Skulduggery Pleasant_ Death Bringer - Derek Landy [147]
A shaft of light appeared overhead.
“Help!” she shouted. “Help! I’m down here! I’m stuck!”
She got no shout in return, save for her own echo. Another shaft of light hit the rounded wall of the small chamber. It was like a chimney, leading up, and she was at the bottom.
“Hey!” she shouted. “I need help!”
Another shaft of light, and another. Another patch of light, and another. Salvation, slowly being revealed. But it wasn’t like an escape route being uncovered, with rocks and debris being cleared away from the other side. Instead, it was like there was something on this side of the escape route, slowly uncurling. Something that had been blocking it, maybe sleeping beneath it. Something that she had woken up with her screams.
Something that those rock creatures had maybe been feeding.
Chapter 56
Panic
he could move her right shoulder slightly. She tried forcing it down, but it was just too tight. She scraped her left hand across her belly, fingers scrabbling for the sleeve of her right arm. She grabbed it, tugged as hard as she could. A few flecks of rock fell on to her neck as a reward. She tried again, snarling as she did so. Her shoulder popped free. She could move it now. Not much, but she could move it. She squirmed into the newfound space until she could move her left shoulder. Both hands pressed against the top of the tunnel and her heels dug in. More shafts of light were revealed, and others were momentarily blocked off as whatever it was made its way down towards her. Valkyrie gritted her teeth, fingers and legs straining, and heaved herself a few inches back inside the tunnel.
Her fingers flattened, her heels dug in and she heaved. Another few inches, this time. And then another few more. Her chin was almost inside the tunnel now. Her feet kicked around until she found a good place of purchase. Heaved again.
Inch by inch, with agonising slowness, Valkyrie got her whole body back inside the tunnel. Sweat stung her eyes and she couldn’t wipe it away. She kept going. She had to. She didn’t know if the thing behind her had arms or tentacles, but she couldn’t stop.
She had more space now. She could heave herself a greater distance.
There was a sound above her. She cracked open an eye against the sweat, saw a blurry shape filling the tunnel behind her head.
She didn’t waste her breath cursing. She just went faster, splintering another nail, banging her head. More space above. She squeezed one hand past her face, wiping her eyes as she did so, grunting in exertion. Finally, it broke through, and then she did the other. It got stuck halfway and Valkyrie suddenly started crying. She twisted and squirmed, felt the rock rip the skin on the back of her hand as it burst through to join the other. Now both hands were over her head, and she felt the air, felt the creature closing in, and she pushed.
She shot away from the creature, yelling in pain. Her jacket rode up over her chest, leaving her back bare against the sharp rocks beneath. She stopped and screamed, but didn’t let herself pause. She pushed again, cracking her head against the wall, feeling the skin rip all the way up her back.
She had space now, space to hug herself, space to bend her legs and raise her head. The exit was in sight.
“Melancholia!” she shouted. “Hey!”
There was no movement out there in the larger tunnel, and Valkyrie screamed her curses. She brought her legs in towards her, twisted sideways, cursing and grunting and sobbing, and managed to turn her body so that she could crawl the rest of the way.
She got out, got to her hands and knees, tried to stand, but she was trembling so much she collapsed. All she wanted to do was stay curled up like this. But she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t even rest. She opened her eyes, looked around. Melancholia wasn’t even there to help her up.
Her hands were cut raw, fingernails on both hands cracked and broken. The back of her jacket was soaked with blood. Every