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I glance at Riven and Dax with a grin.
“Whaddya say, boys? Ready to see what we can find?”
Chapter 31
Idril
“I’m freezing.”
Branwen’s teeth are chattering, and she keeps wrapping her arms around her middle, then pulling them away like she can’t decide which is actually helping.
We’ve been exploring the large open cavern for a while now. It’s so much larger than it was in my dream—Branwen says it’s probably the size of half an American football field.
Unfortunately, it’s also a bit chilly, and we’re soaked through.
“It wouldn’t be so bad if we weren’t wet,” I complain, debating for the hundredth time if I should just take off Caelan’s sweatshirt. I do my best to wring the water out, but it doesn’t help much.
I pull my still damp hair over my shoulder and continue the arduous task of combing it with my fingers before braiding it back.
Fates, I’d do anything for a hair tie.
Sliding down the wall, Branwen sighs, letting her head fall back against the rock. “We need to come up with a plan.”
I follow her lead and take a seat next to her, crossing my legs under me.
“Besides, don’t die?”
She chuckles, but she sounds exhausted. “Yeah, besides that. First things first—we need to get warm.”
“What’s second?”
May as well lay out the whole list. Maybe it won’t sound so bad if we take it one problem at a time.
“We need food. We’ve been down here for probably twelve hours so far—”
I whip my head to the side, eyes widening in shock. “Twelve hours? It’s been that long already?”
“At the very least,” she answers. “My family have always been very attuned to the orbit of the sun and moon. It’s intuitive. I’m not always spot on with my guesses, but I’m never more than fifteen or twenty minutes off.” She shrugs, like that’s not incredibly cool. “Either way, we need to get warm and dry, and we need to eat.”
A long, heavy beat passes. Branwen’s eyes are a heavy weight on the side of my face, and when I finally look over, she’s looking at me with an expectant expression.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
She smiles, and honestly, I’m a big fan of this new expression, too.
“I’d look at myself, love, but you’re the only one here who can make fire.”
A shocked laugh erupts from my chest. “I hate to break it to you, but I only did that once, and it was basically on accident.”
She just keeps staring at me, unblinking.
“Seriously, Branwen. I don’t know how,” I insist. “If I did, don’t you think I’d have done something by now?”
She huffs, rolling her eyes like I’m being difficult on purpose. “How did you do it before?”
“I don’t know!” I shoot to my feet, suddenly irritated. I’m cold, I’m wet, I’m hungry and tired, and now Branwen is looking at me like all I have to do is magic up some warm clothes and a nice hot meal and everything will be alright?
“I just did it. It just happened,” I insist as I start to pace back and forth in tight circles. “The fire… It’s like it reacted to my emotions. The only time I purposely made it do something useful was when we were in the basement, and a Severed was about to attack Daxen. Even then, I don’t know where it came from. The same thing happened earlier that evening with Shade and the wind. But I don’t know where the fire actually came from.”
