The Ends of the World (The Conspiracy of Us #3)(12)

"Get to the exit!" Elodie yelled. She grabbed the back of my robe, and Stellan's, and shoved us in the opposite direction. I saw what she was looking at. There were a couple of passageways off the back of the cavern. We were still holding the box. We'd take it and find another way out, pretending we'd gotten lost in the chaos.

I clung to Stellan's arm as we disappeared into the dark mouth of the tunnel, and we squinted into the box. The flames from the main cavern were the only light we had. I heard Elodie's voice, and Jack's, still ushering everyone out. "Look," I said. "The symbol is etched into some kind of metal strip that goes all the way around-"

And then there was a bang so loud, it sounded like the world above us had imploded.





CHAPTER 3



Before I could react, Stellan had pushed me to the ground against a wall, sheltering me with his body. In the darkness I felt dust rain from the ceiling, and a deepening rumble seemed to be coming from the rocks themselves.

"Jack!" I screamed, pushing to standing. "Elodie!"

"Luc's back there, too," Stellan said.

The ground under our feet started shaking, like an earthquake. I grabbed blindly for Stellan to keep from falling-then there was a grating rumble and a crash, and weak light came from a hole where the wall opposite us used to be. It must have led into the main network of tunnels that ran under the Old City. They were a major tourist attraction. A group of shocked sightseers, the cameras around their necks forgotten, screamed and shoved as they fled the blast. A couple of them looked through the hole and did a double take when they saw us. We probably looked like ghosts in our white ceremonial robes.

The rumbling grew louder behind us, in the direction of the Circle ceremony. I spun toward it. "We have to get them-"

I could tell Stellan didn't like it, but he said, "They had a way out. We have to save ourselves." He pulled me to the hole in the wall. The stone scraped at my bare arms as I squeezed through, and then there was a massive crash, and bits of rock and dust slammed into us, throwing us to the floor. I sat up coughing, staring back in the direction of the ruined ceremonial chamber.

There would be no going back for Jack and Elodie and Luc.

Stellan stood and hauled me to my feet. I tucked the box under my arm. "We have to get out of here. It might cave in more."



       
         
       
        

We followed the crowd. Tears streamed down my face at the haze in the air. I couldn't stop coughing, and neither could Stellan.

We burst into the next chamber just in time to hear someone scream.

"Merde," Stellan said under his breath.

I ran into him, but I would have stopped still anyway. "No," I whispered, panic swelling in my throat. "Please tell me this isn't what it looks like."

Despite everything, until this very moment I'd assumed this didn't have to do with us. That it was a random terrorist attack-or even an accident. Cave-ins happened in old tunnels sometimes.

"This wasn't just a bomb," Stellan murmured.

At a glance, it might look like the girl had been injured by falling debris. Her face was bloodied, and she was limp. But there was another girl next to her, yelling. It was in English, so I could understand. "Elena!" she screamed. She turned to the rest of the tour group huddled around her. "She just started coughing blood, and then she collapsed!"

And if we needed more proof, on the other side of the cavern, a kid leaned over a man whose face was covered in red. Moments later, the son coughed, spraying blood across his father's already-stained white shirt.

They hadn't been hurt by the cave-in.

It flashed through my head again. My mom falling to her knees, coughing. The bloody tears seeping from her green eyes, faster and faster, staining the light carpet where she fell. It had happened so fast. It was real-it was too real-but now the images rolled through my head like a movie shot on old, scratched film. I wondered whether it really had happened at all. Whether this all could be just a recurring bad dream, and at some point, I'd figure out how to wake up. I dug one fingernail into my palm as hard as I could. I don't think that worked in dreams, anyway.

Stellan put an arm around me and pulled me close, and I let him. "How?" I whispered. The only illumination came from the dim can lights illuminating the passageway, and those were dampened by the swirling yellow dust. My bare feet were covered in dirt, and it streaked my white robes. "They couldn't have all eaten or drunk something."

"Aerosol," he said. "I wouldn't have imagined the Saxons would have enough blood left to do it. But maybe it takes even less in this form."