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Tyson and Jay nodded, their heads almost perfectly in sync. Despite our moment of closeness, I still felt like an outsider. Instead of focusing on Jay, I turned my attention back to Tenzin and Caoimhe, who were currently trying to eat each other’s faces.
Rehan cleared his throat, and Jay led us back toward the pair, skirting around spider guts leaking across the floor.
The two separated and turned towards us. Hope radiated despite the dark circles under their eyes and skeletal features. Jay reached into her pack and pulled out a water bottle. The two finished it in seconds.
The spider must have held them for days.
Jay gave the bottle to Rehan to refill with his magic. “Right. We jumped down here to escape Orcs and human bureaucracy. And probably supernatural justice. We can’t get back up.” She looked at Caoimhe. “Nymph?”
I cocked my head to the side. Her name was Caoimhe, I thought.
Caoimhe’s eyes glowed, and she pressed into Tenzin. “You can’t keep us apart.”
Jay held out her hands, streaked with blood and burnt spider webs. “That’s not my goal. Though you not being human is probably very important, right now I honestly don’t care about that either. How did you come to be here, physically right now?”
Caoimhe looked distrustfully at the four of us before focusing on Jay again. “You’re not human either.”
“Technically, I am.” Jay slashed her hand through the air. “More technically than usual at the moment. But for the sake of this conversation. I’m not. Same boat as you.”
A footstep boomed in the distance, followed by a slow second. Without dragon ears, the sound wouldn’t have registered to Jay yet. We didn’t have time for this.
“We need to get out of here,” I said, stepping forward and addressing Tenzin. “Like yesterday. How did you get here?” I reiterated Jay’s question.
Jay scowled at me, and my heart dropped, not knowing what I did wrong. She stepped back and gave me a mocking little bow. My heart squeezed, but Tenzin’s tan face going deathly pale, combined with what I now knew were footsteps getting closer and closer, forced me to continue.
“How?” I demanded again.
Caoimhe let out a whimper and pressed her hands to her stomach.
“You can’t make it worse,” I soothed like she was one of my little orphans.
Coaimhe’s sunken eyes swam before the fight left her body. “I made a deal… I destroyed everything.” A sob ripped out of her chest.
Tenzin wrapped her in his arms before meeting my gaze. “A mage. Caoimhe called him Marduk, but he tricked us. We can’t give him what he wants.”
Jay sucked in a breath, and her fire lighting the cave went out. “Balls.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
JAIYANA
Marduk.
Why does the past always come back to haunt me?
I don’t think it’s you. That’s literally how life works. You’re just old and have a lot of past to be haunted by.
Great, now I’m being haunted and calling myself old.
Despite the pitch dark, Rehan and Og’s dragon-slit gaze could have burned a hole in what was left of my tank top. I forced myself to talk to real people before anyone asked me about Marduk.
“My fire will give us away. I’m the only one who can’t see in the dark.” I hope I poked Tyson, but I couldn’t see shit. “Someone will have to guide me.”
My last adventure in the dark rushed to the forefront of my memory, and my heart thumped painfully. I’d been trapped in my mind, waiting for Doctor Raba to decide my fate. Despite my confidence, a tremble shook me from head to toe. I hated this.
A warm body slid to my side, and Rehan’s calloused palms ran down my arm.
I wasn’t alone this time. I wasn’t trapped.
