Page 126 of The Commons

I bang my head toward it in a hurry.

Argh… the pain is excruciating. I wince, noticing the blood trickling down my forehead.

Overcome by a wave of dizziness, I slide my hands to my temple. Then suddenly, the pain begins to sting even more. Oh darn. I shouldn’t have done that, seeing as my hands are filled with Conzamine. I wipe it off my hands by rubbing against my clothes. Then, I tear a piece of material from my combat suit and tie it around my head to keep the blood from gushing.

I have a hard time concentrating because of the pain, but I have to keep going. The hurt of losing Levon will be worse. I step back and look at the door again for a second. But before I can figure it out, a heat wave flushes through me, and I realize what’s happening. I turn back to see the volcanic lava rushing toward me.

Oh my goodness. I’m gonna die.

No. No. No.

I turn back to the door. I have to figure out the code quickly. Password, password, what could it be… I notice three dots and three rows of the dots. With shaky hands, I press on them and they light up.

Shantavia, don’t look back. Just focus, just focus!

The lava is surging. There has to be a password. It almost seems identical to the code in my math class. I rush to hack it a similar way, mixing nine numbers to add up to the same number, nine times.

Nothing.

I hammer the sword against the door again and again, desperation surging through me, but it refuses to yield.

“Open!” I cry, frantic for an escape.

“Oh God.” Sweat drenches me like a burning ocean. My skin is burning.

“Come on! Open!” Terror convulses through me as the lava erupts all around me.

Panic stricken, I drive the blade into the crevices, wrenching and prying with everything I have. Nothing. It barely leaves a scratch. Panic consumes my soul as I slam my head against the door.

“Oww!” I’m bleeding. I forgot about that. “Tavia. Use your head. Use your head.”

The lava continues racing toward me with merciless speed, devouring everything it touches. It’s almost here! I slam the sword into the ground, carving a path through the rock, trying to divert the lava away from me.

The molten flow catches the new channel and surges toward the sword instead, swallowing the blade in a burst of heat.

Pesh’s sword is gone.

And next, it’ll be I.

But… I can’t die. And… I can’t hack this!

I try to hack it again. Doing the exact same thing as before, trying to force my hazy thoughts into focus against the blazing heat. Nine numbers. Nine times.

It’s this or I’m dead.

Clunk…

Yes!

Oh wow. Maybe it needed to be tampered with first—like my math class.

The cave door begins to move on its own, sliding to the right. Lava burns off my shoe just as I sprint inside the dark room, and the door shuts behind me. Thank God!

Oh no. There is now complete silence. Like I’m in another world. Another universe.

A valley of darkness surrounds me.

I can’t see anything!