My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 428

Nina

The very idea of tunnels made me feel claustrophobic. After what Edward had done to me beneath Mountainview, I couldn’t even begin to fathom willingly going into any kind of tunnels. Ever.

And yet, here I was, bravely marching into a cave in search of my friend.

What could be a more noble cause, right?

“Mila created these networks when she took over a hundred years ago,” Daphne explained in hushed whispers that bounced off of the walls as she led Enzo and I deeper and deeper underground. “She says that her fire created the tunnels, but… it was really slaves.”

“Shocking,” Enzo replied sarcastically. His voice echoed back at us in waves, but we weren’t too worried about sound. Not yet, at least. These networks of tunnels were so enormous, working their way through an entire mountain, that it would be a good while until we ran into an entrance to the actual palace itself.

But still, we all flinched out of instinct at the sound of his voice bouncing back to us.

“Why underground?” I asked.

Daphne shrugged and held her torch a little higher, casting flickering lights across the blackened walls. “Easier to lock up, I guess. No one can hear the screams of the damned. You know, that sort of thing…”

“And her followers,” I muttered. “The really devout ones who live here with her?”

“Brainwashed. All of them.” Daphne shuddered. “The only reason why the ones on the outside follow her rule is to not piss her off. The ones inside, though… they haven’t seen the sun in so long, they think she is the sun.”

I shuddered as well. Daphne hit it pretty much spot on; those cult-like followers of hers certainly did seem to think that the entire world revolved around her.

“You know, when I fought that bear,” Enzo chimed in, quieter this time, “I thought I saw something in its eyes. Something unnatural.”

“Could be a number of things,” Daphne explained. “Lack of sunlight, magic, that sort of thing. I’ve always theorized that there’s something in the water down here.”

“Something natural, or something that Mila puts in the water to keep control?” I asked.

Daphne scoffed and glanced over her shoulder at me. “What do you think?”

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, the tunnels began to widen-indicating that we were closer to the main portion of the palace now. The walls turned blacker and more shiny, and the torch reflected off of them like pools of glass.

I absentmindedly ran my hand along the obsidian as I walked, feeling its smoothness beneath my fingers. It was even a little warm to the touch.

It was a shame; if only Mila hadn’t been a tyrant queen, her underground palace could have been magnificent. Or rather, it was magnificent.

But her evil nature seemed to permeate throughout the very pores of this mountain.

Eventually, the tunnels began to dip downwards. At some point, Daphne stopped and put out her torch.

We didn’t need to communicate; we knew the drill. Hoods up, stances low. Enzo and I used our night vision to help us see-a werewolf ability that I would never get tired of, especially in circumstances like this.

Then, quietly, we began moving through the tunnels. It was a little easier this time; fewer guards, because they were mostly out looking for us. Although, there were still a few.

“In here.” Daphne’s whisper caught our attention after what seemed like hours of sneaking through the dark tunnels. She jerked her head toward a low door that we almost had to crouch to get through, and then down a set of winding stairs.

Down, down we went until I felt as though we were descending into Hell itself. The air grew warmer and thicker, and the walls seemed to close in on us. I felt my heart beginning to race faster than before the lower we descended.

Daphne shook her head. “Magical seal, remember? Here.” She pulled a small pocket knife, hardly longer than her pinky finger, out of her pocket. “It just needs a drop of your blood on the handle. It’ll let us through then.”

Enzo took the knife slowly, and gazed down at it for a moment before he finally nodded. “Alright. Here goes nothing.”

I drew in a sharp breath as he pricked his finger. Luke, you had better be behind that door.

Once he had drawn a drop of blood, he reached out and touched the doorknob; and, just as Daphne had said, the door swung open so silently it could have been nothing but an illusion.

We all looked at each other for one long, tense moment before we entered the pitch black room.

Instantly, I was met with the scent of cold death and embalming fluids. Years of working on cadavers had attuned me to this smell; the morgue.

But it wasn’t only the dead who occupied this place.

“Halt!”

The cold, sharp point of a spear was pressed into my back. I froze, instinctively raising my hands up. Daphne and Enzo did the same. Braziers lining the walls suddenly flickered to life, revealing a scene from my nightmares.

Mila stood at the center of the room-and she wasn’t alone. Beside her kneeled Luke, bound in chains, his head hung. She clicked her tongue, and in that moment, I knew that we had just walked into a trap; that this entire time, the very reason behind why we were able to return so easily was because we had been… expected.

“I knew you would come back for your little friend.”