“Rylee?” Maphira called into the abyssal darkness. No response, yet again.
She flicked her flashlight on for but a moment, needing to preserve its batteries. It didn’t have long before it left her in the abyss for good. She couldn’t think of much worse than being trapped in Melbourne’s sewer system.
Other than, of course, having to crawl back to her sister and beg her for help. It didn’t get much more humiliating than that. Having to crawl through the muck and waste dressed as a drain plumber offering service in Melbourne, which only added a little bit of insult to injury.
“Rylee, where are you? I’m sorry! We could really use your help!” Maphira dug nails into her palms. “Don’t make me say it! Fine! You’re the smarter sister and I’ve always been jealous of how awesome you are!”
“Well, you should have just said so.” Rylee’s voice came from several feet away but in the echoing tunnels of the labyrinthian cesspool, she might as well have screamed right in Maphira’s ear.
When her fright-boosted adrenaline faded, Maphira turned back to her sister. “How long have you been there?”
“Quite a while. I was just waiting for you to say the magic words. I assume you need the passcode, right? I’ll tell you right now, it has something to do with plumbers for blocked drains near Essendon.”
“Thanks for that, sis. Really useful.” Maphira didn’t even bother to see if Rylee would follow. She simply passed her and started on the way back to the solar facility, knowing her little sister would cooperate now that she’d had her daily source of validation. “You’d better not ruin this for me. The police force might not have been for you, but my entire career is on the line here.”
Rylee pulled out her phone and lit the path ahead. “Don’t worry, unlike some people in our family, I actually respect the life decisions of others.”
Maphira scoffed. So, that was how this was going to be. Why would she have expected anything less from the brat goddess that was her sister?