Arachna

Chapter 21: The Sewer and the CIA

Lance wished he could ignore the pain. Even with the cane, every step elicited a surge of it from his leg. With every passing minute, it seemed to worsen.

He wouldn't have minded a painkiller or two, if only he trusted himself with them.

But if he could be grateful for anything, it was that the pain kept him alert and rid him of the sleepiness tugging at his eyelids.

Derek stopped them before they stepped out of the alley, analyzing the street then the rooftops. "I don't think anybody's watching us," Derek said. "Let's go."

Kaela made a sound like she was about to speak but sighed instead.

She was furious, that much was obvious from how she gritted her teeth. Lance remembered being told his parents were dead, overdosed in an alley—how mad he'd been.

Though that story had been false.

Kaela wasn't the only one gritting her teeth anymore.

They stepped out into the street.

Lance racked his brain for any way Caleb could've found them. Had someone told Caleb about Lance's store? But who? Rotoya was dead, and if she'd told him earlier, Caleb would've been waiting for them.

Unless Rotoya is alive... Lance shivered.

The beast was quiet, slumbering and regaining its strength, sensing no danger. That didn't stop his heart from jumping at every shift in the darkness. Every sound from within the alleys.

With some trouble, Eric and Derek hoisted the sewer grate up, straining from the weight. Kaela slid down first, graceful even in the act of climbing down a ladder, while Lance bumbled his way down. He almost fell more than once.

Kaela looked at him with sympathy when he reached the bottom. Lance sat as the aching worsened. He leaned against the cement wall. Moss and slime pressed into his back, cold and wet. He didn't care.

Kaela visibly shivered as the light of the streetlamp peeked through the still-open manhole.

"You okay?" Lance asked, and his own voice trembled. The air froze him to the bone. The smell of sewage didn't help.

"I'll be fine once we get to the Rose," Kaela responded, rubbing her hands against herself for warmth. "But if you don't mind..." She didn't finish the sentence, instead sitting next to him and stealing warmth.

Lance said nothing as she did so, as she gave warmth of her own in return. A mutual exchange.

"Hey," she said. "In case we end up dying, I just want you to know I'm sorry about that night we got attacked on the hill."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"Just... freaking out on you afterward. What you did to that man scared me. It wasn't you." She paused. "But I guess you were just doing what you had to."

Lance sighed. "I'm sorry too. I said some pretty nasty things."

"Yeah... Let's forget it ever happened."

"Agreed."

Eric started his climb down the ladder, but he braced a hand on the cover, and Derek slid through the open space and joined him. They struggled sharing the same space on the ladder, but together, they slid the manhole cover into place.

The sound of heavy iron sliding against asphalt echoed all the way down the tunnels. The only light remaining was a ray of streetlamp peeking through the small hole in the middle of the cover.

Eric favored one leg over the other as he clambered down the ladder.

How is he able to hide his sprained ankle so well?