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I’m still confused, but I don’t tell them that. Do the apples mean that the boys want to date me as well? I mean it doesn’t matter because Raven is the only one I want, so I don’t think any more about it.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Eli says as he plops down into the driver's seat.
Raven takes shotgun and I’m in the back behind Eli. I longed for a car with more leg room but I’m alive so that complaint seems trivial.
Though with enough time at the university, I could afford to get one of my own. That thought fills me with pride. I want to be a provider, for myself and my girl, and this is something I’ll have to keep in mind when leaving Raven is hard.
Eli reverses the car and we are on the way to the farm.
Raven turns to me, “So, have you been able to summon any more objects?”
“I haven’t tried, maybe it was a fluke or Pandora herself,” I shrug. Honestly, I don’t know if I want to try. “I wonder why she hasn’t appeared to you again.”
“Yeah, me, too. I wonder if my powers are limited and I used them all up with the store? I would be heartbroken if that were true. I helped all those other people but I can’t help my own family? That would be a crapshoot,” she says.
“Or maybe you need to recharge. We have been working a lot lately and you seeing them has to have drained you. I wouldn’t worry too much, it will be back,” I try to reassure her.
“I won’t dwell on it,” she promises though knowing her, it’s a lie. The car falls into an easy silence, only the sound of their music as we travel through town. Of course, the closer we get to the farm the worse my nerves get.
This is Raven’s cousin. But would I not do the same in her shoes?
At least this time, we’re going during the day.
Within ten minutes, we’re parked, flashlights in hand, and heading for the old barn. Just like the house, it’s a mess of debris and floorboards that look like we’ll fall right through.
“Stay back, Rav, let us clear this up some,” Eli tells her as he tosses me a pair of work gloves before pulling on his own.
“If I die from tetanus in this day and age, I’m sending the universe a letter of protest,” I grumble. Eli chuckles beside me but doesn’t disagree.
Once we can actually see the floorboards, it’s clear that they won’t support our weight. That puts a bit of a damper on our plans.
“I’m calling it, this is a no-go,” Eli says as he comes to the same conclusion. We both back away as the floor gives a loud creak. The barn gives a louder protest and then collapses. I dive toward Raven, blocking her just as debris is thrown over us. Thankfully, most of it fell in on itself to spare us from getting too hurt.
“Nothing can ever go as planned, can it?” she groans.
“Wait,” I say as I climb off of her and help both of them to their feet. “The old college, before all the changes and renovations, had something similar. They weren’t exactly coal shafts, but maintenance routes and drainage. There was a second entrance that exited into the woods beyond campus.”
“Wait, like those scary movie caves in the woods with a metal gate over them?” Eli asks with a shake of his head. “This sounds like a terrible plan.”
Raven claps her hands excitedly. “Let’s do it!”
Nothing deters this girl.
“Here,” Eli says. “The old blueprints. If there is another entrance it’d be this way.” He trails his finger along the paper and off into the woods ahead of us.
“Agreed. They wouldn’t veer off of the neighbor's land to exit, it comes out by a river,” I seconded. “Which is probably for the best.” We had yet to go talk to the neighbors around us. Thanks to the break-in, I wasn’t exactly excited to go door to door and introduce ourselves.
“Good thing I wore my combat boots today,” Raven mutters as we trudge through dead leaves and mud. There’s a chill in the air today that whips through the trees. I huddle into my coat and my eyes water as I scan our surroundings.
“There!” Raven finally yells, veering off the path we were following and into a copse of dead trees. I’d have missed it completely if not for her pointing it out. Only one edge of the gate is bent outward, peeking out from the backside of the cliff.
“You have insane eyesight,” Eli says, equally impressed.
“Well, come on, we have a creepy tunnel to explore,” I announce with fake enthusiasm. They follow behind me as I work my way around the rock.
The entrance is far more ominous than we gave it credit. The rusted metal is bent at odd angles and I have a distinct feeling someone or something really wanted to get in. We don’t exactly have bears in these woods, so I’m going to assume it’s a human.
“They almost got in,” Raven said. The lock was rusted over so much you could barely see the keyhole, but it was dented in horribly.
