A Delicate Web (gxg) | ONC2020 |

7. tunnel talks

chapter seven: tunnel talks

word count: 1508 

I haul Gemini out of the gaping hole until she can scramble to her feet, brushing debris off of her clothes. Then I look back towards the mouth of the warehouse. There's no sign of Neilson anywhere—he must've managed to escape to somewhere when the floor started falling in.

Breathing hard and ringed in orange light, I stare down into the black maw. It stretches on farther than I can see, and the ground around us still quivers with the magic that rings it.

"What is he doing?" Gem murmurs, standing beside me and peering down into the hole. "You don't think that was supposed to happen, do you?"

"I don't know." I hesitate and glance around. "But I think I need to head down there and check it out."

"Awesome. How do we get down?"

I blink. "What? No. You're not going. How did you even find this place?"

"Saw a bunch of glowing lights at Neilson's and thought that was pretty weird. So I followed it here." She shrugs. "Also, I saved you. So you owe me."

"I saved you. Twice. You're a regular damsel in distress, honestly."

"Well, I'm gonna jump down there." She sidles closer to the edge and peers over.

"No, you're not. You don't know how far down it goes. You'll break both your legs."

"Well, I don't have any other way of getting down there, so jumping it is."

I let out a dramatic sigh and step closer to the edge, engaging the lifters in my boots. They power up with a hum that can barely be heard over the buzzing of the magic ring.

"Fine. Come here and hold on tight."

She steps so close to me I can feel the warmth of her body, and yet I tug her closer, nestling her smaller form against mine until I can feel the thumping of her heart through my jacket. I wrap an arm tightly around her, and she puts her arms around my shoulders. I'll have to take it slow; these lifters weren't designed to carry the weight of two people.

We descend slowly over the edge and into the suffocating darkness, the lifters on my boots whirring louder under the strain. The lights on my soles illuminate a circle of blue below us, but still the bottom isn't visible. Above us, the spot of light grows smaller and smaller. It feels as though we're dropping into deep space, or an empty void.

We touch the bottom after what feels like an eternity, feet coming down to settle on loose earth. I let go of her and step away, leaving a more comfortable distance between us. Gem cranes her head upwards, undoubtedly staring at the tiny dot of blue above us. Below us is the crumbling remains of the floor and the foundation of the building, loose dirt and concrete and twisted metal in a jumbled heap. From here, though, it's easy to tell that this tunnel was here before the warehouse was—maybe the warehouse was even intentionally built on top of it. It's a perfect circle, made of packed earth and held stable with metal struts.

I turn in a circle and spot a deep mouth that recedes further eastward, further out of the city limits, nothing more than a darker smudge against the blackness of the hole we're in.

I reach for one of the clasps on my belt and pull off a small flashlight. When I click it on, it barely penetrates the darkness, a narrow shaft of blue light that cuts into the tunnel opening. I glance at Gem.

"If I we're responsible, I wouldn't let you follow me down there."

"Good thing you're not, huh?"

She judges me on her way past and grins, and I feel myself smiling back for just a moment before she's practically swallowed by the darkness. I hurry ahead, grabbing at her shoulder.

"Hey, whoa. We're sticking together down here."

"Alright, sounds good."

The tunnel is narrower than the gaping hole we descended into, with rougher walls that look natural, chunks of rock protruding from the gritty surface. With no view of the sky, it very quickly feels constricting, and I can nearly feel the walls pressing down on me. We're far beneath the surface now, and the idea that hundreds of tons of rock and earth are suspended above us is enough to make my heart pulse painfully.

Gem chuckles, a hesitant sound. She must be nervous too.

"So, I guess he's alive."

I let out a breathy huff. "Guess so."

"What do you think he was doing? And where is he now?"

I shake my head, even though she can't see it in the darkness. All we can see is the tiny beam of light, illuminating whatever's directly in front of us. We're no more than a pair of disembodied voices, keeping each other company in a dark tunnel.

"I don't know, but it has something to do with this place. So I hope we'll find out when we reach the end of this thing."

She's quiet for a long while, and I fall silent too, listening to nothing but the rustle of loose dirt overhead and our muffled footsteps. Finally, she speaks up, a nervous quiver in her voice.

"Hey, I'm gonna ask a weird question."

"Go for it."

"Can I... Can I hold on to you? It's just that it's so dark, and when you don't talk I'm worried we accidentally got split up... like maybe there was a branch in the tunnel that neither of us saw, or something, and I guess I'm just paranoid... It's stupid, I know, it's just—"

"It's not stupid," I interrupt quickly. "Hey, I get it. Here." I reach out until my gloved fingers brush against the material of her sweater, and she instantly clasps her hand around mine, squeezing tightly. Her palm is slick with sweat that I can feel by the way her hand slips for a moment against mine. My heart constricts unnaturally, and I give a weak smile in her direction, even though she can't see my face.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

We continue to walk in silence, hands tangled together between us, before she speaks again.

"Hey, thanks for setting up that thing with Maud Freeling the other day. I appreciate it."

"No problem." I know I shouldn't push the topic much—really, I should try to get her to drop it. But the curiosity is irresistible. "Did you get anything useful?"

"Not much. But her family really does seem weirder up close."

"Do they?"

"Well, you should know. You're friends with Maud, right? She's... I don't know. She's nice, but you can tell there's things she doesn't want to talk about."

"Yeah."

It's strange, having a conversation about me while I'm pretending to be someone else. I'm almost tempted to ask more—ask Gem what else she thinks of me. But I shouldn't. I can't. Luckily, she changes the topic.

"So, this whole vigilante thing works out pretty well for you?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know how you do it. Keeping your identity a secret like that, I mean. Who's going to help you if you get in a sticky situation?"

"Well, you already did, didn't you?"

She laughs, a sound that makes a flush of heat rush to my cheeks.

"I mean in more complicated ones. Won't you need someone who knows who you are?"

"That puts me in danger," I reply.

"You? Aren't you supposed to hide your identity because it puts others in danger if the bad guys know who you're close to?"

"Well, yeah, but... there are people who are close to me who can't know."

"Ah. I see." She's quiet for a second. "Parents wouldn't approve?"

"How'd you put that together so fast?"

Once again, her intuition blows me away.

"Lucky guess." She pauses. "Is it lonely?"

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't done it for very long."

"Are you afraid it'll become lonely?"

How am I supposed to answer her questions? I try to remind myself that I don't need to, that I'm under no obligation to talk to her about my innermost thoughts, but then I feel the warmth of her hand in mind again and any cold response is gone from my mind. The realization hits me suddenly.

Oh.

Oh, no.

I cannot fall in love with Gemini Davis.

Not when she doesn't know who I really am.

I lick my lips and force a shrug that she can't see, but I can't lie to her. I also can't tell her that the life of Maud Freeling is already heartbreakingly lonely.

"Maybe a little bit."

Her hand presses mine, and I feel the warmth of her body wash over me as she draws nearer.

"Hey, if you ever want a confidant, I promise I won't tell."

It's spoken in a joking tone, so I laugh, even though I know I can never tell her, no matter how much I want to.

"I'll keep that in mind, Gem."