We stalk over piles of rock, around metal sheeting. I step on something sticky and the hem of my pants is red. A pungent smell curls my nose, but I shove down the urge to hurl and keep moving. If darkness is their cover, it will be ours, too.

We stumble upon a fractured wall and our path is blockaded. The curtain of concrete has a hole in the center, only big enough for one of us to squeeze through at a time.

“I’ll go first,” Jhamal and Zora say at the same time, stepping forward.

“No, I will.” This is a death trap. “If whatever is on the other side of that wall is magic, I’ll need to face it. You can follow right after me. The hostage goes last. Keep him safe.” I’m not done with him.

Questions hang on their lips, but they don’t disagree.

Bri waves her gadget around the opening in the rock and the blue light flashes faster. “I silenced the beeping,” she whispers, and I can hear the pride in her tone. “Magic or someone with magic is on the other side. I’m sure of it.” Bri’s gadget only confirms my suspicions.

“There has to be another way,” Jhamal says. “Blow it open!”

Steel beams run the length of the stone box around us. Blowing a hole in the wall wouldn’t work. This place could come crumbling down on top of us. I have to go through this narrow opening, alone… and first.

“Bri, do you have any sort of tracker in that bag of yours?”

I hear quiet jumbling and she presses something cold into my hands. “It’s sticky. Just toss it and it should stick on contact.”

“When I come through, if things go… bad… track whoever is over there and root them out.”

“Jelani, let me,” Jhamal says.

“No, you come through last with Zora and the hostage. Bri behind me, with anything in that bag that might be of use in hand and ready, you understand?”

She nods.

I pull myself up into the crevice, my arms screeching as my cuff scratches the rock. I shove my upper body through first and the hole is more like a short tunnel. Whoever or whatever is on the other side knows I’m coming. If they didn’t hear our whispers, they definitely hear the hammer in my chest.

I lug my body forward until I reach the end of the tunnel. Footsteps echo in the distance. I scurry to my feet and conjure a ball of energy, tightening my grip on the tracker. There’s no one here. I close my eyes to open my ears, like Z said, but the footsteps are gone.