Aria's POV
The tunnel seemed endless, stretching into darkness that swallowed the beam of our flashlight. My lungs burned with each breath of the stale, earth-scented air. Water dripped somewhere ahead, the sound echoing off the narrow walls like a countdown. Damien moved in front of me, his shoulders hunched to avoid hitting the low ceiling, his hand occasionally reaching back to make sure I was still there.
Just when I thought we might be walking toward our graves instead of freedom, I saw it. A faint lightening of the darkness ahead, grey instead of black. Dawn was breaking somewhere above ground.
"There!" Damien's voice was hoarse, strained. "I see the exit."
We stumbled forward with renewed energy, desperate and clumsy. The ladder at the end was cruder than the one we'd descended,
