The Divide (The Divide Series Book 1) (11 page)

“Agathy?” I could cry but decided against it. “I’m stuck.”

“Hold on, I’ll get it off of you.”

“What’s on me?”

“A bookcase,” she said.

Of course a bookcase would fall on me. It wasn’t like my body had enough bruises on it to begin with. 

“Charlie, help me,” I heard Agathy yell. As the bookcase slowly made its way off of me, pain I hadn’t felt before began to swim throughout my body. When my legs were cleared, I slowly stood up, the black stars officially gone. I turned toward Tyler and my jaw dropped; he was still sitting in the damn chair with nothing on him. He could have helped me.
The bastard.

“We need to go,” Agathy said. I looked toward her. She looked pale and frightened. I looked over her shoulder to Charlie, who mirrored Agathy. I nodded my head and followed them out the door.

“Hey! Where are you going?” I heard Tyler yell from the other room.

“Get somewhere safe,” Charlie yelled back to Tyler, not slowing down his stride.

I tried to keep up with Agathy and Charlie. I wanted to yell at them to slow down, but I knew I couldn’t. Every move I made caused me to wince in pain and by the time we were in the basement under the kitchen, I had bitten roughly into my lip to keep myself from yelling out; I could taste the metallic liquid of my blood dripping into my mouth. Agathy and Charlie were moving a large mahogany cupboard by the time I made it up to them.

“What are you guys doing?” I could hear the panic in my voice. Now wasn’t the time to start rearranging furniture.

“There is a secret passageway,” Agathy said. I looked at them dumbfounded, waiting for her to explain more, but she didn’t. I could hear people screaming and boots stomping above us. I started to squeeze my fist in and out. We needed to hide. After a few more frustrating minutes, Charlie and Agathy had the cupboard completely removed. A door was now in view, and Agathy opened it and peeked through.

She stuck her head back out. “Mia, I want you to follow this passage. Here's a flashlight.” She shoved a small metal flashlight into my hand. “You won’t have any other light than that. When you get to the very end, put your hood up and go to the Mounting Lion. It’s an inn about two blocks from the exit of the tunnel. You will take a left from the tunnel and keep straight. Don’t talk to anyone until you get to the inn. When you get there, ask for Alithea. She will help you from there.”

“Aren’t you coming with me?” I asked, my body starting to shake.

“No, I can’t.”

“Why not?” I didn’t want to leave her behind.

“I have to keep them from getting you.” She walked over to one of the darkened corners and went behind a large wooden box. When she came back around, she had my duffel bags, backpack, jacket, and purse. She walked over, handed me my jacket—which I put on—helped me put my backpack on, set the duffel bags on both of my shoulders, then finally slid my purse on. Agathy walked me to the entrance of the door and practically shoved me through. “Be safe.” Our eyes locked as she shut the door, the light going with it. I could hear the cupboard being shoved back into place.

I turned on my flashlight and turned around. It smelled like rusted metal in here. I started walking forward, trying to keep the flashlight in front of me. My hand shook so bad it caused the light to bounce around. I was terrified. All I could think about was putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward. There would be time later to think about what might have happened to my parents.

I wasn’t sure how long I had been walking down here. I couldn’t hear any noises from up above, so I wasn’t sure if there was still a fight going on. As I walked, I tried to keep my mind from thinking about what might have happened to my parents and all those people in the house, and if Tyler had found a safe place to hide. Putting one foot in front of the other, I also didn't want to think of whether my parents had gotten out alive or if they’d been unlucky. Watching the light bounce off the walls, I couldn't help think of my current predicament:  I didn’t know what would happen next and I didn’t know who Alithea was or how she was going to help me.

My feet shuffled across the dirt and grime on the floor; I was getting tired, and it didn’t help that the duffel bags were heavy. My shoulders and neck started to hurt from the strain, my legs begged me to stop walking, but I had to keep moving forward. 

It was so dark in here that I had fallen five or six times. My feet kept hitting raised stones and I didn't have enough time to catch myself. The last time I fell, I banged up my left knee and it throbbed every time I walked. I just wanted to sit down and drink something, but I didn’t have anything to eat or drink. I considered stopping and going through the bags, but I figured once I stopped I’d have a hard time starting up again. Plus I figured everything in the bags were clothes; I mean, I did watch her pack them this morning. 

My eyelids were getting heavy, and I was just about tempted to drop my body to the ground and sleep when a light appeared ahead of me: a small, circular light.
Please, please, please let that be the exit.
I pushed myself to keep moving, and it took me fifteen more minutes before I came to the source of the light. Light drizzled down from a metal gate above me; a ladder was attached to the wall and led up to the grate. I guessed I had to climb it.
Great
. I heaved myself up the ladder and pushed at the grate, my arms protesting. I looped one of my legs around one of the rings of the ladder so I wouldn’t fall, but the grate wouldn’t budge. I tried to keep the panic down that was starting to rise in my chest and moved up to the closest step and straddled it. I lifted my arms up and pushed with all my might. After five minutes of pushing, the grate finally lifted a tiny bit, and I used the rest of my strength to push it all the way over to the side. I grabbed on to the ladder and just stood there for a few minutes, catching my breath. Fresh air blew its way down and caressed my face, motivating me to move. Unhooking my leg, I grabbed the next ring, something sticky coating my hand and squirmed my way up the rest of the ladder. Snow covered the ground, so by the time I dragged my body out of the hole I was drenched. It was starting to get dark out, the sun starting to fall; I’d been down there longer than I thought. I picked myself up off the ground and looked around. I was in an alley. 

