I think I was supposed to say something to let him off the hook, but I remembered how he’d rubbed Kimber’s face in it when he was showboating last night, and I figured he deserved to stew a bit. No matter how hot he was.
When I didn’t say anything, there was an awkward silence, but Ethan broke the awkwardness soon enough by leading the way into the heart of the mountain once more.
Yesterday, we’d gone straight for a long way before we’d veered off toward the cave. Today, we took a side tunnel almost immediately, then took another, and another, until I was so thoroughly turned around I didn’t have a clue where I was. I couldn’t help wondering if that was by design. Was Ethan trying to make sure I couldn’t get out of here without help?
So far, the only sign I’d seen that the tunnels weren’t completely deserted had been the Underground’s cave, but Ethan’s and my path tonight led to a very different part of the tunnel system. We rounded a corner, and suddenly the tunnel widened significantly and was illuminated by electric lights. A broad stairway led up to what I presumed was the surface, and a steady stream of people went up and down that stairway. Their voices echoed in the enclosed space, but I could hear the muffled sound of loud music over those voices, and I could feel the beat vibrating the floor under my feet.
“There’s a great nightclub down there,” Ethan said, pointing to another stairway leading down. A neon sign over the stairway declared This Way to the deep, with a flashing arrow. “I’ll have to take you there someday when things settle down.”
I wasn’t sure what to say about that. It sounded almost like he was asking me on a date. I frowned. Actually, there wasn’t really any asking going on.
Before I finished over-analyzing that one simple sentence, Ethan guided me down yet another branch of the tunnel, and we were back into dark, creepy, claustrophobic territory. I tried my best to keep track of our route after that so I could make my way back to the stairway to the surface if necessary.
We walked for about fifteen more minutes, only making two turns—few enough that even I might have a chance of navigating my way out.
Eventually, we came to a stop in the middle of a tunnel that looked like every other deserted tunnel I’d seen so far. I looked in both directions, but couldn’t see anything special about this spot.
Then Ethan muttered something. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn he said “Open sesame,” but that must just have been the unsettling echoes.
A door-shaped opening appeared in the wall out of nowhere. I blinked.
“It’s an illusion spell,” Ethan said, a hint of pride in his voice. “No one traveling down this tunnel would have any idea the doorway was here.”
He gestured me in with a dramatic sweep of his arm, and I gingerly stepped through the space where moments ago there had been a wall. I half expected the wall to reappear when I was partway through, but it didn’t.
The room behind the illusionary wall didn’t exactly make me jump for joy. It was about the size of Kimber’s bedroom, and the only furniture was a pair of cots, a card table, and a pair of folding chairs, unless you counted the large steamer trunk in the corner as furniture. Other than the meager furniture, there was a kerosene lamp on the table and a couple of ceramic pots, one under each bed.
“Tell me those aren’t chamber pots!” I said as Ethan lit the lamp.
He gave me a sheepish smile over his shoulder. “This is only temporary,” he promised. “As you’ve seen, there are places underground that have electricity and running water, but those aren’t as well hidden.”
“What is this place?” I asked.
Ethan finished lighting the lamp and turned off his flashlight. “One of the things the Underground does is try to help people who have certain, er, political problems. Sometimes, they need a place to hide out awhile. It’s not luxurious, but no one—and nothing—is going to find you here.”
My eyes started to sting, and I bit my lip hard to keep it from quivering. This little hideout could have doubled for a dungeon in some old historical movie. The bleakness of the space hammered home the bleakness of my situation. I’d always coped with stress by putting off my reactions until after the crisis was over, but since I’d set foot in Avalon, there’d been one crisis after another, and my control was seriously slipping.
Ethan crossed the distance between us in one long stride, and before I had any idea what he was going to do, he had wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug.
“Don’t cry,” he murmured into my hair. “It’s just until your father gets out of jail. It won’t be more than a night or two, tops. And I’m not going to abandon you down here. We’re in this together.”
I thought about what it would be like if Ethan left me alone here, and that was enough to break through my resistance to crying. As much as I didn’t like to admit it, it felt good to have him hold me. Tears slid down my cheeks, and I clung to Ethan almost desperately. He scooped me up into his arms, then set me down on one of the cots, practically on his lap. He was still holding me, one hand cupping the side of my head so that my face was pressed up against his chest, the other rubbing up and down my back.
His caresses were distracting enough that I slowly forgot my distress at my surroundings. The air in the tunnels was chilly, but Ethan’s body was warm and cozy. And he smelled yummy. He was wearing some kind of cologne. Subtle, but with a spicy, earthy scent. I inhaled deeply, partly to help dispel the tears, partly because I wanted another sniff of his scent.