The first few minutes after leaving the mouth of the tunnel behind were silent. The noise of boots on stone and the occasional dripping of water were the only sounds as we walked.

The tunnel was small, Helvor cutting his coat as he forced his way through. The pale blue light from the lantern on his back illuminated it all. I trudged behind, stuck waiting for him to continue forward multiple times.

“Others have made it pretty far ahead,” He said over his shoulder. “It’s about another ten minutes till we reach where they’ll stop. You fine back there?”

“Doing great.” I tried and failed to keep a nervous tremor out of my response. I was shaking. Part of it was remembering how close that giant creature had gotten. The heated floor cooking me. Massive skeletal fingers burrowing through the tunnels toward me.

The other part I realized a few minutes after going deeper into the tunnels. Somebody had betrayed the group Sofi had assembled. It could be any one of the group, including the person I was now stuck far behind the group with.

I supposed I shouldn’t be too concerned. Between how large he was and how small the tunnel was, turning back to face me would be a challenge for Helvor. Then again, people here had surprised me with what they could do before.

The feeling of tension did not go away till those ten minutes had passed, and the tunnel opened up.

My eyes watered from the lights as Helvor stepped through into the cavern beyond. The others had set up so many to illuminate every square inch of it. Lanterns and stones of varying sizes glowing a bright blue dotted a large circular cavern.

The others were waiting in the middle of the large space. A hundred paces from one end to the other? More? Irregardless, it was big enough that even with the lights, dim shadows lurked. Literally, as I saw one push against the edge of the light.

I need to get an answer on those things

It was a dome, and one I was sure had been carved out of rock. The curved walls were smooth without fault. Openings were spaced evenly along the walls, fourteen in total. All uniform in size, just big enough for someone like Helvor to have fit through.

Sofi and Ildat and some of the others were setting up in the middle of the cavern. Karvek and Molk. Kostnikov and Laverck were both missing, but I could see packs that they had been carrying.

“Bit open, isn’t it?” I asked Helvor, looking over the cavern. There were other opening dotting the cavern beside the fourteen on the ground. They ranged in size from a fist to big enough for a person to squeeze their way through.

“A little,” He agreed. “Does give us a lot of ways out if something finds us down here. The last thing you want is to be stuck in a dead end in these tunnels.”

Yeah, that made sense. I could just imagine my back to the wall and no way out but to fight whatever had cornered me, from what I’d seen so far, something horrifying.

“Speaking from personal experience?”

“Used to scout these out. People always want to set things up down here, no one wants to share maps of the tunnels so everyone pays to know how everything connects. Then people make even more tunnels.” Helvor chuckled. “It’s a mess.”

Sounded like a lot of things down here were. “You do it a long time?”

“A few years, not very long. Tough work, dangerous work, not a lot pay for it, not benefits.” He chuckled “Unlike this, right Ildat?”

We had been walking the entire time, and by now had finally made it to the middle. Ildat, already in conversation with Karvek and Sofi, looked up irritably.

“I’m not answering till I know what we are talking about,” he replied. “I am not being tricked again that way Helvor.”

Ah. Group dynamics I was as unfamiliar with in the rest of this world. Another thing to try and figure out. I unshouldered my pack, and put it down near a pile forming in the middle. Ildat and Helvor continued to talk to each other, Karvek with Helvor. Molk was silent, walking around kicking rocks.

Why? I had no idea. Maybe he was bored. Maybe he was checking for parasites that would worm into our brains while asleep.

Sofi was on her own for now, and I walked over. Scattered around were the pieces of what looked like a radio. Was she trying to contact someone? I didn’t want to interrupt, but there was something I wanted to talk about.

“Do you have a second?”

“Briefly, yes. Why?”

“Looks like a few people are missing,” I observed.

“Kostnikov and Laverck are out making sure the area around here is safe,” she replied. “Outside of the Night Manager, there are many things down here we do not want to find us.”

“I don’t doubt that, but is it a good idea to send them out by themselves?”

“Are you attempting to give me advice? Like I should trust you?”

She sounded more amused than angry, so I forged ahead. “Yes. Because like you said back there, I’m the one person who couldn’t have been informing the Night Manager.”

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“I am rather certain no one in this group informed on us, but I’ll indulge this.”

I tramped down on the surge of anger that had caused.

“I suppose the first question is, those other names she mentioned, Bolin and so on, are they part of this?”

“Bolvin is who you mean, and no they are not. They are tangentially related in that they aided with preparations but had no idea of what was planned. Hence why I am certain no one in this group was actually informing on us.”

I frowned. Yeah, that made sense. And thinking on it, if the Night Manager knew, why not have people waiting? It had been pure luck that the security guard on the cargo elevator had exited right as we were leaving. Why not have people down here ready to apprehend Sofi and her group from the start?

But then how had she known to begin with? And to do it right then?

“What do you think happened then? That the Night Manager found out at the last second, barely had time to stop you, decided to announce it over the speakers before we left anyway?”

