I mull over this as Cami and I follow Arryn down the dimly lit tunnel. Her strides are swift enough that I have trouble limping along at the same pace, and with a tight, unimpressed look, she slows down—slightly.

“Are you going to tell us the plan now?” I ask, partly to keep my mind off the renewed throbbing in my thigh, but mostly because I’d like an explanation.

“No.”

I grit my teeth and reach out to grab her arm, but she jumps away from me, violently. I jerk backward as if I’ve hurt her, even though I know I didn’t even make contact.

“Don’t touch me,” she says. Her voice is firm, but there’s no fear or anger or other emotion in it. Just a simple order.

“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, wondering what she might have been through to cause such a reaction. “I—”

“I’ll explain in a minute,” she interrupts. “Just—Just please be quiet and follow me.”

It’s the “please” that has me shutting up and doing what she’s asked. Cami, too, walks in silence a step behind me. We remain this way until we reach the three-pronged fork. I automatically continue down the tunnel that leads to the ancient elevator that will take us topside.

“Not that way,” Arryn says, and I realize I’ve stepped ahead without her.

I pause. “But … this is the way to the exit.”

Arryn is peering back down the tunnel we’ve just traveled, before turning to the one on the right and doing the same, listening intently. In a whisper so low that I can barely hear her, she says, “It’s not the only exit. Hurry. And whatever you do, don’t light the path.”

Without further explanation, she takes off down the dark, mysterious middle fork, leaving Cami and me little choice but to follow.

After only a short distance, we’re far enough away from the dim torches lighting the rest of the underground system that there’s only pitch-black surrounding us. My heart thumps in my chest as I stumble gracelessly over bumps in the path, hissing softly with every jostle to my wounded leg. I trail my hands along the sides of the passage to help keep me from walking straight into one of the limestone walls, the tips of my fingers becoming grazed from the sandpapery surface. If not for Arryn’s order, I would have summoned a globe of light for us, but instead we’re as blind as bats down here.

I hear the scraping sound of someone tripping and catching their balance again, before Cami grumbles, “We’re going to break our necks.” But her voice is hushed, as if she, too, realizes that what we’re doing must be some kind of secret.

“Just keep moving in a straight line,” Arryn encourages. “We can’t risk a light yet. And please, be quiet so I can concentrate.”