"Adrian, Davidian," Vritra said, satisfaction practically oozing from his tone. "We meet again."
CHAPTER FORTY
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Edgar yelled at Piotr.
The old man stared at him defiantly. "Ensured my future, something being a Guardian has never done. Now that I've proved my worth, I will be transformed, as I deserve."
A minion wannabe. Now I'd seen everything. Adrian slowly let me down, and as soon as my feet touched the floor, I bent, picking up the loose rocks that the explosion had shaken free.
"There's no way out, Davidian," Vritra said in a pleasant tone. "Those explosions you felt were Piotr blowing a hidden charge to disable the elevator, and the second blast took out the staircase above the Dlugosz Chamber."
Edgar's stricken expression confirmed that we had no way out of here. "How could you?" he breathed to Piotr.
"Easily," Piotr bit back. "All it took was a few sticks of the dynamite, plus a mirror to summon Vritra. I have been serving him for the past three months." He turned smug eyes on Adrian. "Did you really believe that throwing him into an ocean could wound him indefinitely?" He chuckled before zeroing in on Edgar again. "You and the rest of our order might consider it an honor to spend your life underground and in poverty, but I don't."
I was actually wondering why Vritra and his minions hadn't charged us yet. They had us trapped. What was he waiting for?
"We can proceed one of two ways," Vritra said, answering my unspoken question. "I slaughter all of you, which is my personal preference. Or, whoever leads me to the staff gets to live, and whoever doesn't dies."
So that's why! Piotr might have told Vritra before that the staff was in the mine, but the mine was over a hundred miles long and over a thousand feet deep, which was too vague to be useful if you couldn't sense it. And before today, Piotr hadn't known who among the dozens of Guardians had been entrusted with its exact location. Now, Vritra needed me or Edgar to point him to the staff, or even with it narrowed down to one mine shaft, he'd spend countless days or weeks trying to find it.
"Don't do it, Edgar," I murmured.
He glanced at me, his gray gaze hard. "I was chosen because I would rather die than betray my cause, so let this demon scum do their worst."
The slingshot was now fully uncurled from my arm, and I notched one of the salt rocks into it. "You heard the man," I said, starting to spin the rope. "Take your offer and shove it."
Adrian pulled out two guns from holsters beneath his shirt. So he'd gotten a lot of things while I was sleeping earlier. "I kicked your ass before, Vritra. Love to do it again."
The snake-armed demon smiled as he glanced at Piotr. "Seems they need more persuading. Blow the last charge."
What charge? I thought. Piotr's uneasy expression only increased my sense of foreboding. If Vritra didn't have over a dozen minions in front of him, I'd start slinging rocks, but with his minion shields, the projectiles wouldn't reach him.
"But, master, I may not survive, either-" Piotr began.
"Do it!" Vritra roared, his coiling serpents striking out at Piotr, their fangs missing him by mere inches.
Piotr lunged away from the deadly snakes, leaving the shelter of the minion crowd. That was all Adrian needed. A shot rang out and Piotr fell, clutching his bleeding chest. Adrian fired again, this time hitting the minion who threw himself in front of Piotr. From the tangle of legs surrounding him, I saw the spindly old man glaring at us, and even as blood bubbled from his lips, he pulled something out of his jacket and pressed it.
The explosion didn't sound as massive or as close as the previous ones, and though the ground shook, the walls stayed up and nothing caved in. For a few relieved moments, I thought that something had gone wrong with the blast. Then I heard a strange rushing sound that grew louder.
Edgar grabbed my arm. "Run! He's flooded the mine!"
Adrian began firing into the crowd at will as he backed up. Edgar was pulling at me for all he was worth, but this might be our only chance to kill Vritra. I aimed for his head and snapped the rope, sending a rock right at the demon. He ducked, and it hit the minion behind him. Furious, I notched another rock, but that rushing sound grew, and then water blasted into the chamber with enough force to knock the minions and Vritra over.
Adrian grabbed my hand and we ran back through the first chamber. When we reached the second, I heard water smash into the glass displays of the first room, breaking everything it its path. We ran faster, until we reached Jasmine and Costa, who'd gotten a big head start. I grabbed her and Adrian got Costa. Together, we propelled them forward faster than they could go on their own, but it wasn't enough. Water splashed around our ankles when we reached the fifth chamber, and by the time we got to the seventh one, it was up to our waists.