The Dream Crashers ✓

22 - Going Under

With our hands on the walls, we guided ourselves down unlit hallways. On several occasions, the corridor was filled with the sounds of Elijah's muffled yelps followed by my whispered apologies after I continued to step on the heels of his shoes.

"How did Mara manage to get so far so quickly?" AJ whispered.

"I hate it when she does this," Elijah muttered. "She's always running off without back-up and getting herself into trouble."

"We can get on her case later, but we have to find her first," Seth said in a tight voice. He tried not to sound worried for our sakes, but bits of it seeped out through his words. As their elected leader, I realized he was always worried.

"Mara's tough. She'll be okay," I said, trying to comfort them.

"Yup. You're probably right. She always ends up being fine," Elijah added, but he didn't sound as confident as I would've liked. "Mara can take care of herself."

We shuffled deeper, right into the heart of the building, and Mara was still nowhere in sight. I could feel anxiety gripping my heart and squeezing tightly. She would've come back for us already, unless something was wrong.

I shook my head, trying to expel all the negative thoughts, and by doing so, I walked straight into Elijah's back and we both tumbled to the floor.

I gasped as the palms of my hand hit linoleum tile, breaking my fall. Well, if they didn't know we were here yet, I'm pretty sure they knew now. The sound of our bodies crashing to the ground echoed down the hallway like a small explosion.

"Oh crap," I mumbled. "I'm so sorry."

"No one move!" Elijah hissed. "My glasses fell and I didn't bring another pair."

"You should consider contacts, my friend," AJ said quietly.

We all froze at the distinct sound of footsteps. Someone was walking towards us, slowly, trying to quietly muffle their steps. I heard the whoosh of a sword being extracted from its scabbard and the familiar clicks of Seth's baton as he extended it.

I held my breath as the footsteps grew louder and closer.

"Jesus Christ. You guys are as stealthy as an atomic bomb," Mara said, stopping in front of us and waving a flashlight at the ground. Her massive combat boots had stopped just inches away from Elijah's glasses.

"Come to papa," he said happily, swiping them off the ground and sliding them back on his face.

"Where the hell were you?" Seth said angrily. "We had a plan! You can't just run off without someone watching your back."

She rolled her eyes and waved him off. "It was fine. There were only two guards in the whole building. The place is freaking deserted."

"Great," I said dejectedly. "Just wonderful."

"It's not fine. Elijah was very worried," AJ said seriously.

Flustered, Elijah said, "Seth was as well! Everyone was worried. We all agreed that you're overly impulsive and it endangers everyone on the team!"

She didn't say anything in return, only smirked.

"We'll discuss this later. Mara, you checked everywhere in the building?" Seth asked.

"I already checked all three floors," she said, "while you guys were taking your sweet time playing human dominoes in the hallway."

"Sorry again for that, by the way," I said to Elijah, but he wasn't paying attention to me at all.

"Don't you mean you checked all four floors?" he asked, furrowing his light blonde brows.

"Um, no. There are only three floors. I took the stairs all the way to the roof and there was nothing."