Schasm (Schasm Series) (27 page)

My face turns to horror. “You did, didn’t you?” he asks.

“It was a locket…I found it in the catacombs. I didn’t know it would…” They’re right. I do have something that belongs to them.

His hands clamp my shoulders “What was in the locket?” he asks. His eyes are darkening.

My thoughts are rushing now. “I…I have no idea. I couldn’t get it open.”

He rubs his chin as he thinks. “The locket is obviously important to them. Whatever the case is, they’re looking for you.”

I see an easy solution to this. “Then we’ll just leave Paris and we’ll never drift back. Problem solved.”

He laughs a little. “This is
your
Paris, Chloe…Paris is
your
mind.”

Slowly it starts to make sense. “I’ve disrupted something in my own psyche by taking the locket, haven’t I?” I can’t run away from my own mind. I should know that by now.

He nods. “Yeah. Pretty much. If you want to move on, everything needs to be the way it was when you first came here.”

“And where is Tomas in all of this?” I haven’t seen him reappear in riot gear like Alex did.

He pulls me closer. “Tomas isn’t my main concern at the moment.” Then he kisses me again. “
You
are.”

“I can’t leave my own personal Paris in upheaval.” It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud. “I have to fix it. I have to give them back the locket.”

Alex shakes his head slowly. “You have to do more than that…you have to go back into the catacombs and put it back where you found it.”

The thought of it makes me shudder and wince. My leg still aches from what the rats did last time.

But I know he’s right.

I have to do it.

“This is my fault, so I should do this alone. There’s no reason for us both to go back down into that horrifying place,” I say, pushing my voice to sound stronger than I feel.

He tightens his face and tilts his head to the side, looking at me as if I’m crazy for what I just said. “Chloe, don’t be ridiculous,” he says. “I refuse to leave your side. How could I sit back and let you wander through that death maze by yourself again.”

“And I can’t ask you to risk your safety by going down there with me.”

I hear a groan rumbling from his throat. His eyes are serious and pained, looking as if I offended him. “I will not leave you, Chloe. We’re in this together, whether you like it or not.”

It’s clear that there’s no use in arguing with him. It’s obvious he has his mind set.

“We need to somehow put it back without anyone seeing us,” he begins. “They’re monitoring the entrance to the catacombs, waiting for you to come back. It’ll take a miracle to get you in there and back out alive.”

I echo his words. “Drifting is worth nothing if it can’t get you out of a tight situation. A wise man told me that about three minutes ago.”

He places his hands over his hips and nods his head, trying to hide a smile. I start to believe this is going to be possible.

“Do you have any clue where you picked up the locket?” he asks.

I close my eyes, trying to remember what it all looked like. “Yes,” I say. “It was in front of a black gate. It was down the middle corridor of the main hall that led to an exit.”

“And you have the locket with you?”

I check my pocket. “Yes.” It’s been here the whole time. “I’m so stupid.”

“No.” His fingers lift my chin until our eyes meet. “This isn’t your fault. We’re going to make this okay.”

I nod. “When should we go?”

The stress lines on his forehead crinkle and he runs his hands up and down his cheeks. “The sooner the better.”

I figured it would be something like that.

“Okay, then.” I close my eyes.

The skulls in rows…the darkness descends…

CHHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

DEFINING REASON

MY VISION COMES INTO FOCUS
very quickly. The dampness is sending a chill up my arms. I brush my fingertips along the grainy dirt beside me.

I’m back where I don’t belong.

My eyes are adapting to the dark, but nothing here looks familiar. I dig my fingers into the nearest wall and pull myself up to my feet. I brush the dirt from my backside as a shadow approaches.
Alex.
My heartbeat quickens.

He doesn’t seem overly happy to see me, though.

I smile in spite of the gloom that surrounds us. “Do you know how to get to the gate?” I ask it as if he’s been through these caves dozens of times.

He pulls out an old piece of paper from his pocket and unfolds it. It’s soft and yellow, very aged and difficult to read. It appears to be some kind of map. He reads it very carefully, which isn’t easy in the darkness. “I have a good idea of where we have to go.”

