the mine shaft. I looked up. There must have been more Slowly, I got to my feet. There was almost no light, but rock above the ceiling than Tobias Dawson had let on, bemaybe I could fix that. I uncurled my dirty palms. Even cause the stone had formed a sharp, sloping roof, instead though I couldn’t see them, I knew the spider rune scars of the natural arch of the original cavern. were still on my hands. I’d always been able to create a I wasn’t getting out that way. Because even if I’d been little light with my magic, especially with my Ice power. at full strength, instead of beaten, bloody, and exhausted, The familiar silver light flickered over my palm anytime I I doubt even I could have managed to blast my way made a simple cube or Ice pick.
through so much stone and earth. Elementals had a lot of But before, when I’d made that final, desperate reach raw power, but ultimately, we all had our limits. Even me. for my Ice magic to stop Tobias Dawson, the spider rune So I skirted around the edge of the rubble, slipping, scars on my palms had ignited and burned with cold, silfalling, and climbing from one rocky dune of muddy very flames of Ice magic. Something they’d never done beearth to the other. In the distance, I heard the rush of fore. I wondered what the silverstone scars would do now water, like a bowl filling up. I didn’t know where the that the danger wasn’t so imminent. Time to find out. water from the creek had gone when I’d collapsed the I reached for my Ice magic. Cautiously, this time, ceiling, but it was close by. Another reason for me to get drawing on a small trickle of power. But again, it came out of here. I hadn’t defeated Tobias Dawson to succumb to me far easier than it ever had before. It only took a to something as simple as drowning.
moment of concentration to make the scars on my palms I’d just surfed down one particularly large dune when a burn with cold silver fire. Better than a fucking flashlight. small sound caught my attention. A tiny, sharp wail in the
“Well, that’s something new and different,” I murstone around me. I held out my glowing palms. A flash mured.
of light caught my eye, and I peered at the ground. And I I held out my glowing palms. The silver light flickrealized I was standing on the diamonds. ered over what remained of the cavern, and I surveyed the They littered the ground under my muddy shoes like damage I’d wrought with my Stone and Ice magic. dull, frozen tears. Most of them had been pulverized to Beyond my hole, the stone and earth rose and fell in small bits, slivers, and glints that caught the silvery light jagged waves, and dust choked the air like storm clouds of emanating from my palms. Still beautiful, even in their particles. The cavern, which had once been so beautiful ruined state. Too bad they were of absolutely no use to and elegant, was now nothing more than a pile of misme. Definitely not a girl’s best friend, in this case. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 350-351
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I walked on until I came to the far side of the cavern, son had ripped out of the mountain. There was no light but the earth and stone had fully blocked the exit. Which up ahead, nothing to help me see the dangers that waited. meant I had to find another way to get out of here—now. And I hadn’t escaped the dwarf only to break my leg and So I surfed back in the direction I’d come from, stopend up starving to death down here. So I reached for my ping long enough to take off my stilettos and toss them Ice magic again. It came to me as easily as before, and into the darkness. The broken heels were doing more I upped the intensity of the flames burning on my spidamage to my feet than going barefoot would. I’d just der rune scars until I could see well enough to walk on. reached the recess where I’d originally hidden when a spot Around me, the stone muttered, sharp, angry, and hurt of white caught my eye against the gray stone. What was from all the upheaval it had seen today.
that? Another diamond?
“Sorry,” I murmured to the rock. “I didn’t have a I crept closer and realized it was a hand—Tobias Dawchoice.”
son’s right hand, sticking out of a mound of earth, fingers My voice bounced against the stone and echoed back stretched wide. I crawled over the earth and stone to get a to me. The sound made me shiver, and I moved on, using closer look. But it was just a hand sticking out. Nothing else. my hands to light my way. The passageway grew narrower I checked for a pulse, but the dwarf didn’t have one. and narrower, until I had to turn sideways to shimmy The cold chill of death had already settled into his flesh. through it. But I kept going. It wasn’t like I had a lot of Still, I picked up a jagged piece of rock and slashed his other options. There was no going back. only moving wrist just to be sure. I sat there, resting and watching his forward.
blood soak into the turned earth and shattered stone. The passageway opened up again slightly, allowing me When his wrist quit oozing, I moved on.
to walk through the area square on, instead of twisting I walked deeper into the back of the cavern to the part from one side to the other. But twenty feet later, it narI hadn’t seen while Tobias Dawson had been challengrowed again. I gritted my teeth and slipped sideways. ing me to a duel. The cavern narrowed to a small corAnd so it went. Sometimes, I could walk through the ridor barely big enough for a person to squeeze through. corridors with ease. Sometimes, I had to turn sideways. I stood before it and peered into the darkness, wondering other times, I had to suck in my stomach and force what lay at the end of the midnight rainbow. only one myself through passageways that were little more than a way to find out. I couldn’t go back, and I had to get out. foot wide. But I kept moving. Despite my many injuries, So I stepped forward into the waiting darkness. despite my broken jaw and throbbing skull, despite the strange influx of magic coldly burning in my veins, I kept I’d only gone a few feet into the corridor when the world going. To stop would be to rest, to sleep. Who knew if I turned from dark gray to as black as the coal Tobias Dawwould ever wake up?
