A World Without Power ⊹ kotlc

01 - dolos

I curse in my head as I shimmy through the tight, smelly vent. My tennis shoe squeaks against the metal, and I grit my teeth and keep going. This vent is smaller than most I have crawled through, and even though I'm not even five feet tall, I feel claustrophobic.

A faint buzzing persists in my ear. I roll my eyes and switch on the earpiece that Bronco had shoved into my hand before I left. "What is it, Bronco?" I murmur. "I shouldn't be making a sound, what do you want?" There was a crackle of static and then I heard the familiar gruff voice.

"Just checking to make sure you're okay, Dolos," he replied. I open my mouth to reply, but just grunt and keep moving forward. A piece of my brown curly hair falls out of its bun and blows into my mouth. I spit it out. "I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"You don't have to make sure I'm okay."

"Yes, I do." I ignore him and finally reach the access grate. I untie my red scarf from my belt and tie it around my head, covering my mouth and neck. Then, I grab my knife from the pocket of my black cloth pants and jimmy it into the screws holding the access grate shut.

"Careful," Bronco warns as I silently slip the screws out, one by one, and set them next to the grate.

"It's breaking into a prison, not rocket science," I sigh. "Stop berating me."

"I'm not berating you, I'm-"

"Anything on Toothless and Sniper?" I interrupt. Toothless and Sniper, two of our best fighters, were supposed to back me up after I infiltrated the prison.

"They're ready for you." I set aside the last screw and slowly open the grate, cringing when it squeaks. I peer down into a hallway. The floors and walls were made of stone. Great. It would only enunciate my steps. "Tell them I'm in... now." I slip the knife into my pocket and slide out of the grate, wincing when my tennis shoes hit the floor with a clap. I use telekinesis to close the grate, I wasn't tall enough to reach it, even with the low ceiling. Sometimes I hate being the shortest 14-year-old I know.

Footsteps pitter-patter down the hallway - quieter than most, but inevitably louder than mine. Toothless.

"Dolos, you ready?" Toothless asks me, as he and Sniper round the corner. I motion towards his mouth, then point to Sniper, where his red scarf hides all except his slanted eyes. "Ah. Right." He grins sheepishly, showing the gap where one of his front teeth is missing, and pulls the scarf over his mouth and nose. "Okay. Let's go." We creep through the hallways. Sniper shoots every guard we come across, using the muffler on his human-made rifle to keep it eerily silent. I check their belts for golden cell door keys, but I find none. Only the head guard would have it.

With Bronco in my ear reading directions from a blueprint he dug up; we made it to the heavy iron door that would lead to the main cell atrium. Dozens, if not hundreds, of cells would be waiting for us. One had the prisoner we needed.

A guard was standing outside the door, wearing the gilded uniform of head guard. She snapped her fingers and Conjured a melder into her open palm. She didn't get the chance to use it, however, as Toothless knocked her out with a swift punch to the head. She crumpled and I caught her, easing her to the floor silently. A golden key was secured to her belt.

I grabbed the key and eased it into the lock. The doorknob clicked and I opened the door. The three of us stepped into a tall ovular room that stretched into a domed ceiling hundreds of feet above us. Cells lined the walls, with ladders going up to each one. As we entered the room, most of the prisoners raced to the bars of their cell and gripped them tightly. I scanned their dirty, terrified faces. There was no sign of the one we were here for.