Margret's Weald // The Haven's Gateway

18

The darkness became thicker and the air dampened, cutting through my thick hair and making me shiver. The only sound in the echoing cavern came from our shuffling feet and the drip drip drip of a leaky crack in the ceiling. An ever present smell of death and decomposing flesh filled the air, and I could almost feel it coating my face with its greasy stench. The moanings and howls of the nocturnal city life were muffled by the dark cobblestones above our head, leaving nothing but hollow echoes.

Can I take this off now? It's probably too dark for me to see anything . . . I thought to myself, but I doubted the big scary Fenta would let me.

She yanked me forward, making me stumble and step on something that cracked under my feet like an old clay jar. Then I realized they were bones, which made my stomach revolt. I'd stepped on a rib cage partially covered with strands of flesh and maggots.

"Look alive, we're getting close. Make a good impression, and Gallant won't kill you." Fenta hissed, laughing.

The other two laughed as well, the screechy sound echoing through the cavern like hyenas in a zoo.

I swallowed a dry lump in my throat, trying not to vomit. What if I wasn't good enough? What if I couldn't lie my way through this? I'm a terrible liar; I can't hide anything. I tried to hide all kinds of stuff when I was a little kid, like stolen cookies, forgetting to feed Betsie, breaking Canyon's scooter jumping it over a home-made ramp made of ply wood and old tires . . . my face betrayed me then, and it would betray me now.

I didn't want to lie. I'd tried so hard to be honest wherever I could. But the Weald was a different place, and I would die if I didn't lie.

I felt something brush up by my ear, and I jumped instinctively, my heart pounding.

"Shh."June whispered. "Look like you know what you're doing, stand up straight. You don't need to tell them everything; Gallant will respect your privacy, but he will read your mind if you're thinking about something different from what you're saying."

"So don't think about Margret." I asked quietly.

"What was that, princess?" Fenta bellowed, pulling me again. "Are you talking to your girlfriend?"

My face went red, and Min-Negh giggled.

June growled. "He's not my boyfriend."

"That's right—Rupert's your boyfriend! Better not tell him about this. He gets jealous." Krei said in his smooth, pompous accent.

June growled again, stomping as she walked. I was getting worried. Who was this Rupert guy? Was he June's boyfriend? She wouldn't have a boyfriend, no, she's too independent . . . isn't she? She'd said she didn't want to be with me . . .

The memory of that note I'd read just a few days ago came back to me, crushing my heart again with a pang of grief, piling on with the twisted idea that she was with someone else. Someone I didn't even know.

The creature that had come out a few moments before awakened, gnawing at my chest and threatening to break free, but we stopped suddenly and I bumped into Fenta.

"Oph!"

Fenta pivoted around and hissed, spewing hot steam into my face. I coughed at the hot air, squinting my eyes in pain.

Somebody knocked on a stone wall in front of us, seven quick knocks a foot from the ground and a slap just above head-level.

A deep, muffled voice spoke from behind the wall. "Key verbum?"

"Ferrum a morte!" Krei replied, calling loudly through the door, which earned him a whack from Fenta.

"Hey!" He hissed, a series of clicks and scrapes from inside the wall.