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There could be some noxious gas down here already and right. Two more dark holes just like all the others killing me slowly. Some form of carbon monoxide or I’d walked and crawled and shimmied through. But this something equally lethal. No, I didn’t dare stop. Not to time, I had to make a choice. But which one? And would rest, not to cry, not for anything. If Fletcher Lane had sudit even do any good? They both could lead farther into the denly stepped out of the shadows and offered to tell me mountain, turn back on each other, or lead me straight to all the secrets he’d kept from me, where Bria was and what a dead end. As long as it seemed like I’d been walking, I she was like, I would have walked right on by the old man. could be halfway to China by now.
So I trudged along in the blackness, with only the But still, I had to try. Right first. I walked down into magical silver glow of my palms to light the way. Time the right passageway about a hundred feet and placed my ceased to have any sort of meaning. There were only rocks bruised, bloody hand on the stone wall. The usual, low to navigate around, through, over. Sharp rocks pricking murmurs of water, rock, and time sounded back to me. my feet. The smell of my own blood. And the murmur of Same sound I’d heard for hours now.
the stones around me.
I sighed, turned around, and trudged down the left As I left the destruction of the cavern behind, the passageway. once again, I placed my hand on the stone stones’ murmurs became soft and sweet once more. They and listened to its vibrations. Water, rock, time. Nothing talked of water and air and the slow passage of time that to tell me which way to go.
had little effect on them. After the screams of the stones
“Fuck,” I snarled in a loud voice.
and the wail of the shattered diamonds in the cavern, the My curse echoed up to the top of the cavern and murmur of the rocks was as soothing as a lullaby. But I bounced back down to me before reverberating through pushed the sound to the back of my mind, tuning it out. the whole area. I sighed and swiped my hand over my Because if I listened to it, I wou
ld want to stop, just for a face, smearing blood, dirt, and grime deeper into my skin. few minutes. And then I’d be gone.
Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter. I don’t know how long I trudged along, just plodding I froze, wondering if I was imagining the noise. If I was through the dark earth. Minutes, hours, days, the end somehow concussed and just didn’t know it. If maybe I of the time. But I stumbled free of the narrow passagewas already dead, and this was all just a final dream or way I was in and entered a larger room, almost as big as some sort of purgatory before I got shipped down below. the cavern where the diamonds had been. I was halfway Flutter-flutter. Flutter-flutter. across before I realized I was walking directly into a sheer Nope, I wasn’t imagining it. The noise seemed to be stone wall.
coming from somewhere up above. on an impulse, I I stopped, blinked, and held out my glowing palms. raised my hands over my head, palms up. I reached for The passageway branched off into two directions. Left my magic again, and the cold, silver flames burning in the Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 354-355
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spider rune scars in my palms intensified. I’d just upped filtered in through a tangle of kudzu vines that dropped the wattage on my human flashlight.
down the walls like snakes. I peered at the opening. It I frowned and peered into the darkness above my head. looked to be just big enough for me to shove myself There seemed to be some sort of massive figure attached through. No time like the present.
to the roof. What the hell—
I tore a couple of scraps off what remained of my dress Suddenly, a tiny shape detached itself from the ceiling. and wrapped them around my hands. Then I grabbed Then another, then another, then another. It took me a hold of the kudzu and yanked on it. The vines seemed few moments to realize what they were.
sturdy enough to support my weight, so I began to climb. Bats.
It was hard. So fucking hard. Even harder than reachHundreds of them. ing for my Ice magic had been to stop Tobias Dawson that Evidently my resounding curse had disturbed their final time in the cavern. But inch by inch, foot by foot, peaceful slumber. Because the creatures all abandoned I hauled myself up the thick vines. Whenever I found a their perches. They hovered in midair for a moment befoothold in the stone, I jammed my bruised, bloody, cold fore flapping away. They all headed down the left pastoes into it and rested. The vines under my body smelled sageway.
faintly of dew. I was about halfway up the wall when I felt My heart lifted, and I scrambled after them as fast as I a cold breeze whistle down into the hollow room. could. Bats needed air, light, bugs, water. If they could get The caress of air against my bruised, throbbing cheek out, then I could too. I didn’t care if there was only a hole made me want to cry.
