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"Ha! Punning!" the dead er off"

Dazen blinked, rubbed his eyes, studied the floor, tested every step He couldn’t go at this pace for long or he’d never get out But it orth it here Nohim, he did have a point

Whatever the shiny was, it was etched into the rock Perhaps a natural vein of so, but he was deep under the earth soot closer--

"Trap I’ it, you asshole Stop distractingto put his head right underneath that thing to step into the tunnel beyond it if it was going to snap doithout ahis distance, he stood up on tiptoe and held the lux torch high Whatever it was, it sat deep in grooves, and only fell full under the torch’s light when he lifted it He heard a little hiss and he froze

This was the trap He needed to do so immediately, but he didn’t knohat

In an instant, the luxin--for it was luxin--in the grooves ignited and glowed a dull, infernal red Dazen remembered the formulation Gavin’s work, a blend of yellow and red so unstable that even being hit with light would cause it to con blooht of his lux torch

It was a single, roughly shaped word, two paces across, draith a jaunty, cocky hand It unfurled in yellow-red fire: Almost

Dazen’s feet became unstuck and he leapt backward and ran for the tunnel behind hiht of his lux torch, which had been directed solely forward as he’d entered the charooves in the wall back behind him that he hadn’t even seen These flashed to fire, the fires cut ropes, and the floor dropped out from under him

He tumbled head over heels into the darkness down a tube, then abruptly dropped straight onto a flat surface He ier than his first knuckle It took his breath--and his luxin Hellstone!

Then that floor swung open and he tu open and then shut behind hi from tiny stab wounds and disoriented, Dazen nonetheless ih his eyelids,him

He rolled over, opened his eyes The room was shaped like a squashed ball, one hole above for food and water, one hole below for his waste And in the round, curving wall of his new yellow cell sat the dead man

In a mad falsetto, he said, "Told you so"

Chapter 84

The shiet back to his roolanced toward the door to the roof when a bit of wind gusted in, but Gavin closed it quickly behind hi woman looked up the stairs but dismissed it Gavin o check, he used the opportunity to slip into his room

Clearly, they’d searched the room for hi, inviting a search of his room? They could have found the door in his closet

Not that it mattered now Gavin went to the picture of the blue colossus and pulled it open He al yellow

His brother had broken out of green, last night Insanely, Gavin felt proud of hih of one