It took me a few minutes of rest to remember the directions Agathy had given me when I remembered I slipped my hood up and started making my way toward the inn. People were milling about, so I pushed my hands in my pockets and kept my eyes down. A loud bang went off to my left, I jumped and chills danced violently down my spine. Spinning over, I could see smoke billowing around the walls. Screaming filled the air, and I couldn't tell if it was coming from the other side or if it was coming from this side. People started rushing by me, panic visible on their faces.

I picked up my pace along with them; I needed to get to that inn. One second I was walking, and the next a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me up against the wall. The body covered mine, the head bending so close that I could see tiny white flakes in his green eyes. 

“Are you still stalking me?” I blurted out. 

Gregory narrowed his eyes at me. “No. I just happened to be here and watched you approach.”

Right. “I have to go.” I nodded my head to the side to indicate my leaving, but he wouldn’t move.

“It’s not safe for you here,” he said.

“It’s not safe for me there, either,” I said, pointing behind me. “I have to go.”

“Where are you going?”

“Why?”

He tightened his grip. “I can help.”

I tried getting my arm out of his grasp but failed. “I don’t need help.”

He laughed a humorless laugh. “Yes, you do. Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Yes, she gave me directions.”

“Who gave you directions?”

Crap. “Um…no one?”

Gregory rolled his eyes. “Is this what your maid had planned?”

Just as I was about to answer, another loud blast went off right behind us, throwing us to the ground. Gregory positioned himself on top of me to help shield me from the falling debris. I tried to ignore his huge body on me, but my cheeks flamed at the thought of how nice this would feel under different circumstances.
Get it together, Mia. Get it together. You’re literally in a life-and-death situation, and all you can think about is how nice it would be to have his body on you?
 

“Are you okay?” he whispered in my ear, my body shivered in response.

I had to swallow a few times before I could answer. “Yeah.”
I only hurt all over, and your added (gorgeous) weight isn’t helping.

I felt him nod his head, and then he slowly stood up. Just as I was getting up, I was swung into the air and onto my feet. I looked over at Gregory with a raised brow, but he just shrugged. I could have gotten up by myself; I would argue my point when we didn’t have to dodge guns and bombs.

“Where are you headed?” He dusted off his pants while he kept a lookout behind us.

“To the Mountain Lion Inn,” I said. “Do you know where it is?”

“I’ll take you.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction I had been heading in. He moved us fast through the streets. If it weren’t for the fact that he had a hold of my hand, I would have lost him. The duffel bags weighed me down, and it didn’t help that I’d walked all day in the tunnel. I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything, and my energy level had its warning blinker on.

“Can you slow down?”

“Not if we want to be blown up.”

“I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t bomb over here.” I was sure they were just sticking to the other side. You know, a kill-all-the-rich sort of thing.

“I think you’re wrong,” he said.

“I don’t think I am.” My breaths came out faster and faster. I started to feel a little dizzy, but we would be at the inn soon. I just had to keep my focus on the end plan and ignore the way the world tilted.

“They've been attacking your side all morning, but around noon they started to come to this side,” he said.

I looked around. Everyone still looked the same, except they did look a little anxious. “It doesn’t look like it.”

He shook his head. “Trust me, they have.”

I rolled my eyes there was no point in arguing with him. I just wanted to sleep. My body was protesting. I looked down at my feet to find my white sneakers covered in dirt. I looked back up in time to catch myself from slamming into Gregory’s back. My hands pushed against his shoulders to stop my momentum and I could feel his muscles contract at my touch. It was tempting to squeeze his shoulders, but I thought better of it, so I slowly unhinged my hands. “Why did you stop?”

He moved his arm and pointed ahead. The building in front of us was on fire: people were screaming, some were crying, some were looting, while others just stood watching as the flames licked the building. 

So he was right; they were attacking both sides. I cleared my throat. “I guess you’re right.”

He looked over at me. “I know. I’m always right.”

I rolled my eyes. “So why did we stop? I need to get to the inn before I pass out.” My head started feeling heavy, as blood started to slowly drain from my face. The world around me kept tilting and my knees were starting to buckle. 

He looked me over from head to toe and then back again. Concern flashed across his face. I must have looked as bad as I felt. “This is the inn.”

“Are you sure it’s the right inn?”

“Yes. Why were you coming here?”

“Are you super duper positive this is the right one? You could be wrong.” He had to be wrong. How else was I supposed to find this woman?

He narrowed his eyes. “I’ve lived in this sector all my life. I’m sure I would know exactly which building is which.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Maybe, maybe not.”

He dragged a hand through his hair. He looked like he was ready to yell at me, which caused me to start laughing. I bent over on my knees and laughed; I could feel tears pounce in my eyes from laughing so hard. I wasn’t sure what was funny. Maybe I was too tired. Maybe I was dead and this was just a dream. Or maybe I was so scared that the only thing I could do was laugh. When I was done laughing, I stood up, swiped away the tears, and looked at Gregory. He was looking at me like I’d just grown three new heads. 

“Did you hit your head?” he asked. I could feel the agitation rolling off of him.

I tried not to laugh. “I think so. Who knows?”

He shook his head. He looked over at the building and then back at me. He did this a couple more times before he made up his mind. “Why were you coming here?”

I wasn't helping myself by keeping my mouth shut. “Agathy told me it was very important for me to get here and get to someone, and that they would keep me safe.” Except now I had no idea what to do. And very little energy to do it.

“Why is it important? I know people are fleeing from your side, but why did your maid have you escape?”

He didn’t know who I was.
He didn’t know who I was because I never gave him a name for him to figure it out. One point to Mia. Zero points to Gregory for being a loser.
For some reason, I assumed everyone knew who I was. But I had been wrong. I looked over at the burning inn. “People were attacking my house, and there were lots of screaming. Agathy said they would come for me.”