He starts in the opposite direction, but I grab the back of his shirt to stop him. “Are you mad at me?” I ask. “Did I do something to make you angry?” I plead for an answer. Everything was okay a few minutes ago.

“Not now…okay?” He turns around and continues walking forward.

I continue after him, matching my footsteps with his. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, Alex. I’m sorry we have to be back here because of my stupidity.”

“It’s not that, Chloe.” He doesn’t slow down. He just talks as he walks. “I asked you not to follow me today because I knew it was dangerous. But you came anyway.”

“I know…and I’m sorry. But the news showed the disturbance and I just knew you were in trouble. I had to help.”

He doesn’t seem to be softening to my explanation. “And did you stop to think that if something happened to me, the same thing would have happened to you?”

“I wasn’t worried about me,” I tell him. “Just you.”

“Did you tell Celia where you were going before you left?” Oh…Celia.

“I didn’t…I wasn’t thinking.”

He stops and faces me. “And the fact that you might not come back from this—that neither of us might…that the crowd might tear us to pieces and leave us completely separated from our own minds…that didn’t occur to you?”

“No, Alex—it didn’t occur to me. I only knew I needed to get to you. To help you.” The tears rise. I can’t hold them back. “I just needed to find you.”

He realizes how upset he’s made me and he pulls me in. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about everything.”

“Me, too.” I rest my head on his chest for a minute. “But I can fix this. All the way.”

He smiles. “I know you can.”

We move on, trudging through the first passageway, and I scold myself for not thinking to have brought flashlights. It’s almost impossible to see anything in this place. I should have known better by now. I’m not sure I want to see this place any better, though. I already know what lurks in the darkness here.

Alex seems to read my thoughts. He leans over, picks up a piece of wood from the ground and lights it with a match that he just happens to have in his pocket. “You’re prepared for anything, aren’t you?”

“What can I say? I’m like a boy scout.” I laugh at that.

It doesn’t last.

Now that we have a lit path, I’m reminded of my recent encounters with this place. The drawings and writing begin to appear on the surrounding walls. They’re terrifying, most appearing to have been made by people who were either lost or dying or both. It’s a great reminder of how much danger we’re in.

Alex doesn’t seem to be fazed by anything. He keeps his focus on walking forward without losing track of what’s in front of him. He’s unerringly brave, while I feel as if death is lurking at every corner.

We trek down similar but unfamiliar paths, through more caves and tunnels. I follow so closely behind him, I’m almost clipping his heels with each step. I’ll be happy when I never have to see or smell this place again.

We’ve been trekking for more than an hour, and the air has become denser, making it difficult to breathe.

“Are you okay?” Alex asks, trying to catch his own breath.

“I think so,” I say, pulling in a shallow breath. “I just feel a little unsteady.”

“Yeah, I know. We just have to get through this area so we can get into a more open space. Hang on to me if you need to.”

I don’t want to drag him down any more than I already have. I’ll just have to suck it up and continue in his footsteps.

I see a lit room ahead of us, but I can only imagine what we’ll come across in there. We crawl through the next opening, finding ourselves at the beginning of a large hallway with arched openings that appear to lead in numerous directions. Alex pulls out his map once more and traces his finger along a line that either he drew or someone else drew for him. My eyes are locked on his face, waiting for him to figure out where our next route should be. But standing in one place here for too long isn’t a good idea.

I feel something small but hard drop on my head. It startles me and scares the hell out of me as I recall the horrific rats in this place. I can’t hold in my screams. I’m jumping and tossing my hair from side to side.

Alex slaps his hand over my mouth. “Chloe." He places his finger in front of his mouth. "You have to keep it down. We’re trying not to get caught, remember?” he says in a harsh whisper. “There’s nothing in your hair. It was just a clump of dirt falling from that rock above us.”

I guess that wasn’t my brightest move, but I can’t stand the thought of encountering any more rats. Alex brushes off what just happened and gazes at the map again. He waves his finger, motioning for us to head down the walkway only a few feet from where we’re standing.