“She probably assumed more people would be willing to go for the position of assistant to her office. Offering it for taking us out is very, very unequal pay. She probably did not anticipate us to be as well-armed, or in the middle of getting ready when she announced it. Ka’denz got sent down to collect us while she focuses on the bigger issues confronting her.”

Bigger issues? I’d think that an insurrection among the staff might be an issue. Albeit, given the scale of the hotel I had witnessed and how small Sofi’s group was, that would track.

Still, there was one problem.

“She mentioned my name. How many people knew I was down here? Because the only two I know are you and Il-”

“It’s not Ildat,” she hissed, face turned furious. The sheer venom in her tone made me grasp my knife, while a few dozen feet away Ildat turned to look at us. Crap, had he heard me? Kostnikov and Laverck were there as well, along with the others. When had they gotten back?

“I wouldn’t accuse him of that,” I assured her quickly, trying to keep an eye both on her and Ildat. Not easy since they were on opposite sides of me. “But you two were the only ones I saw.”

She glared at me a while longer, then her glowering turned down the intensity a bit. Ildat kept on staring, but after a few seconds returned to his meal.

“The ship crew is most likely. I had them sequestered, and claimed I wanted to inform the Night Manager herself, to keep rumors to a minimum. Likely after enough time, a member of the crew became suspicious and managed to find a connection to the hotel proper.”

And knew who all was in on your plan? I wasn’t buying it. But I didn’t want to press the idea. Not with the reaction she had to it the first time. She didn’t say anything else, and not thinking of what to say myself, I moved back towards the others.

“Ah, Indigo. Sleeping bag should be in your pack.” Ildat grinned as I looked at him. Had he overheard me? If so, he wasn’t showing any signs. “You should pick a spot. Lot of open space.”

I moved, as far away as I could from him, towards where Lacerck was setting up his own bag. I stopped, got mine out. It was essentially two large blankets sewn together with a small opening to crawl in. Heavy, maybe not comfortable, but it would do.

Laverck had already set his up and was busy messing around with a cube, strange patterns on the size.

The Lament Configuration was…Oh goddamnit. Luckily only a movie series suddenly being inserted into my head wasn’t as bad as some of the previous things.

“What are you looking at?”

Laverck’s question helped shake me out of it as well. That and the radio Sofi had set up suddenly crackling to life. I ignored the latter for now.

“Uh, sorry, I just noticed your box and was wondering what it is. Part of your religion or culture or?”

“It’s a box I picked up at the market on the cheap. I thought it looked interesting.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know where to go from that. Did I want to start a conversation? It seemed like a way to learn at least a little about this world. “Where was the marketplace you bought it at?”

“Girl, are you trying to fish out my life story for some reason, or just being noisy?” He groused as he shook out the sleeping bag

“I don’t know anyone here. Well, outside a little of Sofi, Ildat, and Helvor. You are the first people I’ve met to not immediately try to kill me?” Actually, there had been the goat but could I really count him?

“That’s rich. Look, you want to keep this act up, feel free, but you’re not fooling me,” He scowled.

“Look, I am not the Suitcase-”

“Take a hint! Go away, or I’ll bite your throat out, you two-faced snake! Do you think anyone here will care if I did?” He hissed, opening his mouth to reveal pointed teeth.

I already had my hand on my pistol, backing away from the snarling Laverck. The others had taken notice. Everyone was staring. No one said anything.

I ended up sleeping far away from the rest of the group.

***

I was in a tunnel, a dagger nibbling on my throat, slicing through my skin as blood sprayed. I tried to choke out a name on the edge of my tongue, couldn’t make it past the bloo-

I woke up, gasping, trying to collect my thoughts. What the hell was that? The dim light of the surrounding cavern was

Outlined by the pale light, Ildat was standing over me, a blade in a hand. I opened my mouth to scream only for a hand to clamp over it. I did the first thing that came to mind.

I bit down hard, getting a muttered curse from right next to my ear as the taste of blood filled my mouth.

“Indigo, release my hand!” Sofi hissed right in my ear.

Surprised, I let go. She pulled her bleeding hand away, muttering. Ildat looked over, putting a finger over his lips.

I didn’t know what to do. I gripped my pistol tightly as Sofi irritably moved past me. Were they planning on killing someone? They were both moving toward two huddled forms, who I couldn’t exactly remember. I was pretty sure one was Laverck.

I drew my pistol but didn’t aim it. Neither Sofi nor Ildat reacted. They were both focused on the huddled forms, Ildat quietly stepping closer. Quiet steps, much quieter than someone of his size should be.

I quietly undid the safety on my gun. Deal or no deal, if he tried to kill someone, I would shoot him.

Ildat darted forward, reaching for one of the bags. I tightened my finger on the gun’s trigger, lifting it up.

Ildat paused, then let go, a stream of something in a foreign tone streaming out his mouth, loud and breaking the silence. From the tone, I would guess swearing. I quickly lowered my gun before either him or Sofi noticed it.

Molk, Helvor, and Karvek were up now, woken by Ildat. That answered who the other bag belonged to. Kostnikov.

I walked over as Idlat continued swearing, taking a look at both.

Kostnikov’s was empty except for several of the large lighting stones. Laverck’s had a corpse.