Shalise moved her head right next to Juliana’s ear. Her words came out as mere touches of air, barely discernible from the ambient noise. “What do we do?”
Juliana bit her lip, considering her options. There were two obvious choices. “Stay here, hide from all the demons that might decide they want a snack on their way out, wait for whatever is going to come and fix the door, and hope that our imprisonment isn’t too long-lasting. Or flee. Escape. Try to get into contact with mom or Eva or someone.”
“We’re not going to get our one phone call if we stay, are we?”
“Doubt it.”
Shalise sighed. “You’re leaning towards escaping? What about all the demons?”
“Hiding, avoiding, and hoping that they’re too busy with their own escape to pay us much attention. Here,” Juliana removed one of her rings and handed it over to Shalise. “Can’t use magic in here, but maybe out there. I know you’re used to a wand,” Juliana gave a little shrug, “better than nothing.”
While Shalise fitted on the ring, Juliana took a peek around the corner.
There weren’t all that many demons, considering the amount of doors. In fact, there were only three that she could see. Given that most of the cells were still closed, Juliana didn’t quite know what she expected. All the demons who could get free had likely already fled.
The few demons who were around had the poor fortune of being far less mobile than a square-wheeled caboose.
All of them were on catwalks unconnected to her own. Glancing further around the corner revealed only one damaged door on her floor and side of the cell block. By the look of the bent in claw marks on the catwalk railing outside the door, its occupant had already fled.
“Come on,” Juliana said as she grabbed Shalise’s hand.
Neither direction on the catwalk looked any more appealing than the other. Both stretched endlessly as far as Juliana could see. However, one direction had something the other lacked.
Demons.
While there weren’t many demons visible anymore, Juliana had caught a glimpse when the door first fell down. All the demons were moving in the same direction. Presumably towards some exit.
Hopefully towards the exit.
Alongside Shalise, Juliana made haste. They weren’t sprinting, but there was no dalliance either. Running into a demon that was less interested in escaping would not help matters.
It had to have been an hour before the scenery changed. And it wasn’t all that great of a change.
They came to a crossroads. Their corridor of cells met up with another, perpendicular corridor. The catwalks criss-crossed every which-way and even wound around to the other floors.
“Up or down? And after that, which way?”
“I don’t know.”
No matter which direction she looked, there was nothing but more cells. No demons in sight.
Some of the catwalks had claw marks, and one had collapsed completely across the way. She couldn’t tell which direction the fleeing demons had run.
“Well, let’s go down first,” Shalise said. “Get on the ground floor. Maybe they will have a sign somewhere.”
Juliana doubted that. There hadn’t been any signs so far. None of the cells even had numbers on them. “What if we’re underground. Then we should be heading up.”
“Do you really think we’re underground?”
“Just pointing out the possibility,” Juliana said with a shrug. “We can go down, though we might get lost in this place. I don’t suppose you’ve got some chalk on you?”
“I don’t. Oh!” Shalise gripped the top button of her school uniform and yanked down. The button came off with a pop. She pressed the light circle of plastic against the black wall with all her might. Dragging it across the surface, Shalise drew an arrow.
It was very faint, hardly noticeable even when looking directly at it.
Mark completed, Juliana and Shalise headed down a staircase that wrapped around the entire intersection. At the center of it, Juliana noted as they reached the bottom, was a massive elevator. There were tracks on the walls and gears to raise and lower it. No obvious means of activating it, however. No buttons, or knobs, or dials.
Shalise made a second mark at the bottom of the staircase, right on the floor.
Basing their direction on a handful of claw marks on the floor, Juliana walked with one hand on Shalise’s shoulder. So long as whatever demon made the tracks didn’t have backwards feet, they should be heading in a proper direction. They would still be traveling in
“This place is creepy.”
Juliana jumped half a foot in the air at Shalise’s voice. She gave a light squeeze on Shalise’s shoulder. “Don’t scare me like that.”
“Sorry. Just… Where are all the guards? Or other prisoners? After that earthquake and seeing other demons escape, I’d be at the bars watching them go. Probably shouting obscenities.”
“There was that voice saying demons had escaped. And then it mentioned ‘Keeper.'”
