“The grate—it’s loose. I think it may be some sort of secret entrance.” I stood up, wiping my gloves on my pants.

Grieve and Chatter leaned over to look at it. A moment later, Grieve let out an “Aha!” and a click sounded in the air, and the grate opened easily, like a trapdoor.

“There’s a lever there.” He pointed to one side. “Flip the lever, and it releases the locking mechanism.”

I cautiously glanced down the dark hole. “What’s down there? Is there any way to find out without dropping a light in there?”

Chatter shrugged. “Give me a moment.” He lay down on his stomach on the road and dangled one of his hands down through the entrance. A moment later, he pushed back to his knees. “A ladder, running down. I don’t know how far it goes—it’s impossible to tell from here, but there’s only one way to find out.”

“Where are Check and the other guards?” I glanced around, nervous that maybe they had gotten waylaid by Shadow Hunters. But I needn’t have worried.

“We’re here, Your Highness.” He stepped out from a nearby car on the other side of the fence. Within moments, all twenty guards were visible. “We just take care not to touch the cars and we’re fine. The fence is not iron.”

“We found an entrance, Check. I guess…we’d better go find out where it leads to.” I started for the grating, but within a blurry flash, Check was by my side, restraining me. He was gentle in his restraint, but it was definitely a don’t do that pressure.

“Allow Teral and me to go first, Your Highness. There can be no compromise on this. You cannot go in that dank hole without us checking that it’s safe enough for you. There could be anything down there.” The look on his face was firm, and I realized there would be no give on this.

I stood back, both frustrated and relieved. This was the way it would be, for the rest of my life. Rule and regulations, always having to consider that putting myself in danger put the Barrow in danger.

With a soft smile, I motioned to the grate. “Then go. You two, then Grieve and Chatter, then the rest of us will follow. Leave ten guards out here to keep watch, though. We can’t take a chance that somebody’s going to notice the open grating and come after us.”

“Now you are thinking like a queen.” Check smiled, saluted, and then motioned to his men. “You heard her. Race, take nine of the men and hide, keeping watch. If we need you…” He paused.

I broke in. “If we need you, I will send my Wind Elemental to fetch you.”

Ulean, you can do that, can’t you? If I need you to, you can make yourself heard to at least somebody in that group, can’t you?

Yes, there are two who have the ability to hear me if I so choose.

Good. Thank you.

“Okay, it’s decided then. Ulean will come warn you if we need help. Check, let’s get this show on the road. You’ve briefed your men on what we need to do?”

He nodded, then swung himself over the edge of the grating. “And it’s into the pit,” he said, as he disappeared from sight.

As I watched Teral, Grieve, and then Chatter vanish into the hole, I wondered what the hell we were going to find in there. And there was only one way to know. I steeled myself, then—with a deep breath—lowered myself onto the ladder and descended into the darkness.

Chapter 15

The tunnel into which we were climbing was dark and dank, and cold. I didn’t think it led to the sewers, even though it looked a lot like a sewer grating built for leaves and rainwater runoff. It wasn’t sloped down to encourage drainage, so it might be a decoy.

I was glad for the gloves I was wearing—the rungs were so icy that bare skin would stick to them, I was sure of it, like a tongue to a frozen pole. A showering of snow drifted down on our backs, but immediately after I was down far enough on the ladder, Ysandra was coming after me, so she took the brunt of the swirling flakes, and then Peyton, then Luna, and then the rest of the guards.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever, through the darkness with no lights. We didn’t dare use flashlights or any sort of illumination because of the chance we might warn those who were down below.

Sounds echoed through the passage, the sound of our climb soft against the clinks and distant clangs—all noises inherent to this place reverberated around us. I thought I heard the whoosh of heating units or air-conditioning, machines that were recognizable. But other noises, from farther below, struck me as odd. Soft squishes. A distant call that might be a scream, or a roar. Or maybe, maybe these echoes were in my imagination, spurred on by our surroundings.

