Jennifer Estep - Web of Lies

Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter .

I froze, wondering if I was imagining the noise. If I was somehow concussed and just didn’t know it. If maybe I was already dead, and this was all just a final dream or some sort of purgatory before I got shipped down below.

Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter .

Nope, I wasn’t imagining it. The noise seemed to be coming from somewhere up above. On an impulse, I raised my hands over my head, palms up. I reached for my magic again, and the cold, silver flames burning in the spider rune scars in my palms intensified. I’d just upped the wattage on my human flashlight.

I frowned and peered into the darkness above my head.

There seemed to be some sort of massive figure attached to the roof. What the hell—

Suddenly, a tiny shape detached itself from the ceiling.

Then another, then another, then another. It took me a few moments to realize what they were.

Bats.

Hundreds of them.

Evidently my resounding curse had disturbed their peaceful slumber. Because the creatures all abandoned their perches. They hovered in midair for a moment before flapping away. They all headed down the left passageway.

My heart lifted, and I scrambled after them as fast as I could. Bats needed air, light, bugs, water. If they could get out, then I could too. I didn’t care if there was only a hole small enough for the winged creatures to flutter through.

I’d find a way to get my human-size ass through it too.

Of course, the bats were much faster than me and not hampered by a lack of adequate spelunking footwear. But still, I hurried after them as fast as my aching body would let me. The passageway curved a couple of times before it opened up into a round room. I stopped at the entrance and blinked. Was it my imagination or was it lighter in here? I dropped my hold on my magic. The room went dark, and my heart started to sink again. But I stood there, waiting. And slowly, the area came into focus.

I peered up, and there it was. An opening twenty feet above my head. What looked like early morning sunlight filtered in through a tangle of kudzu vines that dropped down the walls like snakes. I peered at the opening. It looked to be just big enough for me to shove myself through. No time like the present.

I tore a couple of scraps off what remained of my dress and wrapped them around my hands. Then I grabbed hold of the kudzu and yanked on it. The vines seemed sturdy enough to support my weight, so I began to climb.

It was hard. So fucking hard . Even harder than reaching for my Ice magic had been to stop Tobias Dawson that final time in the cavern. But inch by inch, foot by foot, I hauled myself up the thick vines. Whenever I found a foothold in the stone, I jammed my bruised, bloody, cold toes into it and rested. The vines under my body smelled faintly of dew. I was about halfway up the wall when I felt a cold breeze whistle down into the hollow room.

The caress of air against my bruised, throbbing cheek made me want to cry.

But I shook off my emotion. Now was not the time to give in to my feelings. I could always slip and fall. And I’d be damned if I was going to die of a broken neck. Not now, when the sweet scent of sunshine was just a few feet away.

I drew in a breath and started climbing again. The walls narrowed to form a sort of circular point where the opening was. I was going to have to let go of the kudzu vines, reach for the edge of the hole, and hope the earth didn’t crumble under my weight.

I found a good toehold and rested a moment, gathering my strength once more. For the final time. When I felt strong enough, I bent my knees, kicked up, and reached for the lip of the opening. My hands scrabbled for purchase. At the last second, my fingers clamped around another kudzu vine, this one anchored somewhere above the surface.

I hung there in midair, supported only by my clenching fingertips. At this point, I was weeping openly from the pain in my hands, arms, shoulders. But somehow I hung on.

I slid one hand up the vine. Then the other. Hauling myself upward. Snarls and half screams spewed out of my lips, like I was possessed by some evil spirit. Maybe I was.

Because my will to survive was a powerful thing. Alexis James hadn’t been able to overcome me. Neither had Tobias Dawson. I wasn’t going to let some damp, slippery kudzu vines stop me now.

So I hung there and inched my way up, like a spider climbing up its own web.

Finally, my right hand stretched up into the clear air. I placed it on the edge of the opening, testing the ground.

Solid stone, more than steady enough to support me. I scuttled upward and managed to hook my right elbow up and out of the hole. Then the other one. I drew in a breath and strained upward. My head cleared the tangle of vines covering the opening, and the early morning sunlight slanted across my face, blinding me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed its warmth, meager though it was.

And with a final burst of strength, I pulled myself up and out into the dawn.

I crabbed away from the hole on my hands and knees. I made it twenty feet before the last of my strength gave out, and I did a header into the ground. For a long time, I just lay there on the forest floor breathing in the earthy scent of the leaves that formed a rough, crackling blanket beneath me. There was noise twittering above my head. More bats?

No, I realized after a moment. Birds. The birds were singing. Which meant I’d definitely, finally, escaped from my underground labyrinth.

A smile stretched across my battered face. I let go, and the world faded to black.

——

Some time later, I woke up in the same position I’d been in when I’d collapsed. One cheek planted on the ground. Arms and legs splayed out at awkward angles, heavy and numb. I tried to get to my knees and immediately groaned as pain filled every single part of my body.

Fuck. It hurt to be alive.

Somehow I managed to roll over onto my back as tingles of pain shot through my limbs. A maple tree spread its branches over my head, offering a bit of shade. The sun was higher in the sky now. Looked like it was around noon. Once my arms and legs quit burning with pain, I raised my head up and studied my surroundings. I lay in the middle of a thicket of woods. Maples, pines, poplars, and more flanked me like soldiers. Rhododendron bushes and patches of briars snaked through the trees like strings of green and brown Christmas lights.

I sighed. Although I wanted to do nothing more than lie here and sleep for the next three days, I knew I had to move. I didn’t know where the hell I was, which meant the others had no chance of finding me. They probably thought I was dead already, trapped beneath the earth with Tobias Dawson and his two giants.

I grinned. I’d enjoy coming back from the grave just to see the look on Finn’s face.

It took me awhile, but I propped myself up on my elbows, then sat up. It took me even longer to get up to my knees, then my feet. I looked around the clearing where I’d emerged from the earth and found a piece of fallen wood. Using it as a sort of walking stick, I hobbled forward.

Pain pulsed through my body with every step. I’d cut my feet badly on the rocks inside the mountain, and the briars, brambles, and twigs that littered the ground didn’t help. But I stumbled forward.

I didn’t know how long I walked, an hour, maybe two, but eventually I came to a small stream. Maybe it was the one that had run over the cavern. I didn’t know, and I didn’t really care. I lowered myself down onto one of the rocks and dipped my feet into the water. Cold as ice, but it felt like heaven on my swollen feet and ankles. I gulped down several mouthfuls of the water and washed off my hands and face as best I could. I was careful to let one part of my body dry before I moved on to the next. I didn’t want to get hypothermia from the shock of the cold water.