Fallen

Chapter Thirty-One

Mia

I threw my hair into a braid and quickly got changed into something comfortable before we left.  I figured that Ashton was somewhat right, I mean if someone really was watching us then leaving now would be our best option. 

As I leave Hayden and my room, I run into the two boys in the hall.  Both had changed as well.  I assumed Ashton had just borrowed some of Ryder's clothes.  The three of us just kind of stare at each other in silence for a few moments before any of us dare to even speak.

"Are we sure about this?"  I ask quietly.

"We have to be," Ryder replies.

"We may get hurt."

"We won't, not with your badass skills on our side," Ashton jokes and I playfully hit him.

"Nows not the time for jokes," I say.

"I wasn't joking," he says leaving us back in silence.

I push past the two of them and to the bookshelf where I opened one of my moms old romance novels revealing my throwing knives.  As I routinely do, I place one in my boot, one in my belt, and one in my sleeve. 

I turn back to face the boys, "Then we should get going shouldn't we."

My mom drove us to the beach where the map revealed a hidden entrance in the dunes.  Jess and her were our escape plane, much to my mother's protest.  She wanted to go in there with us, but we didn't let her.  For one, we didn't want to leave Jess alone, and two, over the past two years we had gotten pretty good at working together, just the three of us.  I tried to convince myself that this was just a routine trip, but I couldn't keep my heart rate down.  I was so nervous. 

It was morning now, and usually we would be in school.  It honestly felt weird not to be.  My mom dropped us off about a block from the beach, promising us that this is where she would be when we were done.  I made sure to tell her that I loved her before leaving with the boys.  Who knew what was going to happen down there. 

The three of us race to the dunes, following the map.  We come across the largest dune, it was one that we used to climb on as kids, the map had lead us there.  I felt chills go down my spine, years ago we had been literally right on top of them.

Ryder, who was the one with the map, pointed to a little crevice in the sand.

"There," he says.

The three of us swipe a good foot of sand away before finally revealing the door, but when I try to open it, I find it's stuck.

"The damn thing is rusted shut," Ashton groans.  So many situations had been running through my head in the past hour, but this was definitely not one of them.  The I come up with something.

I slide my knife out of my sleeve and begin to chip away at the hinge.  After a few minutes of working at eventually it pops off and I begin to work on the other one.  Once that one was off, I kicked the door and it fell in.

"After you," I motion for the boys to go in.  I can see the surprise in their faces and I can't help but smile.  I was here to help. 

I follow them into a stair case, that just keeps carrying us deeper and deeper into the ground.  Eventually we lose all of the morning light, but not soon later the stairs straighten out into a long hallway, lit by torches.

You could tell this part of the hallway hadn't been touched in a while.  There were cobwebs and dust everywhere.  I wondered then how the torches were lit, or if they were just lit all the time.

The deeper we trekked into the tunnel, the more medieval it looked.  Eventually we come across a door. 

"Does the map show this?" I whisper.

"Yes," Ryder responds studying the map.  "And if I'm right, Hayden should be in one of the guest rooms.  Probably one close to the royal families chambers here," he points to a cluster of larger rooms.  "So turn right."

Ashton nods before hesitantly poking his head past the door. "We're clear," he whispers and Ryder and I follow him.

This hallway was lined with tapestries.  All of which displayed gruesome deaths to Hunters.  It was definitely disturbing.

We move down the hallway silently.  Following the map and poking our heads around every corner.  So far we hadn't been caught, and hopefully we wouldn't.  But I had my fears because as we closer and closer to where Hayden was, we began to hear voices.  People were making their way towards us, but, luckily, most of the time they turn into one of the rooms before they reach us.  That was until one big rowdy man came bustling around the corner and spots us.

"What are you children doing out and about?"  He asks with a sinister smile growing on his face.  When we don't respond his grin grows wider.  "You children shouldn't be here, it's like falling into a snake pit, there are hundreds of us and three of you pitiful children."  Just the way he said it sent chills down my spine.

"I think we can handle ourselves," Ashton replies calmly. 

The smiles and moves towards us, I feel the knife slowly slide out of my sleeve.

"You have something we want," I say.

The man smiles as if putting something together, "The Princess? What makes you think she wants to go back with you?  I just saw her at breakfast and she seemed quite happy to be here."

He was lying.

I try to take my most threatening step forward.  "Leave now quietly and we won't have to kill you."

The man just bursts out laughing. "Do you really think I'm afraid of three teenagers?"

"Maybe you should be," I murmur before kicking him square in the stomach and sending him flying backwards against the wall, the far wall. The wall that's in the view of other Fallen. I hadn't thought this through, but I couldn't stop now. The man comes charging back at me, ready to tackle me, but before he can I tuck and rolls to the side. I could tell that my sudden move frustrated him. I grip my knife tightly as he comes charging at me again. This time I grab his arm and swing myself onto his back, but I didn't get my hand away fast enough before he grabs it and swings me back onto the ground, hard.

For a moment my vision goes blurry, but not long enough because the next thing I know he's coming down at me. I try to roll out of the way, and kick him in the leg taking him down.  Out of the corner of my eye I see Ashton and Ryder getting into an altercation with a few others too.  I groan as I jump up and swing my knife at him.  This had gone nothing like we planned.   I slice the mans chest sending him backward in pain.  While we was caught of guard I kick him in the stomach one last time, sending him flying backwards against the wall again.  This time, though, his head makes a sickening crack and he falls to the ground unconscious.  I rush over to him to see if he was still breathing, and he was.  I was going to kill him, but I didn't have the heart.  So I left him there just in time for a loud obnoxious siren to go off.

Ashton and I make quick eye contact in panic.  Now the whole palace will know we are here.  Suddenly I hear a loud thud-thud-thud and saw so many Fallen Guards charging towards us.  There was no way we would be able to take them all, so I race forward, in the opposite direction of them, grab Ryder and Ashton and drag them away from their fight.  Now it was a foot race.