Invasion: A Sequel to The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze

Author:Galaxy Craze
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Alloy Entertainment
Published: 2014-04-08T23:00:00+00:00

18

I had never been inside a fireplace before, but I used to watch the chimney sweep every time he came to clean it out. I quickly ran inside it, ducking my head under the carved mantelpiece, reached upward, and yanked on the flume. A shower of soot exploded around my head, but I smiled. So far, so good.

I yanked myself up and into the dark narrow square of the chimney’s base, just as I’d seen the chimney sweep do so many times. I could feel the cool bricks on both sides of my body, tight against my shoulders. You can do this, I told myself. You jumped off the Tower of London into a moat. You can handle a climb up the ladder in a fireplace.

But I hadn’t thought of how difficult it would be to breathe once I was firmly inside. Dirt and ashes blew at my face and into my eyes. I had to sink my nose and mouth into the fabric of my shirt as I reached for the iron rungs hammered into the brickwork. One rung at a time, I made my way up the chimney’s body, fighting the urge to look down.

I was about halfway up when I heard the bedroom door slam open.

It was at least two or three soldiers; I could tell from the pattern of their boot steps. Their voices were muffled by the chimney’s stone and brick, but the closer they got to the fireplace, the louder their words echoed up toward me.

I was frozen, my arms starting to grow stiff with the effort of holding myself absolutely still. I could stay like this, hoping the soldiers wouldn’t peer up the shaft of the fireplace; or I could continue climbing up and out to the roof—but risk letting them hear me shuffle through.

I could just barely make out the sky above me, glittering with stars. As I craned my neck toward it, a fluttering of ashes dropped into my eyes and mouth, catching angrily at the back of my throat. I couldn’t help the choking sound that came out of me. I covered my mouth as best as I could, and tried to take in air through my nose, through the mask of my uniform’s thin cotton. But it was impossible not to release another faint cough.

“Check the fireplace!” one of the soldiers called out.

My eyes stung, and I couldn’t see. But I could feel. Hand over hand, as fast as I could without slipping, I felt my way blindly to the top. I could hear the soldiers below me, fumbling in the dust, and I tried to make my trembling body move faster. Just one more rung, I kept telling myself. One more and then you’re there.

Then my head bumped against something solid.

It was a fine mesh grate, I realized, finally able to see again. It must have been there to stop birds or small animals from getting down into the chimney—and now it would keep me from climbing out.

I pressed the grate upward, but it wouldn’t come off.

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