Subterra Heart

Chapter 46: Marina Ritty

They did not take the stairs back up into the main library. Instead, Tess led Marina even deeper through the bookstacks until they came upon a restroom. Marina stepped through the entrance and wrinkled her nose. It was poorly maintained, particularly by University Library standards. Her heels, now wiped clean of blood, clicked slowly against the floor as she paused.

"Tess, what are we doing here? The exit is that way," she said, pointing over her shoulder. She wanted to get to Connor sooner than later. Tess had seemed just as eager to keep moving, but now her little sister was simply leading her in circles.

Tess crouched over a grate in the floor and grabbed its bars, lifting it. It clattered against chipped floor tiles when she tossed it aside.

"I don't want to be followed, and I don't exactly blend in right now," said Tess. She started lowering herself through the opening in the floor. "Come on – it'll just be a short trek to Lenny's place. There's a pretty big sewage pipe that runs directly under his basement. You should probably take those shoes off first though."

A sewage pipe. Lovely. No wonder Tess reeked like old refuse. Marina balked at that. The sewers were the last place she had any intention of entering.

"This isn't necessary, Tess. I highly doubt that Mr. Rocha has any more men that he needs to waste on following us around."

Tess dropped herself down the hole, disappearing entirely. There was a brief splash, and then the slosh of dirty water as she walked around a bit. Marina took a step forward to look for her sister, just in time to hear Tess's quiet voice say, "You don't know Lenny, Marina."

Marina frowned. "And you do?" Against her better senses, Marina crept closer to the opening in the floor and got down on her hands and knees, peering over the edge to search for her sister. The air coming out of the sewer was hot and humid, and she held her breath to avoid the stink.

"Apparently, I do now."

"What, exactly is that supposed to mean?" Marina's fingers brushed against something wet on the floor, and she hurriedly wiped them off on her skirt.

"I'd rather not talk about it – will you just get down here? We're wasting time."

"Absolutely not."

"Fine." Tess hoisted herself back up and grabbed Marina's arm. "How about I just drag you down here myself?"

"Tess!" gasped Marina. "Why, you little – aaaah!"

Tess was much stronger than Marina remembered, and she quickly managed to drag Marina partway down into the sewer. For a brief moment, Marina managed to brace her knees and her free arm against the opening, but Tess merely needed one more hefty yank on her arm before Marina found herself falling on top of her sister. The pair toppled over into knee-high rancid water.

After much floundering and sputtering, Marina found her feet and hopped up, staggering against a slimy wall. Her ankles wobbled as her heels struggled to find purchase. She was beyond lucky to not have twisted an ankle.

"Tess!" she shrieked, "What in Founders' names – "

But Tess was already making her way deeper down into the sewer. She didn't make use of any kind of light. Soon, shadows would devour her completely.

"Tess!" yelled Marina again. She stuck her already disgusting hand down into the water and fished around until she found a sizeable pile of muck that she hurled at her sister's back. She missed. "What is wrong with you!?"

Tess stiffened, turned around, and marched right back up to Marina.

"What is wrong with me? What is wrong?" Tess threw her head back and barked out a harsh laugh that was so unlike her. "Oh, you have no idea. I practically killed that jerk back there just to save your sorry butt, and you do not get to be mad at me, Marina. You are coming with me, this way, through the sewers, because Lenny is a much, much more dangerous man than either you – " she jabbed her finger into Marina's shoulder, " – or Connor realize. And even more than dangerous, he's stupid. And he's heartless. And he's going to get everybody in Heart killed, starting with Connor."

Even in the dim light that filtered down from the restroom above, Marina could see something wet that shone against the corners of Tess's black eyes, but Tess quickly wiped it away.

"What is going on, Tess?" breathed Marina. From what Connor had told her earlier, she knew that Heart would soon be in trouble from more of these Dweller creatures, but as long as the sub-cities remained on high alert and ready to lock down on a moment's notice, they should be fine. At least, that was what Marina understood.

"I really, really don't want to talk about it. Please, will you just come with me?" said Tess.

Marina watched her sister carefully. When she didn't answer quickly enough, Tess threw up her hands and spun around, storming off down the sewer. Marina let out a pent-up puff of air and wiped dirty water off of her face. She flicked on her shae band's light, removed her heels, and splashed after Tess.

This girl was going to be the death of her, but she worried for her sister. And for Connor.

~

"We're here."

Marina finally stopped when she heard Tess's words. She was breathing heavily. Tess had led her through a maze of sewers at a quick pace, and they'd sometimes had to squeeze through tiny pipes. The hairs on the back of Marina's neck had stood up at that. She'd had no idea whether to expect them to be safe from drowning. What would have happened if the pipes had suddenly started filling up?

She pressed her palms to her knees and leaned against them, breathing heavily. Her poor dress was hopelessly ruined. This was not something that Marina was cut out for.

"Remind me...Tess...how, in Founders' names...do you...know...where we are?" she panted.

Tess looked back at her and shrugged. "I just do," she said. "I can remember it. It's something that Fenrir left behind in my head. I've got all sorts of different memories now." Tess tapped her temple, and Marina shook her head in disbelief, but she was still catching her breath.

"Tess, you're...frightening me," she wheezed. The klutzy, awkward girl who had squeaked in embarrassment when Marina scolded her just over a week ago was the little sister that Marina remembered. Not...whatever this was. Tess looked a bit sheepish, but she simply shrugged and turned her back to Marina to look up at the sewer grate.

"Marina, can you give me a hand here? This is too high for me to reach."

Marina followed her sister's gaze up to the new grate and groaned. Just how she was expected to lift Tess all the way up there was beyond her. Like their trek through the sewers, this would be far from an easy task for Marina.