Page 127 of Rite of Unity

Sera’s scream echoed in my eardrums, and I pulled with all my strength until I was on my belly.

I inhaled a ragged breath, trying to slow my pounding heart.

Climbing to my knees, I crawled through the space, glancing down through the slitted grate.The world tipped sideways, and I leaned into the wall.Behind me, the sounds of the ladder scraping across the floor had me moving again.

I didn’t look back.

Darkness closed in, and I put one hand in front of the other, feeling my way.My breathing was too loud in the enclosed space.Too fast.I tried to slow it—I couldn’t.

I paused, pressing my forehead against the cool metal.Listened.Nothing.Sera must have found another way out.

There would be an exit duct, but with no ladder at the bottom, it was a long drop.

Slowly, my breathing evened.

My right hand came down on open air, and the bottom dropped out of my stomach.I threw myself sideways, fingers scrambling at the duct wall, cheek hitting metal.Below me, pitch darkness.For a moment, I couldn’t move.Couldn’t breathe.My arms shook, holding me in place over nothing.

I pushed myself back from the edge.

Reaching across the open space, I lunged, my left knee scraping painfully on the ledge.

I crawled forward, wincing every time my left knee came down.My nails clacked against metal, hands trembling.Was this the wrong path?Would I have to go back, climb down into that room?Could I?She'd moved the ladder by now.

In the distance, a soft glow crept closer.I inched toward it.

Slits bisecting a closed grate filtered low light just ahead.I stopped, peering through the slats.Below, a store of grain was piled in the center of the room.

Carefully, I hooked my finger through sharp metal and lifted.

I tried to turn, but the space was too tight.

The grain was close enough that it shouldn’t hurt too badly, even falling out face-first.

I leaned down, wedging my elbows against the wall and went slowly.My slick fingers lost their grip, and my stomach lurched into my throat.For one awful second, there was nothing beneath me.

Then, grain swallowed me whole.

I clawed for the surface, pellets filling my nose.Panic flared in my chest before my head broke free and I gulped air.My hands found the wall, fingers searching frantically along the surface until they caught a seam.I shoved.Nothing.I shoved again, throwing my shoulder into it, and the panel gave way, grain and I spilling out into the open together.

I collapsed onto my hands and knees, chest heaving.

Only then did I let out a shaky breath that might have been a laugh.

Across the room, a door was ajar, and I hobbled toward it, my knee screaming in protest.

When I reached the door, I glanced left and right.Left led back to the room I’d escaped.If the goal was to get out of that room, there was likely another room on the other side of those doors.

I went left, hugging the wall, straightening as I neared a well-lit room.

Sera looked up from a chair by the wall, a nasty sneer on her face.

I froze.

Across from her, a door was pressed firmly closed.

She glanced at a drone in the corner, pointed at us, and then away.I sank into the chair farthest from her.

We sat in silence, watching the door.