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“Nadia,” Victoria said, with a small smile. “Armine was tasked with acquiring supplies for the Ghosts.”
Nadia raised an eyebrow while shifting her gaze back to the Count. “Is that so? I must have forgotten.”
“I’m one of several. A safe plan, I guess, in case one of us is discovered trading these things by the hybrids.”
“Weapons and useful equipment?”
He nodded. “Including gas masks. I have a contact who trades with Earthside technology. He hasn’t been able to deliver lately, of course, but we made quite the deal in his favor to be able to buy what he already had. The Ghosts specifically requested gas masks because the bomb spread an unknown poison to take out everyone in the Palace and the Cube.”
Nadia pressed her lips together and smiled despite the bad memory of all the unconscious and thereby defenseless people. “Then I think I’d like a look at those masks.”
“Of course,” he said and led her down to the basement, where a large assortment of weapons and other combat equipment was stashed in several storage rooms.
“I think it best that your servants are too afraid to come to work,” she told him and Victoria. “They would know too much by being here. Let’s hope no hybrids knock on your door either.”
“It should be moved soon enough,” Victoria said, unable to hide the worry on her face. She would be a fool not to be afraid of this enemy.
They returned upstairs, to find Harmiston seated on the floor of the foyer, seemingly unaware of the Bolts who passed by, giving him curious looks despite themselves. He sat under a shimmering blue dome made up of sigils Nadia couldn’t decipher.
“Trying something new?” she asked him, a little surprised and relieved to see him not care about anyone knowing anymore.
“Yes,” he said without looking their way. His eyes were on the sigils circling him, which he seemed to move around with his mind and place where they needed to be. “I’m trying to get these right, oh … uh,” he said and then lost control over the spell. The dome faded fast, and he looked at her and the other two.
Nadia raised the two gas masks she’d retrieved from downstairs. “Ready?”
He flashed her a smile then. “As I’ll ever be.”
* * *
They’d been crawling up the air well for an hour when Nadia felt a bout of fatigue. She blinked hard and shook her head, moving on anyway. She was not unfamiliar with weariness and exhaustion but at first assumed the sensation to be because of the hits she’d taken during the fight with the hybrid earlier.
“Nadia?” Harmiston said, crawling behind her in the narrow shaft. The walls were tight around them, with the occasional side shaft this far up to guide air out at all levels. “There’s something off about the air.”
Nadia stopped and looked over her shoulder, her night vision allowing her to see half his face and one shoulder. His hair was messy with dirt and being rubbed against the top of the tight tunnel. He was also out of breath and not only from moving inside a space that allowed for no claustrophobia. Come to think of it, she was breathing harder, too. This was a difficult task, no doubt, but usually, she could handle tougher challenges than this.
“You’re right,” she told him. “Maybe we’re nearing the surface.”
“I hope so,” Harmiston uttered. “Not that I don’t enjoy being here with you, of course,” he hurried to add with a lopsided smile.
“Let’s rest a moment,” Nadia said, and retrieved her water bottle from the small bag she’d strapped around her upper body to prevent it from scraping against the surrounding walls too much. It contained water, a little food, and a gas mask. There wasn’t room for anything else. Harmiston carried the same amount. No matter what awaited them up there, they didn’t have enough supplies to stay too long.
“I’m glad you came,” she said after a few sips. “Because I do enjoy having you around.”
“Well, I miss going to the café around the corner of the Cube, but then you seem to have a varying array of interests. Hanging out in the Shade, killing hybrids, climbing up to uninhabitable places. I’m learning so much about you.”
Nadia smiled, not that he could see. Harmiston was essentially blind at the moment. They did have flashlights, but it was a one-way trip, and no lights were needed to navigate their current path. With Nadia in the lead, she functioned as both their eyes.
“If I didn’t know any better, Harm, I’d say you wanted a proper boring date. I’m trying my best here.”
“Nothing boring about dates. They’re always interesting because you learn something about the other person.”
“Really?” she asked, doubt in her voice.
“Orthey’re so boring it’s hilarious.”
She heard him take some sips of his water.
“My point is,” he went on. “People are interesting. Some more than others.”
