METANOIA ... a.lightwood [1]

↣ Chapter Seventeen ↣

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L I T T L E 

S I S T E R 

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Cellars, basements, underground tunnels. They all had one thing in comment. They were dark, and scary, and filled people with a sort of chilling terror that came with ghost stories about decapitated jesters and grey ladies. Water dripped down grimey walls, creating puddles that made your footsteps squelch and your insides drop. There was no silence down underground, in the dark, in the cold, not when droplets of water ran sploshed and wind howled. But there was the eeriness that came with a different type of silence, a human silence. Underground you failed to breath, fearful of what might happen if you were caught.

Chris hated being underground.

He tried to avoid all the puddles, but he could not see. His toes fell into one, and he heard the splash. His breath got caught in his throat. He did not know who was down there. He also didn't know why the portal had taken him there. He had been thinking about Caroline. Not some underground tunnel. He knew he should have used his magic to create a light source, but that would get him caught, and if he was where he thought he might be, he definitely did not want to get caught.

Valentine would kill him if he found him.

Chris did not want to die.

His head snapped back and forth as the wind from above ground whistled through the tunnel in his ears. He wished he could send Magnus a message, but he doubted magic even worked down here. If Valentine had Caroline down here, then he had probably poured iron dust everywhere to stop their magic from working. Chris wished he could have uttered a protection spell to keep him from being caught, but the ripple of green would cause someone to notice.

Chris did not know the invisibility spell. He wished - more than ever - that he did.

He felt his skin prickle with goosebumps. He knew that underground tunnels were always cold, there was never a source of heat anywhere, and he was only wearing a blue top. But this was a different type of freeze that settled over his bones, one filled with fear and hopelessness, one that caused every hair on his body to stand on end. It was a chill that was familiar to him.

Caroline.

He didn't want to run, in case he passed by her, but he couldn't wait. He knew that running would probably bring more attention to him because it was most likely that there were Circle members down here. But, Chris, simply, did not give a fuck. He was going to find his sister, and he didn't care if he almost got killed doing so. Caroline was near, and after spending so long looking for her, he couldn't wait to take her home.

He could not hear any sounds of life. There were no whimpers, no screams, not even the sound of shallow breathing. Apart from the sounds of nature, it was silent. That scared Chris more than anything. At least hearing Caroline scream would have told him she was alive.