Cridex

Chapter Fourteen

"Quickly!" Imogen shouted as she ran down the passageway of the sewers, with Jonas right behind her. I lingered for a second to wait for Camden, who was struggling to push the lid back up, but he shook his head and waved for me to continue.

Hurrying, I caught up with Imogen and Jonas, who had stopped at an intersection. "Which passage?" Imogen asked, gesturing at the three tunnels branching off of our current one.

"If I remember correctly, we have to turn right," Camden said, entering our conversation.

"Are you sure? We don't have time for error," Jonas cut in.

Camden gave a quick and curt nod. "Yes. I memorized a map of the city. We must turn right before the officials catch us! Right now, they are grabbing their weapons and making their way down," He said, voice frenzied. "We have to leave, now."

That was all it took for me to run down the path he directed us through. Imogen ran side by side with me, and we turned whenever Camden shouted directions. "Stop!" Shouting and footsteps stormed down the corridors next to us and behind us.

We all shared a panicked look, then wore determined expressions. "They don't know which way we took..." Imogen mused.

"Exactly. So we can use that to our advantage," I said, nodding. Lowering my voice to a whisper, I contineed, "We might not be able to outrun them, but we can lose them."

"What are you suggesting?" Imogen furrowed her brows.

"You mean... separate and then meet up later?" Camden asked carefully.

I nodded again. Jonas opened his mouth, probably to object, but I quickly intervened, "Think about it. We all know where the auction house is. We just need to meet up there. And, if one of us is lost to them, the mission is not completely failed. It will have a higher chance of being successful this way," I pleaded.

"She has a point." Jonas muttered, his voice and tone clipped. "It is better and more efficient then the plan we have currently. We do not have enough time to think of a better one."

Camden nodded and immediately went into action, formulating a plan. "Jonas and Ellery can continue down this passage and than split up. Imogen and I will go back and turn at the closest possible tunnel." We all nodded and split up.

Jonas went sprinting down the tunnel, and I raced to catch up. He wheeled left immediately, and I watched as his back receeded into the darkness. Gulping, I continued on my path towards my destination. The walls were slick and the ground slippery, but I managed to keep my footing.

I ran into Camden once, who had given me a curt nod and quick whisper, "It's that way." I had nodded and ran into the direction he had pointed in. The further I continued, the colder it got and darker. Soon I had to trail a finger along the wall to assure myself that I won't walk into the water beside me.

After that, I couldn't hear any sound of chase behind me. It was as if no one was following me. I sat down on the ground, trying to catch my breath. As soon as I thought that, Imogen's scream tore through the air, and I immediately shot up, trying to look through the darkness.

I didn't care about the plan I had originally suggested- I wasn't going to just going to the auction house knowing that I could have helped Imogen- Imogen, who had been kind, and more understanding than the rest. Straining my ears for more sounds of Imogen, I started retracing my path slowly. But there weren't any more screams, and everything was deathly quiet.

Having nothing to do, I could only walk towards my destination, trying to hold my pulse at an even beat. When I finally reached the spot, Jonas was already there, his arms crossed as his gaze swept across me. "Hi," I spoke meekly, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"Did you hear Imogen's scream?" He asked, completely ignoring my greeting.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. I was actually going to try and help but I couldn't," I muttered, then asked, "Do you have any idea what was happening?" He shook his head somberly and remained silent.

Just then, a breathless Camden and Imogen ran up towards us. I moved to speak but Camden cut me off, "We have to go, now." He commanded.

"They were right behind us," Imogen added. "We managed to shake them off with a few excess twists and turns, but I expect it won't take much longer for them to realize where we are." Jonas immediately sprung into action, trying to unlatch the hatch that was keeping us from escaping.

"Faster!" I said, hearing the footsteps getting closer.

Camden grunted as he shoved against the metal, and suddenly, daylight streamed into the sewers. "Quick, quick!" He yelled as Imogen and I scrambled up and away from the sewers. The bright light of the outside world momentarily blinded me as I blindly stumbled around.

I then tripped over a rock, tumbling towards the ground. "Ugh." I groaned as I pushed myself up, my vision returning slowly.

"Are you okay?" Imogen asked, holding a hand out as she helped me up. I nodded and scanned the ground as my vision returned. Camden just kept blinking and Jonas was struggling to put the sewer cover back. Imogen noticed and sighed. "We have to go, Jonas, just leave it."

He shook his head and with a final shove, the cover went into it's place. Just as he pressed it down, it sprung up again and I stumbled over my feet to get away. "Run!" I screamed and we all split up into different directions.

I took the right side again, zig-zagging through trees enough to make me dizzy. Finally, I reached the side of the building. I didn't see any of the others, so I decided to circle the building to look for them. "Ellery?" I whirled around and Camden was there behind me.

"Yeah?" I asked, my voice slightly shaky.

"Imogen and Jonas both made it safely too. We were waiting on you." Camden replied, and I nodded. "Are you ready?"

I took a deep breath. "I am as ready as I'll ever be." Camden looked at me and then nodded, turning around. "Which means I'll never be ready." I murmured underneath my breath. Jonas must have heard, because the corners of his mouth tilted upwards slightly in a wry grin.