All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) Jamie Campbell (best life changing books .TXT) 📖

know what? I’m going to let it slide. You intrigue me, princess. You’re an enigma in a sea of opaqueness.”

“How poetic,” I replied dryly. “Now it’s my turn. Who are these people? Why were they so happy to kidnap me? Are they part of your gang?”

“So many questions, such a pretty face.”

“I answered yours.”

“No, you lied with my question. That doesn’t count,” he said petulantly. It was exhausting just trying to keep up with the conversation. “But I feel all warm and fuzzy today. So I’ll give you a free one. The people here are what society would call mole people. They live underground.”

“I’ve met some before. They didn’t want to kill me.” I remembered back to Kelly and the way she had so openly embraced her brother. She definitely didn’t want to harm me. These people were nothing like her.

“You’ve probably met people that just live underground. That doesn’t make them mole people.”

“What’s the difference?”

Jet smirked, enjoying having all the answers. “Mole people are organized. They have lived down here long before the Event. They have a whole society that is unknown to the vast majority of the population.”

I still wasn’t exactly seeing the difference, but… whatever. If he wanted to revere the fabulous mole people, I wasn’t going to argue. “So how do you know them?”

He shrugged. “Just do.”

“Wow, that explains everything.”

His smile spread across his face as he studied me. I hated it when he looked at me so intently. That familiar sense of being naked and exposed ran through me.

“You’re quite something, aren’t you, princess? They picked on the wrong girl today. Still, I’m certainly glad to see you again.”

“The feeling’s not mutual.”

I earned a chuckle for my comment. “Can you keep a secret?”

The thought of keeping a secret for my captor was not welcome. I didn’t want to know anything apart from if he was going to let me go or not. I got the feeling I already knew the answer.

“Promise not to tell anyone?” Jet continued, even though I hadn’t said a word. When I didn’t move, he threw his hands up with frustration. “Oh come on, you’re going to want to hear this.”

“Fine, what is it?”

“Not a what, but a who. Come with me.”

He stood and went to the door, waiting there for me. I begrudgingly stood and trailed after him. With his hand on the door handle, he tried pulling it open. It didn’t move, just like it hadn’t when I tried. “Oh, we seem to be trapped.”

Panic flooded me. Being stuck in a room underground with Jet until we both starved to death was a horrible way to die.

Jet suddenly slapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh, no, wait. I forgot to unlock it.” With a sly smirk that I wanted to smack off his face, he twisted a small piece of metal under the knob and the door pulled open with a tug.

If only I had seen the lock earlier.

“You knew it was there. You knew I wouldn’t be able to open the door,” I said accusingly. He had played me, utterly and completely. A ball of anger filled every part of me.

Jet shrugged me off, like it was no big deal. “You could have found the lock.”

“It’s tiny.”

“That’s what I was counting on.” He stood back so I could walk through the door. “Ladies first.”

“I don’t know where we’re going,” I replied. I really wanted to punch him repeatedly.

In the face.

To remove that smirk.

When it was clear I wasn’t going to move, Jet gently grabbed the wrist on my better arm and pulled me along. The darkness of the tunnels again took me by surprise. While I stumbled along, Jet walked confidently, never slowing his pace.

We wove through the tunnels, turning so many times I wasn’t convinced we weren’t going around in circles. The descent of the floor told me we were going downwards. Deeper into the heart of the earth we moved. Hopefully to return to the surface one day.

In the distance a light played. We headed directly for it like two moths to a flame. The orange glow flickered, as if it was caused by fire like the torch they had earlier. Obviously nobody had heard of flashlights underground.

I still wasn’t convinced Jet wasn’t leading me to my death. I could hear other footsteps in the tunnels so I knew we weren’t alone. If he left me for a second, I had no doubt one of them would see to it I got a swift execution.

Or perhaps a long one, so they could enjoy it more.

It was difficult keeping my fear at bay but the constant movement helped. Jet never eased his grip on my wrist or the pace he set. At times I had to run just to catch up again when I stumbled.

As we drew closer to wherever we were going, it became clearer the light was emanating from a cavern. This one was big, huge even. Jet stopped, placing his arm out in front of me so I couldn’t go any further. We stood on a pathway. If we had taken just one more step, we would have plunged over the edge and fallen at least a hundred feet.

The narrow path wound around the cavern like a string of beads. Down below, people walked around while others sat in front of the bonfire – the only source of light.

The vast expanse of space wasn’t the most shocking thing here. It paled into comparison as my eyes fixed on the people below. I had to blink several times to make sure I was actually seeing correctly.

It couldn’t be.

It had to be trick.

But they were real.

They were adults.

Chapter Eleven

I looked from the adults below to Jet, unable to believe what