The Four Chimes

Chapter 16 - LERA

I looked at my watch. "Guys?" I whispered. "We should leave now. Our thirty-two minutes are up."

"But we're so close. Only one more weekend each," said Tanta.

"But what about the schedule?" I said.

"Can't you disguise us?" she asked.

"Maybe," I said. "But not for long."

"If we don't get what we need now, all this will have been a waste."

"And if we get caught leaving, then all this will have really been a waste."

"We need to try. This is our shot," said Paile. "We only have five minutes more of searching, max."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," I said, continuing to flip through the files. My fingers were scratched with paper cuts, tired from over half an hour of monotonous searching.

I looked down at my watch. Five minutes had passed. I looked over my shoulder at Paile. "You said it was five minutes max--"

"Found it!" said Tanta in a barely concealed whisper. Paile and I tiptoed over.

"Faro Ghera's Funeral Expenses," whispered Paile.

"Four thousand tali," Tanta said. "Holy shit."

"This means nothing," I said. "She just had an expensive funeral."

"Or maybe it was a cover," said Paile.

I sighed. I should've known this wouldn't work. "This isn't proof."

"Maybe not on the surface," said Tanta. "But think about it. 4,000 tali for a funeral? 2,000 I'd get. But 4,000 is just too much. And look at where the payment is going. 'Savonal Staffing Solutions'."

"It might be proof. But we need more."

"It's all we got," said Paile.

I sighed. "Let's just get out of here. There's plenty of time for grasping at straws later."

I looked outside the entryway. No guards. I nodded to Paile and Tanta, and we slowly made our way to the emergency exit stairwell, my ankle pulsing with pain. "Can one of you guys heal me?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but we need to save our energy for fighting, in case we need to do any," said Tanta.

"We're not that good at healing, anyway," said Paile.

"So how exactly are we getting out of here again?" I asked.

"We're making two rights, then a left, and then there will be a passage that connects us to the sewers. From there we just keep on walking until we reach the sea. Then there's a ladder that goes up to street level."

"Sounds good. How many guards am I going to have to disguise us from?"

"A dozen?" said Tanta.

"Okay. We'll just have to make a run for it," I said. "Get out as fast as we can and hope my disguise holds."

Paile and Tanta nodded. Here goes nothing. I cracked open the stairwell door, sticking out my conduit. "Esvilia," I said, and in one motion I pushed open the door wide, sweeping my conduit around as I ran down the hallway. Two rights and a left. We ran by the guards who stood like statues against the walls, unaware of my presence. But as I made the second right, I felt myself getting tired. I had fooled at least six guards, made them believe there was no one there. But I wouldn't have the energy to fool them for long.

I heard the light footsteps of Paile and Tanta behind me. Six more guards in the next hallway. A left. Almost there. But this hallway was darker, older, and much longer. I walked slower with each guard I fooled, my injured ankle not helping the situation. I took a pause, making sure to spin around in a circle with my conduit raised so that I would continuously keep my energy focused on all the guards. But I felt my ankle give way beneath me, and I fell. I barely had the strength to sit up straight, much less stand up again. Paile bent down and tried to lift me. "Get up. Now," he whispered.

"What was that?" said one of the guards. "Who's there?" Shit. My illusion had been fading the second I lost focus.

Paile and Tanta lifted me up to my feet, their combined strength just barely enough to lift my limp body up. God. I'm so tired. This was a bad idea. This was such a bad idea.

"Hey! You three!" shouted a guard no more than twenty feet away from us.

I ran as fast as I could, my breaths coming in ragged spurts. This time, I was in the back, trailing Tanta and Paile. I heard a loud noise behind me. Looking at the door just a few dozen feet in front of us, I saw a small hole. A gunshot. I saw rifles before, but I never knew how loud they really were. Another gunshot. More footsteps echoed behind us. Paile and Tanta opened the door, locking it behind them the second I crossed the threshold. But just as Paile was closing the door, I heard another bullet. Paile muffled a shout and clenched his hand on his upper arm. "Shit," he said. He showed us his hand, covered in dark red blood.

"Oh, god. Are you okay?" asked Tanta.

"Does it look like I'm okay?" said Paile.

"I mean, are you going to be able to make it out of here?"

"I think so. It seems like it's more surface-level than anything. But we should get out as fast as we can, just in case. They're going to bust through that door any second." Paile looked at me. "Are you okay?"

I sighed. "Not really. I thought I was in better shape than I actually was. But it's been a while since I've been in school, and I've never had to work on that many people before."

"You did a pretty good job for not being in your best shape," said Tanta.

"Thanks," I said, pushing myself up. The sewer was dark and smelled of mold, its deep gutter almost overflowing with raw sewage. Thankfully, there was an elevated walkway that kept us dry. "So how far is it until we get some fresh air?"

"Not long," said Tanta. "The palace is right by the sea. We just need to--"

I heard a banging on the metal door.

"Hurry!" shouted Paile.

We sped through the sewer. As I looked around, I saw flashes of white in the gray walls. I knew they used to bury people here long ago, but it felt a lot worse seeing the bones in person. I couldn't help but stop by a small baby's skull with two rows of teeth.

"Come on!" said Tanta, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward.

I looked down on the floor as I ran, watching the gray floor blur below me. Maybe, if I just focused on the gray, I wouldn't realize how much my ankle hurt, how much my body ached, how much my lungs yearned for fresh air.

Just keep running, just keep running-- I saw a sparkle out of the corner of my eye. I wrenched my arm free from Tanta's firm grasp and bent down to where the sparkle came from. It was a diamond necklace, shimmering even in the dark. I picked it up. This thing was worth more than my entire shop.

"What the hell are you doing?" Paile shouted. I looked up, hiding the necklace under my guard's jacket before pushing myself up off the ground. I heard the sound of twisting metal behind me. Shit. Shitshitshit. They must have been able to bend it with their conduits. I ran as if it were life-or-death—which I guessed it was—and caught up to Paile and Tanta. In the distance I could see a faint speck of light.

"We're almost there," panted Tanta.

When we finally made it out of the tunnel, I had to shield my eyes from the blinding sunlight. It felt like so much time had passed that I almost forgot it was still morning.

I looked to my right to see Paile and Tanta climbing a narrow, rusted ladder. "Hurry up," yelled Paile from above. I grimaced with pain the second I stepped on the first rung. I grit my teeth, pulling myself up to the next rung. I heard the guards' voices echo from the tunnel entrance and picked up the pace. By the time I got to the top, I collapsed out of exhaustion onto the rough gray sidewalk. I looked up to see Paile offer his hand to me. I took it and got up.

"Wanna go get a drink? We ought to buy you one after all you did for us."

"Free drink?" I raised an eyebrow. "I'm in."