small enough for the winged creatures to flutter through. But I shook off my emotion. Now was not the time to I’d find a way to get my human-size ass through it too. give in to my feelings. I could always slip and fall. And I’d of course, the bats were much faster than me and not be damned if I was going to die of a broken neck. Not now, hampered by a lack of adequate spelunking footwear. But when the sweet scent of sunshine was just a few feet away. still, I hurried after them as fast as my aching body would I drew in a breath and started climbing again. The let me. The passageway curved a couple of times before it walls narrowed to form a sort of circular point where the opened up into a round room. I stopped at the entrance opening was. I was going to have to let go of the kudzu and blinked. Was it my imagination or was it lighter in vines, reach for the edge of the hole, and hope the earth here? I dropped my hold on my magic. The room went didn’t crumble under my weight.
dark, and my heart started to sink again. But I stood I found a good toehold and rested a moment, gaththere, waiting. And slowly, the area came into focus. ering my strength once more. For the final time. When I peered up, and there it was. An opening twenty feet I felt strong enough, I bent my knees, kicked up, and above my head. What looked like early morning sunlight reached for the lip of the opening. My hands scrabbled for Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 356-357
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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 32
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 I crabbed away from the hole on my hands and knees. I climbing up its own web.
made it twenty feet before the last of my strength gave out, Finally, my right hand stretched up into the clear air. I and I did a header into the ground. For a long time, I just placed it on the edge of the opening, testing the ground. lay there on the forest floor breathing in the earthy scent of Solid stone, more than steady enough to support me. I the leaves that formed a rough, crackling blanket beneath scuttled upward and managed to hook my right elbow me. There was noise twittering above my head. More bats?
up and out of the hole. Then the other one. I drew in a No, I realized after a moment. Birds. The birds were breath and strained upward. My head cleared the tangle singing. Which meant I’d definitely, finally, escaped from of vines covering the opening, and the early morning sunmy underground labyrinth. light slanted across my face, blinding me. I closed my eyes A smile stretched across my battered face. I let go, and and enjoyed its warmth, meager though it was. the world faded to black.
And with a final burst of strength, I pulled myself up and out into the dawn.
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. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 358-359
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Fuck. It hurt to be alive.
didn’t really care. I lowered myself down onto one of the Somehow I managed to roll over onto my back as tinrocks and dipped my feet into the water. Cold as ice, but gles of pain shot through my limbs. A maple tree spread it felt like heaven on my swollen feet and ankles. I gulped its branches over my head, offering a bit of shade. The down several mouthfuls of the water and washed off my sun was higher in the sky now. Looked like it was around hands and face as best I could. I was careful to let one part noon. once my arms and legs quit burning with pain, I of my body dry before I moved on to the next. I didn’t raised my head up and studied my surroundings. I lay in want to get hypothermia from the shock of the cold water. the middle of a thicket of woods. Maples, pines, poplars, But cool wetness helped revive me—and made me and more flanked me like soldiers. Rhododendron bushes realize just how much fucking pain I was in. Every sinand patches of briars snaked through the trees like strings gle part of me hurt, but the real problem areas were my of green and brown Christmas lights.
broken jaw, aching skull, and scraped, bruised, bloody I sighed. Although I wanted to do nothing more than hands, knees, and feet. Jo-Jo Deveraux was going to have lie here and sleep for the next three days, I knew I had to her work cut out for her when she started healing me. move. I didn’t know where the hell I was, which meant The thought made me smile, which turned into a grithe others had no chance of finding me. They probably mace as the muscles in my jaw screamed in pain. thought I was dead already, trapped beneath the earth once I felt strong and dry enough, I used my walking with Tobias D
awson and his two giants.
stick to push myself up and plodded on. I’d been walking I grinned. I’d enjoy coming back from the grave just to about thirty minutes when I stumbled across what looked see the look on Finn’s face.
like two ruts in the middle of the forest. I frowned. Did It took me awhile, but I propped myself up on my elsomebody have a house up here? That could be good or bows, then sat up. It took me even longer to get up to my bad. Good, if they were gone and had a phone. Bad, if knees, then my feet. I looked around the clearing where they were home and got a clear look at me. I’d emerged from the earth and found a piece of fallen But I stepped into the smooth track and headed left, wood. Using it as a sort of walking stick, I hobbled forclimbing upward to whatever might lie at the top of this ward. Pain pulsed through my body with every step. I’d rise. I got all the way up to the clearing before I realized cut my feet badly on the rocks inside the mountain, and where I was—on the access road that overlooked Tobias the briars, brambles, and twigs that littered the ground Dawson’s coal mine. I could still see the tire tracks in the didn’t help. But I stumbled forward.
mud from where Donovan Caine and I had driven up I didn’t know how long I walked, an hour, maybe two, here the night we’d broken into the dwarf’s office. Hell, I but eventually I came to a small stream. Maybe it was the was probably standing in about the same spot I’d been in one that had run over the cavern. I didn’t know, and I when I’d stripped for the detective.
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Irony. What a fucking bitch.
shattered mountain, I really, truly, started to believe her. I shook my head and trudged on toward the edge of The thought made my stomach clench.