He doesn’t know what really happened and I’m afraid to tell him. I keep silent as we tiptoe through the darkness, round a corner, and step out onto wobbly platform. He puts his fingers to his lips and points down at our feet. The platform is made of linked metal thin enough to see straight into the crowded room below us. People sit at tables, eat their dinners, chattering away as if nothing is wrong, as if death isn't lurking in the air.

“Is Dominic down there?” I hiss. “Please tell me he’s not.”

Aiden shakes his head and walks cautiously across the platform, taking each step gradually as it rocks underneath his movement. I follow, keeping my footsteps weightless and my body balanced against the sway.

“He eats his dinner in his room,” he says. “But soon the guards are going to report what happened. And we need to make sure we’re long gone before he does.”

We gradually speed up, the floor shuddering, trails of dust trickling down on the peoples’ heads below. A girl glances up, blinking against the dirt. But thankfully, doesn’t see us and returns her gaze to her food.

At the end of the platform, there’s a very narrow tunnel digging into the wall. Aiden gets down on his hands and knees, puts his knife between his teeth, and crawls inside. I follow, dragging my knees through the dirt. My head scrapes the ceiling and twigs snag my hair. I try to twist free, but it’s dark and I can’t see. Desperate, I take my knife and hack a chunk of my hair off, freeing my head, and I keep crawling, knowing how precious my time is.

At the end of the tunnel, there’s a large boulder. Aiden shoves at it, panting and grunting until finally I give him a hand.  Within seconds, it’s rolling forward down the hill and we’re blasted by the grey of the outside world. He dives out head first, slumping onto the rocks. Then sticks his hand in and helps me climb out. We’re standing in a ditch that rests between two hills.

“Where are we?” I ask as we start to climb up the side of the hill.

“An emergency escape route.” His hand slips, but he promptly catches himself. “They are all over the place.”

We heave onto the top of the rocky hill. Aiden’s out of breath, heart knocking against his chest, while mine still stays silent.

“You know, you were always pretty good at staying calm,” he pants. “But this is just ridiculous. You’re not even out of breath.”

I stare up at the smoky sky, not wanting to talk about me, afraid of what he’ll discover. “What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.” He clutches his side. “I was hoping maybe you had an idea.”