One rung after another, I stared straight ahead at the wall behind the ladder. I could barely see anything and went on faith that the rungs below me would be there. They weren’t iron—iron rusts, and whoever had built this place had made it secure and solid. Maybe…bronze, or steel, or some other metal. Whatever it was, the guards seemed to be having no problems with it. Of course, they were cloaked and wore gloves, so the essence of the metal wouldn’t leach through, even if it was iron.

And then, from below, I heard Check whisper something into the slipstream. “I’m down,” he said.

Another few moments, and I found myself at the bottom of the ladder, and I stepped to the side, ready to steady Peyton and the others as they came off the rungs. Within moments, we were all safely gathered at the bottom. Looking up, I couldn’t see the top.

“How far did we come?” I turned to Check. “Do you know?”

His voice echoed in the darkness, even though he kept it low. The resonance down here was incredibly sensitive. “A distance. I’d say at least three stories down, if you want to use a house as a measurement. Maybe four.”

So at least sixty feet. Probably more like one hundred, I thought, glancing around. It was dark. Too dark. We’d never be able to see where we were going or what might be coming toward us.

“We have to risk a light. There’s no alternative.” I debated on whether to pull out my flashlight—it would help, but it was very bright and might be overkill, considering the situation into which we were headed. We wanted to see enough to find our way, not advertise ourselves like a blue-light special at Kmart.

Chatter solved that problem. He held out his hand and whispered something, and a tennis ball–sized orb of fire appeared, hovering in the air next to him. It was bright but not blinding, and it softly illuminated our immediate surroundings.

“That fire thing you’ve got going on there is handy,” Peyton said.

He gave her a faint smile. “It serves its purpose.”

I glanced around. We were at a crossroads in the tunnel, with passages leading to both the left and right and straight ahead. I frowned, trying to figure out which one we should take. But Teral knelt by the juncture where the three passages met and pointed to something I couldn’t quite make out.

“Here—there are signs of tread going in this direction.” He gestured to the passage that led straight ahead. “I think there has been more traffic in this tunnel.”

“That would be the logical choice, then.” Once again, I realized they were waiting for me to make the decision. I cleared my throat. “Let’s go. Check, Teral, lead on.”

And so we moved forward, with Check and Teral at the front, and behind them, Grieve, Chatter, and me. Then came Ysandra, Peyton and Luna, and the other eight guards. I wondered how we were going to keep quiet, but except for the soft footfalls of Ysandra, Peyton, and Luna, there was no noise save for our breathing.

The going was slow because Check and Teral insisted on checking the passage for booby-traps every ten feet, but I knew better than to hurry them up. The place could easily be rigged, and I didn’t want to be responsible for anybody blowing up or getting impaled by spikes, Indiana Jones style.

Chatter’s light kept abreast with us, and he created another and sent it back to hover alongside the guards in the rear. We were able to see, and no doubt anybody getting close enough to us from either direction would see it, but the illumination wasn’t so bright that it immediately called attention to itself.

Besides, Cicely, not everything that walks in the depths uses eyes to see.

Ulean’s offhand comment gave me the chills, even though I knew she didn’t mean to. But the thought of some creature who didn’t need vision, snuffling and scuttling through the darkness, wasn’t my idea of a good time.

“This certainly isn’t as welcoming as the tunnel was where we went in search of Lainule’s heartstone. Or even where…” I stopped. I’d been going to say where I’d hidden my own heartstone, but I knew, instinctively, that I should never talk about that moment, that experience. The only one I would ever talk about it to was Rhiannon. And even then…as much as I loved her…the inclination to protect myself fully rose up and, with sadness, I realized that there was now a barrier between us, whether or not we wanted it there. The Queens of Summer and Winter were natural opposites.

Grieve glanced back at me, then smiled softly. “No, this is not a friendly place. There are dangers here. I can feel them in the slipstream. If you stop and listen, you can hear the rumblings from the depths.”

