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"Who did the Silvers take from you?"

I expect Shade to scold me for my questions, but he stays quiet His attention never wavers fro Because he is certainly hiding so to feel it Even Farley tenses up, though she see, seen so she didn’t see before Her hand strays into her jacket, closing around what can only be another hidden knife And Cal never let his guard drop to begin with His fire burns, a naked threat to split the darkness Again I think of the tunnel It starts to feel like a grave

"Where is Melody?" Farley ress We halt as well, and I think I hear our hearts pounding against the tunnel walls "Egan would never send you, not alone"

Slowly, I shiftso ues Cal does the sas fro and ready in his palm My own sparks dance in and out of ood to hold, little threads of pure strength Above us, the traffic has increased, and I suspect we’re close to the city gates, if not directly below theood place for a battle

Because that’s what this is about to becos against the air It reflects Cal’s fire and glints sharply, burning light into Crance’s eyes "Crance?"

His eyes widen despite the blinding glare, full of true regret That is enough to send shivers of terror down an is We’re criminals, Farley We believe in money--and survival"

I know the life all too well But I turned froirl, and now I have toothat fuels the sparks within ues uns from hidden holsters Three pistols, each one in an able, twitching hand I suppose Crance has one too, but he hasn’t revealed his weapon yet He’s too busy trying to explain, trying to make us understand exactly what’s about to happen And I certainly do Betrayal is familiar to me, but it still turns nore it, to focus

"They took her," heIt’s the sa dear The Mariners, the Seaskulls, even took Ricket’s little boy, and he’s been out of the ga darkly "It’s nothing to laugh at"

"For what?" I breathe, not daring to take ht back

Crance’s voice is a deep, sorrowful croak "For you, lightning girl It’s not just the officers and the ar, every thief co hunted, Miss Barrow, in the sun and in the shadows, by Silvers and by your own I’y isn’t for me, but Farley and rave danger because ofhis best to lookdespite the crutch under one ar you’ll like, Rabbit"

In the strange light of Cal’s fire, ht, I almoston the support bea above it is cracked and splitting, with bits of dirt poking through the shards of concrete

"You son of a bitch," Shade growls, his voice too loud, his erated He looks liable to throw a punch at any o

The three Mariners raise their guns, ai in existence When he raises a fist, they pull their triggers--and their bullets cut through nothing but open air I drop into a crouch, deafened by gunshots so close to my head, but keep all htning splinters the wood like a detonation, charring straight through It shatters, collapsing, as I throw a second bolt at the cracked ceiling Cal vaults sideways, toward Crance and Farley, dodging falling slabs of concrete If I had ti buried with the Mariners, but Shade’s fa the squeezing sensation, before hitting ground a few yards down the tunnel Noe’re ahead of Crance and Farley, currently helping Cal to his feet The tunnel on the other side of them is collapsed, filled up with dirt and concrete and three crushed bodies

Crance spares one last look for his fallen Mariners, then draws his hidden pistol For one brief, blistering ht shootdown the tunnel as it quakes around us His lips ht, left again, cliuiding our pounding footsteps The occasional echoing boo as fast as we can--we’ve set off a chain reaction, an implosion within the tunnels Once or twice, the tunnel collapses so close to us I hear the sharp snap of cracking support bealoo like tiny ropes We didn’t have many rats at horeasy black fur make my skin crawl But I do my best to s my revulsion Cal isn’t keen on the fist, pushing back the veret too close

Dust swirls at our heels, choking the air, and Crance’s flashlight is all but useless in the gloo the tunnel walls, but I keep my mind fixed on the world above, on the web of electrical wire and rolling transports It paints aover the paper one I’ve nearly e The sensation is overwhel I can Transports screa toward the initial collapse A few careen through alleyways, probably avoiding sunken roads and twisted debris A distraction Good

The tunnels are Farley and Crance’s doet us out of the darkness, and the irony is not lost on us both When we dead-end at a service door, welded shut, Cal doesn’t need to be told what to do He steps forward, hands outstretched, his bracelet sparking--and then white-hot flarip the door’s hinges and heat thelobs of iron The next obstacle, a rate clotted with rust, is even easier, and he peels it away in seconds

Again the collapsing tunnel shudders like a thunderclap, but fro are the rats, now cal back into the dark they ca coether