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“I carried you,” Ben whispered close to my ear. “I’m sorry for leading you astray. I can’t help it. But when you fell, I wanted to help. I was about to lead one of the other humans to you when I saw your name badge… You’re a MacDuff. That changed everything.”
“We’re halfway down from the summit,” Mac continued the story. “While Ben carried you here, I led the humans to the one who was lost so that we would be undisturbed. Sadly, they realised you were missing fairly quickly and have been scouring the mountain ever since.”
“Like ants crawling up a leg. Itchy.” Ben growled softly.
I sat up straighter. “I need to go to them. Show them that I’m alright. Where is my radio?”
“I didn’t see one where you’d fallen,” Mac said. “It also wasn’t in your pockets.”
I looked down at me and realised for the first time that I was only in my underwear. Bloody hell. I searched the cave for a trace of my clothes, but without my glasses, everything was too blurry.
“You undressed me.”
"You were cold. Your clothes were wet. We didn't want you to become even more hypothermic."
Mac's words made sense, but I suddenly felt very vulnerable.
"Do you have a blanket?" I asked, my gaze firmly focused on the fire. I could feel a hot blush rise to my cheeks and I didn't dare look at where the invisible men-in-my-mind likely stood. I suppose it was a small mercy they'd left me my underwear. Not that it was my prettiest set. If I'd known someone would see me half-naked today, I would have put on... wait. I didn't have to impress anyone. Besides, they weren't real. It didn't matter what they thought of my lingerie because they didn't think at all. Their supposed thoughts were just a mirror image of my own mind.
"We don't," Ben said, pulling me from my confused thoughts. "But I have your pack. Do you keep one in there?"
A strange sound, something being dragged across stone, made me twist around. The most curious sight offered itself to my blurry vision. My red-and-black backpack, the same bag everyone in Mountain Rescue was issued with, moved towards me, seemingly on its own accord. The bottom dragged across the cave floor, leaving track marks in the dust. The handle was erect as if an invisible hand was holding it up. Fuck me. This was impossible.
When I reached for the pack, I almost expected my hand to only meet thin air - but no, solid cloth met my shaking fingers. Slowly, taking in every sensation to reassure me that this was really happening, I unzipped the backpack and pulled out an emergency blanket.
"Let me help you with that." Mac took the blanket out of my hand and unwrapped it. The fire's shine reflected off the silver-gold material, throwing tiny flecks of light all across the cave. For a moment, it seemed as if we were beneath the night sky.
He wrapped the blanket around me, or maybe it was both of them. Hard to tell when faced with invisible men.
"You're real," I whispered when I was fully covered. "How is this possible?"
"How much time do you have?" Ben laughed softly. "It's a long story. Are you hiding any snacks in your backpack? I haven't had human food in a while."
I ignored his request. "You keep saying human as if you aren't human yourself. What are you? Why are you invisible? And what are you going to do with me?"
"I could think of a few things." Mac's breath was hot against my cheek. "And I promise you'd enjoy every single one of them."
His lips touched the lobe of my ear. A wave of pleasant shivers ran down my spine. I shouldn't enjoy it but deep inside, I knew I wanted more.
Chapter Three
"I found something!"
Thank goodness for the interruption. I pulled away from Mac's invisible touch and looked at where I assumed Ben to be. A small bottle of whisky hovered just above my backpack. I'd completely forgotten about that. We'd had our annual MRT Christmas party last weekend and we'd each been given a wee bottle of Glenlivet. I'd put mine in my bag and hadn't thought of it again.
"Not as good as snacks, but better than nothing," Mac said to the sound of footsteps moving away from me. "Are there any glasses?"
The other man tsked. "Don't pretend to be civilised. We drink from the bottle. Slàinte mhath."
I didn't quite see the lid turn, thanks to my missing glasses, but I heard it fall to the ground. The bottle shifted in mid-air until the whisky should have flown freely on the cave floor, but instead, the air around it began to shimmer. The faintest outline of a man appeared, barely indistinguishable from his surroundings. If I hadn't been staring with all my might, I may have missed it.
"I think... I think I can see you."
The bottle froze, as did the giant man holding it. "You can?"
Ben turned to me. I couldn't see his face yet, or any detailed features, but the outline was becoming stronger.
"What about me?" Mac asked from my left. "Can you see me?"
