Page 119 of Snow

“That is definitely not built for people.”

Snow linked his hands together, and Nova stepped into them, gripping his shoulders as he lifted her toward the opening with an ease she would have appreciated a lot more under different circumstances.

“Easy,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”

With his support, Nova grabbed the edge and pulled herself upward until her head and shoulders disappeared into the duct. The darkness closed around her immediately, along with the uncomfortable realization that the space was even tighter than it had looked from below.

She stopped moving. Logically, Nova knew there was enough room. Her shoulders fit, though they did touch the sides. She could breathe. Nothing was actually pressing against her. Unfortunately, her brain had apparently decided logic was no longer participating in this adventure.

“Nova?”

Snow’s voice drifted up from beneath her.

She closed her eyes. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

No. Not even remotely.

“Yup.”

There was a short pause before he said, “You’re a terrible liar.”

Despite herself, a laugh escaped her. “Shut up and push.”

Snow chuckled and gave her one final boost, helping her slide the rest of the way into the duct.

And then she was on her own. She lay flat on her stomach and stared into the darkness ahead, forcing herself to breathe normally instead of thinking about how much metal surrounded her.

“Okay,” she whispered. “This is fine.”

It absolutely was not fine. There wasn’t enough room to get onto her hands and knees, so she dragged herself forward on her elbows, pushing with her toes. Every movement sent an obnoxiously loud scrape through the metal enclosure, and she tried to focus on that instead of the fact that she was crawling through a glorified metal tube while smoke was apparently filling the room behind her.

Of course, telling herself not to think about getting stuck guaranteed that her brain immediately pictured exactly that happening. She would get wedged somewhere in the middle, the fire would reach the duct, and they would eventually find her cooked inside the thing like some kind of human Hot Pocket.

Seriously? A Hot Pocket?

Apparently, impending death did terrible things to her sense of humor.

“You still moving?” Snow called from behind her.

“Unfortunately.”

His laugh echoed faintly through the duct. “That’s my girl. Keep going.”

The sound of his voice helped more than she wanted to admit. Nova focused on it as she pulled herself forward, concentrating on one movement at a time instead of how much farther she had to go. One elbow, then the other. Push with her toes. Breathe. Repeat.

She could do this. She was doing it. Then the duct turned, and she awkwardly maneuvered around the corner, twisting her body as much as the tight space allowed, when something suddenly tugged at the back of her shirt and stopped her cold.

Panic hit before common sense had a chance to intervene. “No, no, no.” She tried to move forward, but the fabric pulled tighter.

“Snow!”

“I’m right here. What happened?”

“My shirt’s caught on something.”

“Okay. Don’t yank on it.” His voice stayed calm, but Nova could hear the worry underneath it now. “Reach back if you can and see what’s holding you.”