Diamond (25 page)

“Where…” Her voice sounded broken. She could barely form words. If she tried, she feared there would be dire consequences. It felt like she’d been stung by giant tree ants and scratched past the point of bleeding by thistle bushes.

“Don’t try to talk. You need to rest. You’ve been out for most of the night. You need to get some more sleep before we can head back. You’re lucky I had supplies, you’re clean out.”

She didn’t want to go back to the Quarry. Nadya tried to move her body, but it protested. Too weak to even move, she collapsed back into Phyr’s chest. She realized the heat was coming not only from her but him, too. His back was against a wall, she assumed, and the upper half of her body was cradled in his arms. She wanted to open her eyes, gauge his state of mind, but was unable to. She refused to take too deep a breath, for fear of the pain she was currently experiencing.
Why does it hurt so bad?
Even when she’d awakened in a pool of her own blood, the pain hadn’t escalated to the level of discomfort she was experiencing now.

“You fought really well. I could show you more if you want to learn. I think you’d be better with throwing daggers. No up close and personal combat for you. Or maybe a long-range rifle. I have a few stashed.”

He was offering to teach her to fight. That was funny. She knew how to protect herself, even hold her own, but she was no match for the Reapers.

“If you’d like to learn, just squeeze my hand lightly.”

Was he holding her hand? She had no clue, but as she became more aware of her surroundings, she realized, yes, her hand was in his. His hand was big, warm, and strong. Heavily callused. She could feel his pulse—her pointer finger rested just beneath his wrist. His heart beat steadily. Strong. She lifted her finger, that’s all she was able to do. Too weak to do anything else.

“Good. Glad to hear you’re interested. I’ll see to it you end up with me in the end.”

She moved her finger again to acknowledge him. She’d rather end up with Phyr as her patron. It was the better deal. He’d been kind. But if Anna and Dominika were dead, it’d do her no good. There would be no reason for her to stay longer than needed. A small part of her was relieved to think she might be free to leave if they were dead, if she didn’t have to follow through with the contract to ensure their safety. She could do what she wanted to do, what she’d set out to do in the beginning. She tossed the thought away. She would fight. Follow through.

“I’m going to try and catch some sleep, you need to do the same. I’m hoping by mid-morning we can move. We’ll go around. Can’t go back the way we came. But Diamond knows I’m bringing you back. There’s nothing I can do about punishment, but I’ll speak in your defense.”

She moved her finger again.

Nadya didn’t go to sleep. She listened to the sounds surrounding her. There was movement above them. She was already starting to feel a little better. She could hear someone or something milling about above. She hoped it wasn’t Reapers. The sound above stopped right overhead. There was a loud scraping sound. Phyr’s hand tightened on hers.

“Quiet. We’re going to have to move.”

She wasn’t about to disagree with him. Even if it was going to kill her, she was moving. Nadya peeled her eyes open. She couldn’t do anything about the smell, but she could at least keep her eyes open. Even if it was pitch black.

“You stay right behind me. As close as you can. Where I step, you step. Don’t speak. If you understand, just use your hand.”

To remind her that her hand was still in his, Phyr squeezed. Nadya moved her thumb along the inside of his wrist so he knew she understood. They moved quietly through the tunnel, edging along the walls. Slimy moss, sludge, and all manner of grossness were attached to her clothing. Nadya would have emptied the contents of her stomach if she could, only it would alert the Reapers to their location. As quietly as she could, Nadya moved forward. At some point during the fight with the Reapers, she’d lost her mask and goggles. She had nothing to combat the stench, as it grew thicker and fouler the deeper they went down the dark tunnel. She could hear water off in the distance.

Behind her, she could hear splashing, as if someone were running through a shallow pond. They were trying to catch up to her and Phyr. There was no sound except for their feet sloshing through the water. Every so often, she’d hear a clicking sound.
They’re communicating with each other.
Reapers didn’t have eyes. She’d been too busy fighting them to notice if they could speak. But it would make sense that if they used sound to track, they’d also use it to talk to each other.

Phyr stopped walking. They’d come to a fork in the tunnel. His hands squeezed hers once, twice, and then three times. Nadya didn’t know what he meant until he did it again. He was asking for her thoughts. Should they take door number one, two, or three? Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness a bit, and the path in front of them led to the sound of the water. The other two tunnels offered nothing she could see—or hear—that would be to their advantage. At least if they kept in the direction of the sound of water, it would throw the Reapers off. She hoped. She tapped his wrist twice and was glad he was on the same page as she was.

They moved towards the sound of running water. It grew until they came to a pipe gushing with it. Phyr turned towards her and she could see his eyes. He pointed up. Nadya tilted her head and noticed a manhole. They were in a sewer, she could see it, hell, it was the reason it smelled so bad down here. It could be safe up there, or it could lead them straight into another situation. The walls were slimy with algae and there was no ladder she could see.

“I’m going to need a boost, Nadya. You’re too weak to pull me up, but I can pull you up no problem. It’s going to hurt like hell, but it’s the only way.”

She gave Phyr a curt nod.

He was right.

There was no other choice. It was either his way, or they’d both die. She didn’t know Phyr, not really. But what she did know of him, she liked. He was honorable. But he was loyal to Diamond and not her, and she wouldn’t forget that. He was, after all, leading them back to her slaver. The same dick who’d collared and chained her to a wall. The same brute, who didn’t give two shits about her family’s safety. Nadya thought back to an earlier conversation she’d had with Phyr and hoped he was right; she hoped Attia would bring Nika and her mother.

Nadya placed her hand against the slimy wall and tried to find purchase. Phyr waited until she’d given him the go ahead before he used her back to jump up towards the manhole cover. The Reapers were getting close. She could hear them. They were still following. The water hadn’t deterred them at all. Her throat still too sore to speak, she hoped Phyr could sense her urgency.

