𝔸 ℙ𝕚𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕤 𝕃𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝔽𝕠𝕣 𝕄𝕖

Chapter 53: Light at the end of the tunnel

"Celeste! Celeste wake up!"

I groaned and stirred slowly opening my eyes.

"What the hell happened?"

Pain flared through the side of my head and there was a dull ache in my entire body. Reaching up it touched my head gently and pulls my finger back with a hiss. A light coating of blood covered my fingers.

"The floor opened up beneath us and we all fell but not together," Atlas explained as he helped me sit up.

"What do you mean?" I asked panic rising as I saw the maze of dark tunnels lurking in every direction.

"There were tunnels or something like tunnels. We fell here but the others didn't..." Atlas trailed off looking fearful as water trickled down the side of whatever strange thing we were in.

I dragged him towards me and into a hug clutching him tightly as I tried not to think about the danger the others may be in just for a moment.

"Okay...we're going to find them. These tunnels have to lead somewhere.  Have you heard anything, anything at all?" I questioned Atlas trying to remain calm for him.

"Nothing. I haven't gone far though I couldn't leave you behind."

"Now you won't have to. Come on these tunnels must join together at some point it's just a matter of finding where and if we're lucky we might find a map along the way," I grinned hopefully and shakily getting to my feet.

We took off down the passage to our left only to come to a dead end we went from one passage to the next each time our hope dwindling slightly as we found nothing but stone for our troubles. Already we were feeling tired as we returned to the centre where we had fallen once more.

"This is hopeless," Atlas complained. "We'll never get out of here." He sighed heavily.

"Nothing is ever completely hopeless Atlas. You've heard the stories from all of us. So many times when we should've given up but we didn't. Now quit complaining that's Storm's job, not yours," I declared hoping to make him smile.

"There's not much else to do." He shrugged despondently.

"Oh come on, where's the happy Atlas I know the positive one who makes his twin slightly less dark and angry?" I teased finally getting a smile from the teenager. A small burst of laughter erupted from him when a splash of water fell on me from above. I however was frustrated until I noticed it. "The water. Atlas the water look."

There was a small trickle of water meandering across the rough pale floor and off into the darker tunnels.

"When in doubt fallow the water," Atlas shrugged grabbing my hand. This time we actually made it more than twenty metres and when we came to a crossroads we kept following the water.

"This has to be the right way."

"If not we'll be stuck down here forever."

"Storm can you stop being so pessimistic."

"It's my job. Atlas is the optimist, I'm the pessimist it's how we work."

We were running now heading straight for the direction of the voice.

"Storm! Alaris!" We yelled.

Atlas threw himself at his twin both grinning madly in the dim light of the tunnels. I laughed as they both tumbled over onto the ground. Feeling slightly relieved I gave Alaris a short hug and a pat on the shoulder.

"I see you two are finally getting along," I whispered to her as we watched the twins.

"She's not as bad as I thought...please don't tell her I said that!" She begged as k smirked at her.