With perfect clarity, she pictured herself reaching into the hole and grasping the stone. She wiped away the layers of dirt and grime coating the small rock to reveal the striking color of the navy blue stone she sought.
She opened her eyes to find herself standing before that first, larger stone. Asher hovered at her side.
“Are you okay?” he asked anxiously.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s here.”
Brie set her flashlight on the ground and gripped the larger stone. She wiggled it, but it remained stubbornly wedged into the wall. Removing the foldable shovel from where she’d hung it on her waistband, she used the pointed tip to wedge it behind the stone while Asher wiggled it back and forth.
It took a couple of minutes, but finally, Asher wrenched it from the wall. He set it on the ground as Brie stretched her hand into the hole and removed something small from inside it. He lifted his flashlight as she wiped away the grime coating a beautiful, dark blue stone the size of a plum.
“This is it,” Brie breathed.
When she lifted her eyes to his, they shone with joy as she held the stone toward him. Asher carefully took it from her hands and twisted it as he inspected it. He’d never seen anything like it before.
“It’s different than the last one,” he commented.
“They’re all different. I’ll show them to you one day.”
Brie carefully took the stone from him, removed a piece of cloth from her pocket, and wrapped the stone in it. She slid it into a pocket on her cargo pants and zipped it closed.
“It’s time to go,” she said.
“I’m beyond ready.”
Together, they turned and carefully went back through the cave and toward the gruesome remains. She would have loved to receive a vision of another way out, but they weren’t interested in helping her anymore. She’d done what they sought of her, and now, they were taking a break.
Not for the first time, she cursed them and their randomness as they turned a corner and the smell assaulted her once more. She started to raise a hand to cover her nose but stopped when something clicked.
What the…?
She never got a chance to finish the question as Asher suddenly threw his flashlight and shoved her to the side. Unprepared for the violent push, she staggered into the wall as a deafeningBOOMreverberated through the cave.
As if Thor’s hammer hit him, Asher flew backward and into a wall. Brie registered he’d been shot when another boom echoed around her. She flung her flashlight away as agony erupted in her gut.
Asher bounced as he hit the ground before stopping against the rocky wall. The stones biting into his flesh were the only pain he felt, but that would change soon.
Right now, he was in too much shock to feel any discomfort. But blood poured from the wound in his shoulder, and his arm hung at such an odd angle he wasn’t sure it was attached anymore.
He bit back a groan when his hand slid off his thigh and slapped limply against the ground. What remained of the nerve endings in his shoulder suddenly burst to fiery life, but his fingers remained unmoving against the cool earth.
He searched for Brie but couldn’t see her. She’d been shot too; he’d seen her jerk back after the second shot, but his flashlight landed away from them and, thankfully, hadn’t spun in their directions. Brie’s beam went out when it crashed to the ground, so they only had his to illuminate the cave.
Still, he had to get to her before the monster lurking in the shadows did. This bastard would pay for everything he’d done.
Nothing moved in the cave, which meant Brie was unconscious, or she’d come to the same conclusion as him—they had to wait for their attacker to appear.
Even without the flashlights to reveal their locations, moving now would only draw more fire. And while he didn’t think there was wooden ammo in the gun, if it had nearly torn off his arm, it could blow off her head, and a shot to his chest would easily kill him. He suspected they were shot with a shotgun, considering the amount of damage done to his arm, but he couldn’t be sure.
When something crunched, he gritted his teeth against jumping to his feet, rushing to where he last saw Brie, and throwing himself over her. But not only would that get him shot again, it might get her killed.
Everything in him screamed against remaining still, but he did while he waited for their attacker to reveal themselves. Once he saw the douchebag, he could evaluate the situation and figure out the best plan of attack.
His fingers itched for his gun, but he wasn’t the best shot with his left hand. Unfortunately, this douche had shot him in the right shoulder.
Brie cursed herself for being an idiot while she remained unmoving in the shadows. The dim glow of Asher’s flashlight illuminated part of the wall, but she had no idea where he’d fallen.
Apprehension and wrath churned in her gut as the powerful scent of his blood permeated the air. She had to get to him, but she was afraid she’d get him killed if she moved; still, she had to do something. She couldn’t lose him.