“There is somewhat of a ladder midway up, its rusted out, broken. It will barely hold me, so we need to do this quickly,” he called down from the hole. “You need to jump as hard and as high as you can. It’s going to hurt, but you can do it. You have to. Understand?”

She nodded again.

The Reapers were getting closer.

Nadya flinched at the sound of their claws scraping against the walls. They were too close. Her entire body was beyond pain now. She was numb all over. Phyr was right; she had to make the jump. He hadn’t left her. Whether it was because she was the property of Diamond or because he could truly be trusted, she wasn’t entirely sure. Right now, she was just thankful he was there.

With shaky limbs, she leapt. On her first attempt, she felt the tip of his fingers. When she landed, she slipped, falling back into the sewer water. Her entire body submerged. She came back to the surface, got back on the ledge, and tried again. When she jumped this time, there was a second when she saw the horror on Phyr’s face. She didn’t have time to process because mid-air, a grey, spiny arm reached forward, caught her around the waist, and tore her away from Phyr’s grasp.

V

There were a million thoughts going through Phyr’s head when Nadya was taken by the Reapers. He could still feel the ghost of her fingers as they’d barely touched his hand before she was gone. He didn’t think about the consequences of what it meant, nor did he think about what would happen when he went after Nadya and the Reapers. He leapt down into the tunnel and ran as if being chased by hundreds of Ragers. He knew which way they were headed, even though he didn’t know their destination. He could track them. Nobody who came in direct contact with a Reaper ever lived to tell the tale.

Phyr tried to rack his memory for information about Reapers. It was hopeless. Very little was known. If a person were scratched, cut, or run through with their venomous claws, it was thought to be certain death. In all his long years, he’d never heard of one of his kind being scratched, and maybe it was because their body processed things harmful to their body differently. He hoped Nadya’s would do the same.
Raemas
healed fast, and maybe her body would do the same as his would and filter out the toxins. There was no clear evidence of what exactly happened when someone was clawed because the Reapers would take their victims, sometimes leaving only body parts or articles of clothing behind. He didn’t know of even one recorded survivor.

There will be tonight.

Which was a weird conclusion. He didn’t know anything about this girl, only that she was like him. He’d been alone too long. He’d left his tribe in order to search for the disappearance of a person close to him. He and Nadya weren’t from the same tribe, but she was
Raema
and it had him running harder, faster. Maybe it was the scent of her blood that led the Reapers down the manhole. How else were they able to track her? He knew they’d follow, but Phyr had hoped he’d fooled them by going into the sewer, hoping the smell would mask them. There was a loud noise directly in front of him, and Phyr could see a faint light. Figures were moving up ahead, crawling up the wall. Nadya’s prone body lay lifeless on one of the Reaper’s shoulder.

She wasn’t moving. Could she be dead already? Phyr followed closely behind. He made sure to keep his steps in alignment with theirs. In a way, they were like Sub-dwellers with their heightened senses. Lindy had once told him how her siblings would play a game of following the other’s exact movements at the same time to throw each other off. He did that now with the Reapers. There were two of them. He mimicked the one closest to him as he followed, being sure to step when it stepped. When he came to the wall they were scaling, he saw that there were footholds and used those to get up the wall and into a hole that was inside of an old abandoned subway tunnel.

Phyr continued to follow closely behind, making sure to stick to the shadows. Not that it would matter, but he knew there were others down in the subways. He didn’t want to tip anyone off to his presence. It was warmer in the tunnels. He wanted to remove some of his clothing but knew better. The water they’d walked through earlier had soaked his pants and begun to rub his skin raw, but half the stuff down here was toxic to his skin. As they moved forward, Phyr noticed there were sacks hanging from the walls. They swayed as the Reapers moved past. One Reaper stopped in front of one, sniffed, but then kept moving forward. Phyr knew what was in the sacks. He was not ignorant of the meat that hung inside. There were some that were bound in corners, more blackened with age, others still fresh. The other inhabitants of the tunnels were not Sub-dwellers or Reapers. No, they were one step away from succumbing to the Rage. These were the men and woman who scavenged the city for any manner of food. They stockpiled it down in the subway tunnels to prepare for the Razor Winter.

The Reapers stopped in front of a service entrance. Their eyeless faces turned toward each other. They were communicating. Their mouths weren’t moving, but they were doing something. The one holding Nadya moved forward, pulling the door open as he slipped inside, the others following closely behind. Phyr crept towards the entrance they’d gone through and listened.

Nothing.

Not one sound.

When he opened the door, there was nothing but an empty closet. He looked for a switch, a latch. Anything that would lead him to a secret passage. He came up short. Phyr stepped back, looked up, and noticed a symbol etched just above the doorway. It was a symbol he’d seen many times before on Lindy’s left shoulder. This was an entrance to where the Sub-dwellers lived. Why would the Reapers be taking Nadya there?

Only one person would know the answer to that question.

Lindy.

Nadya could feel the chains. They were wrapped around her ankles and clasped to the collar at her neck. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She’d awakened from one nightmare and dove headfirst into another. Her clothes were gone and replaced with some type of clothing made from smooth white rocks. The style left her stomach, shoulders, and thighs bare. It only covered her breasts and lower half. She may as well be naked. Though she knew, even fully clothed, she was no match for the Reapers.

She tried to move and found she was bolted to the ground. She was only able to sit up. She could lean forward, but that was it. She was on a bed of something soft and silky. Her head felt lighter. She reached up and realized her hair had been cut. Her long, black hair was gone. It barely went past her shoulders now. A woman, pale like Lindy, walked forward and hissed in Nadya’s direction. Her platinum-blonde hair was streaked with black.