A Darkness Strange and Lovely

reach the walls, and the ground beneath us became smooth. Well-worn as if very well- trod.

We should have realized this was a bad sign. We should have known right then to stop—especially when we reached an abrupt turn in the tunnel.

But we were too desperate to reach the end, so we traipsed right around that blind bend. Or rather, Daniel did. . . .

And then his voice roared out. “Dead!”

Panic flooded my brain, and for a heartbeat all I could do was stand there, frozen.

Then came the crack of a pistol shot, and my body surged to life. I twisted around and shoved

Oliver into a run.

Behind me came the scraping sound of bone on bone. Crack! The blue glow of electricity flashed through the tunnel.

“Faster!” Daniel cried, his voice right behind me. And the snapping of bones just behind him.

So I hurtled faster, the lantern light listing and rocking and Oliver just ahead. Until Oliver stopped and spun around.

We were at the cave-in.

“Command me!” he shouted, his hands flying up.

“Stop the Dead! Sum veritas!”

“Dormi!”

Daniel’s arms flew around my waist, and he yanked me past Oliver just as the demon’s blue magic erupted. We hit the pile of rubble, knocking down fresh bits of ceiling.

But the limestone falling on my face barely registered over the stampeding feet and the empty eye sockets everywhere. There were far too many to fight with our fists. We needed magic—lots of it.

“Dormi!” Oliver roared again, and a few corpses on the front line toppled over— only to be replaced by more skeletal claws.

Daniel fired a pulse pistol, knocking back the next wave. But more followed.

And in the distance, somewhere in the middle of the sea of skeletons, electricity thundered over and over again.

I let my instincts take over then. As I sucked in my breath, I drew in all my power with it. Then I hurled the magic out. It was like the time at Madame Marineaux’s, but now, instead of one corpse there were three—no, there were four, five . . . seven. Somehow I anchored myself to seven Dead.

“Stay,” I murmured. They did not stay. Nor did they come as quickly—though the corpses behind them were not slowed. Their bone fingers reached over felled corpses and fought to get by.

“Dormi!” Oliver cried again, and three of my seven crumpled. Instantly, I mentally grabbed onto the next corpses.

“Stay, stay, stay.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Daniel reload his pulse pistols, his eyes never leaving the Dead.

It was then that I noticed that Joseph’s electricity had stopped. No more blue flashes, no more thundering blasts.

My grip on the Dead faltered. Two hurtled for us, fingers reaching and jaws wide.

Pop! They collapsed, and pistol smoke wafted into my nose. “We need to get out of here!” Daniel shouted.

No one moved. Oliver continued bellowing, “Dormi!” Yet with each of his attacks, fewer and fewer corpses fell.

And though I still chanted “Stay, stay, stay,” fewer and fewer corpses listened.

“Go!” Joseph screamed, his voice distant and desperate.

Daniel lunged forward, as if to force his way into the Dead. I threw myself at him. “No, you can’t

—”

“He needs me!”

“And you’ll die.”

Daniel hesitated, his gaze whipping from the lines of never-ending skeletons to the rapidly draining Oliver. Then he snatched my hand and hauled me to the pile of limestone. “Climb!” He twisted to Oliver. “You too! Climb! I’ll cover you.”

He flipped out two pulse pistols and aimed at the shambling bodies—bodies that crawled over their felled brothers, their heels sinking into ancient flesh.

Pop! Pop! I raced up the rubble, my hands digging into the dirt and my legs propelling me up as fast as I could go. Oliver was right on my heels, and in his hand was the lantern.

We reached the top. I pushed Oliver in front and twisted back to get Daniel. “Come on! Hurry!”

Pop! More Dead toppled over, almost at Daniel’s feet. He wouldn’t make it.

“Hurry!” I shrieked, reaching for him.

“I have one pistol left and no time to reload.” He grabbed hold of my hand, and I poured all my strength into towing him up. He reached the top, and the Dead climbed up after.

“Go!” He shoved me violently into the narrow space. “Faster, Empress— go! I’ll hold ’em off.”

I did as he said, dragging myself with my hands and kicking with my heels. Dirt crumbled over me, and I thought the ceiling would fall at any moment. . . .

Then Oliver had his fingers around mine. He was yanking me through and into the calm of the empty tunnel beyond. I was about to tumble down the limestone, to keep running, until I realized that

Daniel wasn’t behind me.

I twisted around. “Daniel!” I met his eyes, wide and scared.

And still faraway on the other side of the cave-in.

I knew without even seeing it that the Dead had reached him.

“Shoot them!” I screamed. “Shoot!”

But he didn’t. He aimed his pistol directly at the ceiling, and in a final roar he screamed, “Run!”

and pulled the trigger.

Chapter Twenty-two

“No!” I launched myself at the cave-in. The entire tunnel was blocked, but I had to get through. I kicked rocks aside and flung at the dirt. “Please, please, please, no!”

Oliver’s arms slung around me. “Stop! You’ll bring down more of the ceiling.”

“But they’re on the other side!” I shrieked. “Daniel’s on the other side!”

“And we can’t do anything about that now!”

“We can go through!”

“No, El, we can’t.” He spun me around to face him. “Your man shot the ceiling, and he did it on purpose.”

“B-but why?” I found I was shaking and . . . and crying. “They have no light and th-there’s hundreds of Dead.”

“I don’t think the Dead were hurting them.”

“Wh-what?”

“Joseph—he kept blasting them down and was still able to shout. He didn’t sound hurt. More . . . detained. Think about it, El. Why would the demon want to hurt anyone who walked into its lair?”

“It . . . it wouldn’t.” I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. “It cannot sacrifice a dead victim.” My hands dropped. “But that means Joseph and Daniel will both be . . .” I spun back around and lunged for the rubble.