I nodded. So it hadn’t just been my imagination. I let myself drop into the slipstream as we continued along the corridor. Grieve was right. The distant pounding of something dark and large, reverberating like a low hum, echoed up to surround me. It was so low that I doubted the others—those who weren’t tuned in to the slipstream—could hear it.

“I can’t hear it, but I can certainly feel it.” Ysandra spoke up, breaking the silence. “There are ancient creatures who live in the earth, and most haven’t shown themselves for eons, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. We would do well to walk softly, lest we waken anything that should be left sleeping.”

“Creatures, or spirits?” Luna asked.

“Both,” Ysandra answered.

And with that, we continued along. I was beginning to worry about the time—how long had we been at this? It felt like hours, but logic dictated it couldn’t be more than an hour since we’d arrived at the Abby Theater. Finally, concern overrode reason and I turned to Ysandra.

“What time is it? Is it still daylight? Are the vampires still asleep?”

She stopped to pull out a pocket watch from the belt on the sleek black catsuit she was wearing. “It’s two fifteen. We have time, but we shouldn’t dawdle.”

“I think we’ve found our way in,” Check said, interrupting. He pointed ahead to where the passageway ended in a wall, against which a large metal door barred our way.

“Finally…” But now, fear began to creep in. The vampires were still asleep—they had to be—but that didn’t mean their guards wouldn’t be fierce. The amount of bloodshed I’d seen in the past few weeks was overwhelming, and we weren’t done by any means.

Check examined the door. “I don’t see any traps.”

Ysandra pushed forward. “Let me look. I can tell whether there’s magic set on it, although it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a trap there.” She knelt by the keyhole and whispered something low. A moment later, she stood, frowning. “Yes, there is some sort of magic here, but honestly, I don’t recognize it. It isn’t from the magic-born.”

“Could be a trap, could be a warning system. Is there any way to defuse it?” I joined her, gazing at the door as if staring hard enough could reveal its secrets.

“Not unless I know what kind it is to begin with. I could try, but if it’s a trap, I might set it off. Same if it’s a warning system. I think…we’re just going to have to brave this one and deal with the consequences.” She frowned again, resting her chin on her hand.

“Let me ask Ulean to see if she can find out what’s on the other side. She should be able to cross through it—”

“Not so fast. Remember, the vampires hate Elementals. The Elementals can read them too easily. So they might have it warded against them.” Luna held out her hands and closed her eyes. “This isn’t yummanii magic, that much I can tell you.”

“If it’s not yummanii and it’s not from the magic-born…then what the hell is it? Weres don’t use much magic. Fae? I think we’d recognize it.” Confused and a little worried, I stepped back. “Let me ask Ulean what she thinks.”

Ulean, can you pass through the door without setting off whatever that magic is linked to?

Ulean swished past me, then paused.

I think I can. This is not built to keep out my kind, Cicely. Whatever the magic is, it’s ancient, meant to keep out far larger creatures than me…or you. I think it will sound, though, if the door is actually opened. It’s meant to keep out creatures of the flesh more than those of spirit.

I told the others what she had said. “That means the vampires are afraid of physical threats, and big ones at that. What the fuck could be…” I paused. “The creatures from the depths. Suppose they know enough about them to be afraid?”

Any creature that made vampires afraid was something for us to be afraid of. That had proved only too true with the Shadow Hunters, and if my gut was right, whatever was down here was bigger and badder than Myst. I suddenly wanted to be on the other side of that door, if it could protect us.

Ulean, cross over and let me know if anybody is on the other side. And with a silent whoosh, she was gone. Within moments she was back.

Yes, there are armed guards over there. I don’t think I set off the alarms. But there are three men over there, and they have big guns. There’s also a woman, and she carries no weapon. She feels magical, though, but I can’t tell whether she’s yummanii, or what. They don’t seem to be aware that you are on this side, so I’m thinking that the door is soundproof.