Page 26 of Code Bound
Locke’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “What do you know?”
I look deep into his eyes. He has nice eyes. They’re a rich brown color, vibrant even with their darkness. At the edges, there’s a hint of green, as if at any moment they could shift and be something else entirely.
“Can I trust you?” I ask him.
He frowns. “Trusting me’d be foolish. Just as me trusting you fully would be.”
“But can we leave the Dross mentality behind for a little while?” I shake my head. “We can worry about the rest later. There’s nothing saying we can’t both make it out of this alive.”
He studies me, his eyes tracing my face, as if he’s searching for answers. “Fine,” he finally says. “I’ve got your back long as you’ve got mine.”
I nod and go to release him, but his hand clamps on my wrists, holding me there. With his eyes on me, he turns his head and licks my bloody palm. I jerk it away with a scowl, both annoyed and also . . . intrigued.
“Enough games,” Cipher pops in my mind. “You are making a mistake by forming an alliance with this player.”
“Yeah, and?” I ask. But the next part, I say inside my mind so Locke can’t hear. I’m not even certain he can hear me, or if it will work.Everyone deserves the chance to survive. No matter what your statistics say.
Cipher goes quiet, so I’m certain he heard me. That silence doesn’t feel disapproving though like his warning had. It feels almost . . .
. . . impressed . . .
CHAPTER10
VESPER
When I open my map now, I can see more of it has opened up. It isn’t labeled unless I hover my hand over the area. I can hover over the zone we stand in now and a little tag pops up that says, “The Secret Abyss.” It’s still within the Verdant Nexus region. I assume that the smaller zones are kind of like the sectors back in Dross and the overall regions are the districts. The map is small now with only two zones inside the one region opened up, but I have to assume it’s going to get pretty large as we go. There are small icons within each zone that when I hover my hand over, a small description pops up. In the Whispering Canopies, there’s a small icon beside the name in the shape of a black triangle. The description says, “Major Boss present.” When I do the same to the white triangle in the Secret Abyss, it says, “Minor Boss present.” There is also a small square within The Secret Abyss.
“There’s a safehouse in this zone,” I say when I hover my hand over it. “It’s on the map.”
“You think we have to go down inside the holes to reach it?” Locke asks, staring at the scene before us.
“Sinkholes,” Cipher corrects. “The Secret Abyss is made up of sinkholes and cave systems that connect them beneath the surface.”
“Why does that matter?” I ask Cipher, rolling my eyes. “Holes isn’t an incorrect description.”
“It matters,” Cipher says indignantly. “Just as statistics do. Information is one’s greatest weapon.”
“Alright, oh great and knowing machine,” I say mockingly. “Do we need to go down into thesinkholes?”
Cipher sniffs. “Yes.” His reply is curt, annoyance clear in the one word.
“We go in,” I tell Locke.
Both of us step up to the edge and peer over. There’s a small pathway carved into the sides where some creature seems to have traversed before us.
“There’s our way in,” Locke says, pointing at it. “If there’s a safehouse in this zone, we should definitely head for that.” He rubs at his bite wound. “Safety sounds nice right about now.”
“Solid plan,” I nod. “Maybe we can find something to help with your pain. Until then, keep your arm against your chest. Don’t agitate it.”
I don’t know what a safehouse is exactly, but it sounds like a good place to rest for a little while, while we gather our bearings. Locke’s wound is starting to seep and exhaustion is beginning to creep in. How long have we even been here at this point? There’s no way for me to tell. I don’t know how to tell which hour it is. There are no markers to tell me.
“You have been inside the Harrow for six hours, thirteen minutes, and fifty-three seconds,” Cipher interjects. “The sun follows the same twenty-four-hour cycle as Earth and will set soon.”
I pause as I go to step down onto the ledge. “Set?”
“Ah, yes. I forget they don’t educate you in Dross. Your dwarf star has no cycle as The Cradle revolves around it and it never goes dark. In Dross, there is no night, only perpetual red day. There are sunscreens, however, to mimic the cycle. By my calculations, those will have failed by now.”
“It’s never dark in Dross,” I reply. “I’ve only ever known constant light in my lifetime.”
