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Pavel spoke behind me, “Actually. . .”
I turned to him.
Pavel let out a long breath. “That is probably the exact place where the original is.”
I swallowed.
“Maybe even. . .” Pavel frowned. “Maybe the original never left his apartment in her mind. For her, this is where life ended. . .where she gave up.”
“No.” Lunita took another step down. “That’s too sad. I killed him for us. Tell her to get out of that bad man’s place.”
I studied Lunita.
Her body trembled and shook.
“No.” She wrapped those shaking arms tightly around herself as if trying to hold herself together. “No. No. I don’t want her to be there. All these years?”
Her face was contorted in anguish. More tears streamed down her cheeks. “Tell her to leave. . .”
“Lunita.” I kept my voice low.
“Tell her to go, nasty lion!”
“I want you to stay right there. Alright?”
And then Lunita began to sob. “Tell her to go. P-please.”
My heart broke so hard that I touched my own chest. “If I see her in the apartment, I will tell her.”
Sobbing more, she took another step down.
“I promise.” I turned around and Pavel appeared as if he was close to crying too. “What, cousin? Are you going to tell me to hurry? Or that it is time to go? Or—”
“No.” Pavel’s face shifted to a neutral expression. “We need to find the original. No matter how long it takes. No matter if. . .we get stuck in here.”
I widened my eyes. “Alright. Then, let us go.”
Chapter forty-five
Hand-in-Hand
Kazimir
Together, Pavel and I headed up those stairs with Lunita’s sobs loudly sounding behind us. Eventually, the oppressive darkness of the stairwell began to relent, giving way to a dim, eerie light.
We stepped onto the floor and entered the hallway.
This is very different from the hallway down below.
There was no warmth or feeling of anyone living on this level.
Moonlight filtered through a cracked window at the far end of the hallway. The wind howled as it forced its way through the breach in the glass, carrying with it a bone-chilling cold and a sound that was almost like a mournful wail.
A screech.
The hallway stretched before us, more a passage through purgatory than any earthly domain. Shattered glass littered the floor, crunching under our feet with each step.
Dear God.
