrical… The rung of a ladder! I swarmed up it until my head hit the ceiling. Asher was right behind, and his arms wrapped around me, his body moulded to mine as we both gulped in the cleaner air at the top.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Bloody marvellous.” I sucked in another lungful of sweet, sweet oxygen. “Alive, so there’s that.”

“I thought I was dead. They left me there. Uncle Saul left me there.”

I heard the torment in his voice, the hollow agony at being betrayed by two people close to him on the same day. I couldn’t change the past, but I wanted to give him a future.

“Me too. So at least he won’t be looking for us.”

“How are we gonna get out of here?”

“Hold me steady?”

His arms tightened, and I reached mine up. Nobody built a ladder that didn’t go anywhere, and when I’d hit my head, it had been a clonk rather than a crack. The ceiling above us was wooden. A trapdoor. I climbed up a rung and shoved. There was a metallic clatter as something above fell over, and the panel flipped open with a heavy thunk. I stuck my head through the hole, and a creature skittered over my face. I’d never been so grateful to see a spider in my life.

The shed. We were in the old toolshed. A momentary spasm rippled through me as I thought of the time we’d spent there before. Those bittersweet moments when Asher had started opening up to me. When he’d peeled away the first layer of armour he wore and given me a glimpse into his soul.

I offered a hand and helped him out of the dungeon. “We need to get off the campus. Even if Saul and his buddies aren’t looking for us, they’re still around.”

Asher patted his pockets. “I’ve still got my car key. Let’s go.”

Hand in hand, we started down the path in the rain. There wasn’t much of a moon, but every so often, a flash of lightning helped to guide us. And so did the noise. As we got closer to the main building, I heard high-pitched ringing plus the squeals of several hundred panicked students. They were milling around everywhere, and I noticed Deandra standing at the side of the basketball court on her own. Such a shame.

“What’s happening?” I muttered, half to myself.

“Somebody’s set off the fire alarm.”

Who? Why? Had the chlorine gas triggered it somehow? Whatever the reason, I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I broke into a run. We could use the confusion to our advantage and escape. Blackwood’s rented house was only a few miles away, and if we got there, we’d be safe.

“Holy shit. This is your car?”

Asher had stopped beside a vintage muscle car, dark metallic blue with white stripes over the bonnet. It should have been in a movie, not a school parking lot.

“A 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback. I restored it myself.”

Okay, he was right. His talents were wasted at school. But while the car looked beautiful and the roar of the engine was music to my ears, I didn’t have time to stop and admire it because Asher suddenly hunched forward over the steering wheel.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“See that Mercedes going down the driveway?”

“Yeah?”

“That’s Uncle Saul’s car.”

Well, shit.

“Are you sure?”

“I know cars, Chem. What do you want to do?”

Duh. “Go after him.”