After passing through the dank cellar, was glad to discover
that the escape tunnel was, well, fit for an emperor.
The floor was tilted and the walls were smooth
concrete with dim lightbulbs set every twenty steps.
They could walk without fear of Thorne tripping on
jagged rocks.
Nevertheless, they were making painfully slow progress,
and more than once Cinder considers leaving them behind.
Thorne did a decent job of keeping up, but Dr. errand's age
combined with his short legs made his pace feel like an ago-
nizing crawl. If she didn't think it would offend him, she would
have offered him a piggyback ride,
She kept reminding herself that they had planned for this.
This were right on schedule.
It would all be fine.
She told herself again and again.
Eventually she began to notice signs that they were
approaching the palace.
Stockrooms filled with nonperishable goods and jugs of water
and rice wine.
Power generators that sat silent and unused.
Large rooms, empty but for enormous round tables and
uncomfortable-looking chairs, black netscreens and switch
panels and processors—not state of the art, but new enough
that it was clear these escape tunnels would be ready for
use if they were ever needed.
Should the royal family ever need to go into hiding, they would
be able to stay down here for a long time.
And not just the royal family, Cinder realized as they trudged on,
passing more stockrooms and hallways that branched in
every direction.
This was a labyrinth.
It seemed that there was enough space for the entire
government to come live down here for at least
everyone who worked in the palace.
"We're almost there," she said, tracking their position
through satellite navigation and the map on her
retina display.
"Wait, where are we going again?
It's been so long since we left the ship, I can't remember."
"Very funny, Thorne."
She glanced back.
Thorne was walking with one palm on the wall, and
Dr. Erland was using his cane.
She wondered how long it had been since Thorne
YOU ARE READING
Cress
Teen FictionTheir best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she's being force to work for Queen Levana, and she...