We turn around a sharp corner. Alex grabs my arm and flings me back into the main hallway, shoving me flat up against the wall. He moves beside me, his chest moving up and down at a fast pace. He whispers, “It’s one of them…don’t move.” I didn’t realize how close we were until a man steps out from the walkway and crosses over the main hall where we’re standing. He doesn’t see us. Alex tugs on my shirt, pulling me back into the path and directs me to walk as close to the side of the wall as possible.

“How far away are we?” I ask in a low whisper.

“We’re a couple of corridors away. Shouldn’t be long”

We pick up our pace after our recent encounter. The walkway we’re heading down now is wide and long. Minutes pass before we see any other corridors, and Alex stops again to pull out his map. “Okay…we just need to get down this hall. The gate should be right at the end.”

The hallway is just as long and dark as I remember it being. The gate is now in our view. We’re both scoping out the area to get a better idea of where to run to if we have to make a quick escape. We move closer to the dead end. The shadow of someone crosses our path.

I search desperately for a hiding place. I find a large chasm in the ground next to us. The split in the surface is wide enough for us to both fit inside and hide. I point to it, and Alex lowers me into the crack. I reach up and wrap my arms around Alex’s legs to help steady him, watching as his body drops from the ledge.

We’re huddled together inside of this large split in the ground, and it’s hard not to notice the odd temperature difference on each side. One side is hot, feeling as if the sun had been beating down on it all day…ironic, considering that we’re in the underworld of Paris. The other side is colder than ice.

Alex seems to notice the same odd characteristic of the separated foundation, but rather than questioning the mysteriousness of it, a wide smile spreads across his face. I watch him as he continues feeling around inside and observing each crevice as if it were some type of great archeological discovery.

“Why are you smiling?” I ask.

“This is incredible, Chloe." His eager eyes meet mine. "This space we’re in is schizophrenic and split right down the middle, just like us. It’s our own personal schism-chasm. Our schasm.” He laughs

He’s so adorable and creative, even in the worst of situations. Only
he
could make me laugh at a time like this.

“Hey, you!" A loud voice echoes down the corridor. "Come back here.” The voice becomes louder as it comes closer.

My face drains. I can hear my pulse pounding through my ears.

“Alex, did someone see us come up h—"

He cups his hand over my mouth. The shadow is followed by the man it belongs to as he walks toward us. I can’t tell if it’s us he saw or if something else caught his attention.

Another voice in the distance shouts something in French, and we both take a deep breath when we realize he hasn’t seen us. The guard walks away from us. This is my opportunity to replace the locket. It has to be now.

Alex and I switch spots, gliding by each other, careful to avoid making noise against the rocks. He boosts me up to ground level, giving me the leverage I need to pull myself onto the graveled surface. I steady myself on my feet and sprint to the large boulder that I had taken the locket from.

I pull the necklace from my pocket, careful not to drop it. I wish I knew why it was important enough to cause such an uprising among the people of Paris. It makes no sense. I know I shouldn’t tempt fate any more than I already have, but my curiosity is too much. I take one last look and press my fingers on both sides of the locket to pry it open. It crackles as the dust embedded in its hinge rubs loose.

It opens.

There’s a picture inside…it looks stunningly familiar.

 “Chloe, put it back now!" Alex whisper-shouts. "They’re coming!”

I close the locket again and place it down on the rock exactly where I found it. The second the necklace touches the surface, an alarm blares down the hall.

Damn
. Are there seriously alarms down here?

I run as fast as possible back to the chasm. Alex’s hands are reaching up above the crack, waiting to help me down. I see a stampede of people heading toward us. If I don’t make it to Alex in time, they’ll be upon me. I’m a few feet away when my foot catches on a loose rock. I fall to the ground a few feet from the crevice.

I try not to make a sound as I attempt to drag myself against the ground, hoping to remain in the darkness and hidden from the incoming mob. I make it close enough to grab Alex’s hand, and he pulls me down. I crash into him and knock both of us into the thinnest section of the gap.