“After you, little guy.” Sampson held the door as they all filed outside and locked it behind them.
“We need to find the closest Outer Door to the Tunnels,” John said.
Sampson nodded up the street. “No problem. It’s not far.” He took off with Lucille trotting behind him. The cat had taken a liking to the big Darkborn. Link hoped it would give Sampson some cred with John and Liv.
Link and Floyd followed Lucille, while Necro fell into step next to John and Liv. “So who’s this guy who knows where the labs are?”
“He’s a musician,” John said. “And he hates Abraham Ravenwood almost as much as I do.”
Link stopped in his tracks. “Dude. I swear. I have no idea where the labs are.”
John clapped his hand against Link’s back. “And I swear he’s not you.”
Sampson turned down an alley, which looked like a dead end. By now, Link had seen enough Outer Doors to know better. Casters were experts at hiding the doors that led from the Mortal world into their own. It was one of the most annoying things about them, from a head-banging-into-a-hidden-doorframe perspective.
The wall in front of them was covered in Banksy-style graffiti. In the spray-painted mural, a girl in round glasses was taking a picture of a smartphone that was taking a picture of a smartphone that was taking a picture of a smartphone. It went on and on until you couldn’t make out the images anymore.
“There it is.” Sampson nodded at the mural.
“A palimpsest?” Liv touched the concrete wall.
“You mean, like Aunt Del?” Link asked.
Liv nodded. “In a way. A palimpsest is a picture within a thousand pictures that goes on endlessly. The way Aunt Del sees places at different points in time, all at once. It’s actually sort of brilliant, for a Caster door.”
Link tried not to think about what a dingbat Lena’s Aunt Del was sometimes. “Hope it works better than Aunt Del’s memory.”
“Everything works better than Aunt Del’s memory,” Liv pointed out.
“Except maybe her watch,” John said. Which was true; there was nothing like getting lost in time to make a person late for dinner.
Sampson reached out and traced the painted black outline around the largest smartphone in the mural. His fingers slid into the wall, revealing a hidden groove.
“Aperi portam,” Sampson whispered. The image of the cell phone disappeared, and the wall slid back, exposing a narrow passageway. He held out his hand. “Ladies first.”
Liv shoved her way between Link and Floyd. “Why is it that guys always say that when you’re about to go somewhere fairly dreadful and potentially dangerous?”
Sampson smiled. “I was trying to be a gentleman.”
Liv’s eyes darted from the bike chain around his neck to his tattooed arms and leather pants before she slipped through the opening in the wall. Caster or not, Liv was still one of the bravest girls Link had ever met, right along with the one who went through next.
Atta girl, Lucille.
Floyd seemed unwilling to be shown up by a Mortal girl and a cat and strode forward, pulling Necro by the arm along with her.
Only the boys were left behind.
“Want to tell me where we’re headed?” Sampson asked. “Or who this guy you know is?”
“I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you,” John said as the last sliver of the Mortal world disappeared.
“How far did you say it was?” Link looked back at John, almost bumping his head for what had to be the tenth time.
The ceiling in the narrow Caster Tunnel was so low that Link, Sampson, and John had to bend over as they walked. Even Liv had to slouch.
“I didn’t,” John said. “Stop complaining. It’s not far.”
Floyd shuffled along behind Necro. “How did you hit your head? You don’t even have to duck.”
“Link’s stupid cat ran in front of me,” Necro said.
“Her name’s Lucille,” Link said. “I wouldn’t call her stupid. She probably understands what we’re sayin’. She’s ornery, just like the old ladies who gave her to me.” Link heard Lucille’s feet pattering across the dirt toward a circle of pale light in the distance ahead of them.
“And that is rather an understatement,” Liv said.
“Please let there be a high ceiling in my future,” Sampson said. The Darkborn was so tall that he was practically doubled over. His back had to be aching by now. Though Link still wasn’t exactly sure how much pain Supernaturals like Sampson felt.
When Sampson stepped out of the passageway and stood up again, John let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god. I didn’t know how much more of that I could take.”
Link reached the opening right after Necro and Floyd, and he was so busy looking up that he plowed into them. Floyd swayed, and Link caught her arm. She glanced down at the spot where his fingers touched her skin, and Link felt a wave of guilt. Not because he had feelings for Floyd, but because he didn’t. She was funny and pretty, in an indie rocker chick kind of way, and one of the best bass players Link had ever met. But no matter how cool Floyd was, there was one thing she’d never be.
More like, one person.
Where the hell are you, Babe?
Link was so miserable and so alone, it didn’t matter how many of his friends were with him. All he could feel was the one person who wasn’t.
“Check out the sky,” John said.
Ribbons of pale green and lavender arched above them, the colors alternating in the same pattern as far as they could see. When Link looked carefully, he realized it wasn’t a sky at all. Except for the carpet of grass beneath their feet, the rest of the tunnel was made of flowers and vines.
In spite of everything, it was sort of beautiful.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, not even down here.” Necro stared up at the sea of lavender flowers. “It’s miraculous.”
Link understood what she was saying. Miracles were made of hope.
And hope was what they all needed most.
Liv drew a quick sketch in her little red journal. “Actually, it’s a hedge tunnel.”
“Buzzkill,” Floyd said.
Liv ignored her. “We have some of the most famous ones back home, in the UK. But this looks exactly like the Wisteria Tree Tunnel in Japan.”
Floyd gave Liv a strange look. “Who knows junk like that?”
“People who read.” Liv walked past Floyd and Necro, heading deeper into the arched hedge. “You see, there are these remarkable things called books. They’re full of pages and pages of words.” She glanced back at Floyd. “Maybe you’ve heard of them. Or maybe not.”
John stifled a
smile and followed his girlfriend.
“Don’t you get a headache from memorizing all that random stuff?” Floyd shot back.
Liv followed Lucille without bothering to turn around. “Not at all. What gives me a headache is explaining all that random stuff to other people.”
The way Liv said people made it pretty clear that the only person she was talking about was Floyd.
“Sometimes I really don’t understand your choice of friends,” Floyd said, looking at Link.
“Liv’s just givin’ you a hard time,” Link said. “She’ll warm up to you, and then you two will get along great.” He tried to sound more upbeat than he felt.
Floyd glared, and Necro raised an eyebrow. “Doubtful.”
“Highly,” Liv muttered.
The tunnel of flowers continued for at least a mile. Even Sampson seemed mesmerized, glancing up every few moments. But Link was having a hard time looking at them when he had no idea what Ridley was looking at right now.
With every step he only worried more.
What if she’s all alone and hurt somewhere? What if she isn’t alone?
Link clenched his jaw. He couldn’t stand the thought of anyone hurting the only girl he’d ever loved. Because that was what it came down to, plain and simple. He loved Ridley, and it didn’t have anything to do with her Siren powers. He would’ve fallen for her one way or another—Mortal or Caster, Light or Dark. He loved the sound of her voice, even when she was complaining, and the way she fit under his arm perfectly, even in her crazy high heels.
Ridley was all long legs, red lipstick, and pink-streaked hair on the outside; but on the inside, she wasn’t a bad girl. She was a girl who never had a choice about being born into a family of cursed Supernaturals, or Darkness Claiming her on her sixteenth birthday, or her family turning their backs on her after it happened.
Inside, Ridley was all pain and heartbreak—just a regular girl who needed him.
Almost as bad as I need her.
CHAPTER 9: NOX
Gates of Tomorrow
Every Caster knew where to find the Mile, including Nox. It was hidden in the Tunnels beneath the French Quarter in New Orleans—a solid mile of identical Caster doors.