The others have already chosen their tunnel, so once we reach the small antechamber, we take the one farthest to the right.

We walk with our flashlights pointed down mostly, with occasional flicks up ahead, not that it helps very much. The tunnel turns vaguely left, I think. It’s hard to focus when the ceiling sometimes drops to just above Fitz’s hair and other times rises up into steep, empty columns to nowhere. Often, Fitz’s massive shoulders brush the wall, but for most of the way, the tunnel is about four feet wide. Our steps makes a crunching, scratching sound on the gravel under our feet. The sound of dripping water reaches us from somewhere out of sight. Probably where the mildew comes from. Its presence is a constant, deep green and black and slippery. We walk for twenty, maybe thirty minutes mostly in silence and single file. Fitz leads, Evan takes the middle, and I bring up the rear.

I feel a surge of relief that Vaughn warned me away from the staff. It’d never even fit in this part of the tunnel.

“Where are we, do you think?” My voice bounces in loud, jarring echoes in the tight space.

Fitz grunts. “Not sure. Tunnels aren’t a straight line. It takes about fifteen minutes to walk to the edge of campus aboveground, then another fifteen or so to the Tower.”

I’m not claustrophobic, but the thought of walking in and out of cramped, dark spaces for—at the minimum, if we’re on the direct route—another twenty minutes makes my heart pound in my ears. The sound almost blocks out the dripping.

“Do you really think Davis might open the Gates down here?” Evan asks his Scion. “If he does, and Arthur doesn’t Call Nick, they’d both be trapped.”

Fitz grunts dismissively. “He’d be out of his mind. Fighting in quarters this close would be a nightmare. I’m sure the cave is bigger, but even still. You’ve got to contain the threat or neutralize it in an enclosed space with limited exits. Tactical nightmare.”

Evan hums in agreement.

Fitz leads us into another left turn. I hear his sharp intake of breath about two seconds before I see its cause.

The tunnel opens up completely on one side, turning a narrow passageway into a path with only one wall on our left. On our right, dropping down into terrifying blackness, is a ravine about thirty feet across. Fitz’s flashlight shows us the other wall, a series of massive jagged outcrops reaching toward us like giant molars with sharp edges. When he and Evan point their beams down, we see that the ravine narrows as it drops, with stalagmites rising up from an unseen floor filled with shadows that swallow our light.

The path ahead is still four feet across, but everything about it seems more treacherous with certain death on the other side.