composure, I struggled to look to my left.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I promised.
“Okay. Remember: be careful. I’m pretty attached to you, Belles.”
“I will.”
Damn him. The wall was gone, so gone.
Looking back over my shoulder, I wanted one last look at his face before I headed to the door.
I prayed that it wouldn’t be locked. It’d be a surefire way to put an end to things, and quickly.
Fortunately, the door soundlessly slipped open.
Now, I’d never been in a dungeon before…
Imagine that
…So I didn’t know the typical layout of one of these things, but I pieced together that each section housed a quad of cells. As I inched forward, I entered into another group of four cells identical to the one I’d just left.
Quickly glancing to my left and right, all four were empty, and I released a sigh of relief.
Drawing attention to the fact that I roamed free was the last thing I needed. Another thing I recalled from films… prisoners never kept quiet when they saw an escapee.
I cautiously approached the next door, then slid through the sliver of space I wedged open.
Four more empty cells.
So far, so good.
My pace quickened to the door on the far side of the cellblock. After a slow tug, I instantly stopped.
There wasn’t another block of cells in front of me. Instead, a large open area created the shape of an empty foyer. The new surroundings triggered my heart rate to accelerate, pounding in my chest as I tried to figure out my next move.
Straight ahead, an opening to the next floor piqued my curiosity as to where it led. To my left and right, two more doors begged to be yanked open, revealing whatever was on the other side. I hated that Adrian wasn’t here with me, and not knowing which path to take.
When I first faced the dilemma to trust Adrian or not, I counted down from three, then made an instinctive decision. It was a method I’d have to implement again to determine my next course of action. Currently, I hovered outside the dungeon door helpless to be spotted by anyone who passed.
I took a deep breath.
Three, two, one.
Left.
Without hesitation I swam toward the awaiting door. As soon as I reached it, my hand surrounded the knob.
Locked.
So perhaps it wasn’t a fail proof technique.
But at least it eliminated one possible direction.
The other door forced me back toward the center of the room, pausing to make sure no one was coming down through the opening before I crossed beneath. When the coast was clear, I hurried to the other side.
Of course, I found this door locked as well.
Strike two.
Two options remained: go back through the door I came from or go up to the next level. Thing was, I didn’t want to pass Adrian empty-handed. The look of broken expectation on his face eliminated that second path.
Shaking my arms, I gathered courage, and then swam in the direction of the floor above me. Ever so slowly, my head poked up until my eyes leveled the ground. I exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I held when I didn’t see another sprite.
The space around me mirrored the foyer below, except with different hallways to explore. Straight ahead two huge double-doors blocked whatever waited on the other side. Long corridors lined with more closed doors stretched far to my left, right, and behind me. They weren’t like the doors downstairs though. They didn’t look heavy. Rather, they appeared normal, like ones in any old house.
The foyer itself held a gray undertone. No pictures hung on the wall and, clearly, little attention was dedicated to decor. Even though the temperature of the water didn’t affect me, the blandness of the foyer left a cold sensation behind.
Suddenly, I heard an outburst of noise. My attention whipped to the right, my hair shifting to cover my face. Frantically, I cleared the stray strands from my sight as I peered down the long hallway. No one was there. I assumed the voices came from behind one of the closed doors. If my excited lungs
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I promised.
“Okay. Remember: be careful. I’m pretty attached to you, Belles.”
“I will.”
Damn him. The wall was gone, so gone.
Looking back over my shoulder, I wanted one last look at his face before I headed to the door.
I prayed that it wouldn’t be locked. It’d be a surefire way to put an end to things, and quickly.
Fortunately, the door soundlessly slipped open.
Now, I’d never been in a dungeon before…
Imagine that
…So I didn’t know the typical layout of one of these things, but I pieced together that each section housed a quad of cells. As I inched forward, I entered into another group of four cells identical to the one I’d just left.
Quickly glancing to my left and right, all four were empty, and I released a sigh of relief.
Drawing attention to the fact that I roamed free was the last thing I needed. Another thing I recalled from films… prisoners never kept quiet when they saw an escapee.
I cautiously approached the next door, then slid through the sliver of space I wedged open.
Four more empty cells.
So far, so good.
My pace quickened to the door on the far side of the cellblock. After a slow tug, I instantly stopped.
There wasn’t another block of cells in front of me. Instead, a large open area created the shape of an empty foyer. The new surroundings triggered my heart rate to accelerate, pounding in my chest as I tried to figure out my next move.
Straight ahead, an opening to the next floor piqued my curiosity as to where it led. To my left and right, two more doors begged to be yanked open, revealing whatever was on the other side. I hated that Adrian wasn’t here with me, and not knowing which path to take.
When I first faced the dilemma to trust Adrian or not, I counted down from three, then made an instinctive decision. It was a method I’d have to implement again to determine my next course of action. Currently, I hovered outside the dungeon door helpless to be spotted by anyone who passed.
I took a deep breath.
Three, two, one.
Left.
Without hesitation I swam toward the awaiting door. As soon as I reached it, my hand surrounded the knob.
Locked.
So perhaps it wasn’t a fail proof technique.
But at least it eliminated one possible direction.
The other door forced me back toward the center of the room, pausing to make sure no one was coming down through the opening before I crossed beneath. When the coast was clear, I hurried to the other side.
Of course, I found this door locked as well.
Strike two.
Two options remained: go back through the door I came from or go up to the next level. Thing was, I didn’t want to pass Adrian empty-handed. The look of broken expectation on his face eliminated that second path.
Shaking my arms, I gathered courage, and then swam in the direction of the floor above me. Ever so slowly, my head poked up until my eyes leveled the ground. I exhaled a breath I didn’t even know I held when I didn’t see another sprite.
The space around me mirrored the foyer below, except with different hallways to explore. Straight ahead two huge double-doors blocked whatever waited on the other side. Long corridors lined with more closed doors stretched far to my left, right, and behind me. They weren’t like the doors downstairs though. They didn’t look heavy. Rather, they appeared normal, like ones in any old house.
The foyer itself held a gray undertone. No pictures hung on the wall and, clearly, little attention was dedicated to decor. Even though the temperature of the water didn’t affect me, the blandness of the foyer left a cold sensation behind.
Suddenly, I heard an outburst of noise. My attention whipped to the right, my hair shifting to cover my face. Frantically, I cleared the stray strands from my sight as I peered down the long hallway. No one was there. I assumed the voices came from behind one of the closed doors. If my excited lungs
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