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Chapters (76)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. PART II
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. PART III
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. INTERLUDE
  35. PART IV
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. INTERLUDE
  45. PART V
  46. THIRTY-FIVE
  47. THIRTY-SIX
  48. THIRTY-SEVEN
  49. THIRTY-EIGHT
  50. PART VI
  51. THIRTY-NINE
  52. FORTY
  53. FORTY-ONE
  54. FORTY-TWO
  55. FORTY-THREE
  56. FORTY-FOUR
  57. FORTY-FIVE
  58. INTERLUDE
  59. PART VII
  60. FORTY-SIX
  61. FORTY-SEVEN
  62. FORTY-EIGHT
  63. FORTY-NINE
  64. FIFTY
  65. FIFTY-ONE
  66. FIFTY-TWO
  67. PART VIII
  68. FIFTY-THREE
  69. FIFTY-FOUR
  70. FIFTY-FIVE
  71. FIFTY-SIX
  72. EPILOGUE
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  75. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  76. Newsletter Sign-up

She kissed his head again and again. “Keys?” she asked, and Will pointed. Off the hook they came. Carefully, to keep them from rattling, she tried each in Will’s gate until it gave way, lurching outward with far more noise than she would have preferred. Will took a moment to stretch, then he placed the keys delicately inside his neighbor’s cell. Elena tugged at him. They shouldn’t risk bringing anyone else. But his neighbor oddly didn’t move, just stared at the keyring, and Elena pulled Will out and away.

She held his hand as they ran, though they didn’t say a word. His fingers felt thinner than normal. Lantern light grew at an intersection ahead of them, and she pulled to the side. He squeezed her incredulously, but she knew what she was doing. She put her finger to his lips, which he kissed, and the light grew until its owner could be seen, walking across the hallway, and disappeared down the other side again. Elena waited until its glow was almost imperceptible, then they were off again, keeping to the walls, eventually back to the holding cages, and the slope up.

Will tugged her toward the exit, but mercy compelled her to pause for a moment at Baynard’s cage. She pushed the first key into the lock but it stuck oddly, she hastened to pull it out and the key snapped. With horror she knelt down and saw the broken chunk of iron, sheared off, now wedged into the keyhole’s recess. She grappled at its bars and looked for any weakness, to no effect. Baynard, inside, gasped and crawled away from her. She plied the tip of her finger into the keyhole to try to scratch out the broken key, until Will’s arms engulfed her from behind, holding her still, holding her tight.

“We have to go,” he whispered, and Elena let the tears come, hot on her cheeks. Will cradled her head and wiped her face. She nodded and started to leave. “I’m sorry,” Will said to the man he didn’t recognize in the cage. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.”

That was it, then. There was no rethinking it. Up the slope, the tunnel curved to the left until daylight crept in, faint at first and then sudden, blinding. It was a long even tunnel that led into the white, and no silhouettes of bodies blocked the way. Will’s breath escaped him in a quiet laugh and he entwined his fingers with hers. They kept running even after the white glow became soft enough to reveal the tall even bars at the exit.

It wouldn’t matter, she thought. One of her keys would open it. Or it would be nearby, as the last one had been.