Catwalks.
Ladders.
Old maintenance decks.
And people.
Hundreds of them.
Sitting on the pipes.
Hanging their legs over platforms.
Crouched along the railings.
Every last one looking down at me.
Then I looked up.
Higher.
And higher.
At the very top of the chamber sat a man in purple.
Hamelin Pipher, I assumed. The man who stole Catherine’s emerald necklace.
Squeak.
Hundreds answered.
SQUEAK.
Hell.
A sign hung above an opening at the far end of the chamber.
ENTER HERE
Flashing carnival bulbs lined the edges. One after another.
And above it all, a plaque featuring a skull and the words MEMENTO MORI.
A deadly game show.
Just then the floor dropped away on either side of the narrow path leading to the opening.
I looked over the edge.
Rats all the way down.
On both sides.
Not the human kind.
The crowd cheered me on.
Then, out of another hidden door came a large man.
He stepped in front of the ENTER HERE door with a sledgehammer in his hands.
His face was covered by a wire mask shaped like a rat’s head.
“More cheese!”
I supposed I was the cheese.
I had to think fast.
Baseball.
I charged him.
At the last second, I dropped and slid feetfirst into the brute’s legs.
He toppled sideways.
Straight into the rat pit.
The crowd went wild.
The rats went wild.
Click.
The entrance hatch swung inward.