Moonlight created another door, then pulled it open, revealing a deep, dark shaft leading down. The elevator must be below, likely having carried the lord mayor and his bodyguards into the depths.
Now what?
“Allow me,” TwinSoul said, stepping through the door and steadying himself by grabbing a small box just inside, standing with one foot on a narrow ledge, the other dangling over the void. Marasi reached to steady him, but before she could the door vanished, the wall stretching back into place.
Moonlight hastily stamped again, then pulled open the door. They found TwinSoul hanging from a ladder constructed of roseite stone. He took a long drink from his backpack full of water and smiled. “Shall we?” he asked.
“What if someone calls the elevator back up?” Marasi asked.
“It’s an industrial elevator,” Moonlight said. “Look how wide this shaft is, how thick the cables are. It will move slowly. Worst case, we can climb on top and ride it up. There’s enough space above us here that we won’t be crushed.”
Marasi nodded, and TwinSoul began climbing down, new rungs forming beneath him as he did so. Marasi stepped onto the ladder, testing its strength. TwinSoul was, it turned out,exceptionallyhandy to have along. She climbed down a little to let Moonlight on too. The doorway vanished again, but Moonlight cracked open her rucksack to let some light leak out, painting the shaft with a pale white glow.
They started descending toward the caverns. And, hopefully, answers.
46
Wax climbed down the hidden passage in the mayor’s mansion. Yes, it did seem to be squeezed between two walls; he’dclimbed far enough to pass the first floor and reach the basement. Here his ladder emerged into a small room with iron walls and ceiling.
It had supplies on the shelves: dry rations, jugs of water. Looked like some kind of small emergency bunker. Not intended for long-term occupancy, but a safe bolt-hole in case of… what? Riots in the streets? Or something more nefarious, like an accidental weapon detonation?
Chilled, Wax inspected the room and found scrapes on the floor indicating a hidden door on one wall. He opened it without much difficulty—though it was made of thick reinforced metal—and found a path into the storm drain. Light peeked in through the grates above, and the scent—though unpleasant—wasn’t terrible. Not a true sewer, just a place for washing rainwater out of the streets and toward the ocean.
And a nice emergency exit from the mayor’s mansion,he thought, noting numerous footprints in the sludge and dried muddy ones in the concrete tunnel up ahead. A little farther along, he found a small motorized cart, open roofed, perfect to drive in these tight confines. The wheels were covered in sludge, and there were numerous tire tracks in the mud beyond.
There were no keys in the cart, and though supposedly there was a way to start one without them, that was a feat of thievery he’dneverstudied. Instead Wax pulled the folded-up calendar from his coat pocket and noted again the numerous appointments at the “lab.” Back and forth, sometimes a couple of times a day. If Wax had been visiting a secret installation that frequently, hewouldmost certainly have wanted a covert way to travel.
Wax started into the tunnel on foot, but then phantoms from long ago rose around him. For the briefest moment, he wasn’t in a drainage sewer in the most modern city of the Basin. He was in a dirty mine adit, haunted by twisted “artwork” made by a terrible mind. Golden light sifting down from above. A meeting with destiny.
Someone else moves us.
A deep breath and a moment of peace banished the phantoms. They’dbe with him forever, but they didn’thaunthim any longer. They were more like echoes than ghosts. Reminders of the man he’dbeen, the life he’dled, and the people he’dloved. They were remembered, but today he had work to do. He found a service ladder to the street above, and climbed up to go find Wayne. Hopefully he wasn’t on fire.
Blessedly, he found Wayne alive and only slightly singed, waiting at the prearranged rally point. A bar, because of course it was. Wayne had picked the spot.
Wax slid into the seat beside his friend, and Wayne passed him a shot of whiskey, which Wax downed with a hiss of satisfaction. They left money on the counter, then slipped out the back.
“You find anythin’?” Wayne asked as they reached the end of the alley behind the bar.
“Some writings that might be relevant,” Wax said. “Calendar. Letters. More importantly, a secret tunnel—hopefully leading somewhere useful.”
“Nice,” Wayne said.
“What happened to you?”
“Eh,” Wayne said. “Nothin’ that interesting.”
Wax looked at him, then at the burn marks on his trousers.
“Couldn’t do Grandma’s Been at the Vodka,” Wayne explained. “Couldn’t find a wig in time. So I did Flaming Bunny instead.”
“Flaming Bunny,” Wax said flatly. “Please tell me you didn’t set a rabbit on fire, Wayne.”
“Of course not. I couldn’t find a damnwigin time; where would I find arabbit?”
“Good, I—”
“You use a cat for Flaming Bunny. And those are all over the dang place.”