Ryker ran a hand through his hair.“I’ll take the first shift.”
“I’ll join him,” I offered; it was better if we were on guard duty together.At least then we could spend the rest of the night with each other.
“We should also discuss when we’re going to return to that tunnel and the gargoyles,” Tucker said.“We should probably do it sooner rather than later.Things have been quiet with the aristocrats, but that’s only because they’re scrambling to fill the hole Ivan’s death created and establish a new rule over the land.Once everything settles, they’ll come for us.”
I knew he was eager to see what lay beneath the forest and the temple, but I was in no rush to have those trees drag me under the earth again.Nightmares still plagued me over the last time it happened.
I was pretty certain they wouldn’t kill us, but maybe trees that could move were fickle fuckers who sometimes liked to crush the life out of things.I shuddered at the possibility.
“It probably is time to learn where the other end of the tunnel leads,” Ryker said.
“I agree.”
I hated this intrusion of reality into my happy little bubble, but they were right.We had to know where the other end of the tunnel led, and discovering more about the gargoyles could help us.I didn’t know how it could help, but I wasn’t willing to rule anything out.
“We can go tomorrow,” I suggested.It would be better to get it over with.“The poltergeists haven’t brought news of another encampment today, so we’ll have time.”
Ryker stiffened beside me, and I knew he wanted to argue about me going with them, but his lips remained clamped together.We’d already been through this; if he was going down there again, so was I.
CHAPTERFORTY-TWO
Ryker
While I knewit was pointless to try keeping Ellery out of this, I still didn’t like it as we stood at the edge of the trees that had taken Ellery and me into the tunnel beneath them.I wasn’t looking forward to having the air crushed from my lungs again or having dirt shoved up my nose and down my throat, but as far as I knew, this was the only way.
We could try going through the entrance to the temple, but we couldn’t take the risk of other amsirah seeing us there.Even if we went at night, when there was most likely no one in the building, I didn’t think we could pry up the slab in the floor.It fit too perfectly for us to remove it from the temple side.
Besides, I wasn’t sure I could find the edges of it again, given how it had blended so seamlessly with the intricate symbols carved into the floor.I’d rather be choked by these trees again than risk exposing Ellery or the gargoyles to anyone.
I didn’t know why those statues were there, but their existence was a secret best kept to ourselves.Even if we got some answers about why they were there, it wouldneverbe a good idea for my father, or any other noble, to know of their existence beneath the temple.
“So, we walk out there and thetreesdrag us beneath the earth?”Scarlet asked.
“Yes, and it’s a horrible, suffocating, terrifying sensation.Thereisan end to it, but you’ll suffer a lot beforehand,” Ellery answered.“Are you sure you want to do this?”
Scarlet glanced from Ellery to the towering trees with their intertwined branches.“Yes.I’ve been in this from the beginning with you, and I’ll see it through to the end.”
“This isn’t the end.”
“You don’t know that.”
The two friends stared at each other before Ellery sighed, clasped Scarlet’s hand, and squeezed it.“It’s not the end.”
“I’m still going with you,” Scarlet insisted.
“Okay.”
Ianto and Tucker stood to my right, while Callan was to the left of Ellery and Scarlet.Behind us, much of the encampment had gathered to see what was about to unfold.
Many had witnessed the trees consuming me before, but they were curious if it would happen again.I had no idea if the trees would take us all down; they’d pulled down Ellery and Mouse while she was holding him before, but there were more of us now, and the trees might refuse to emerge… or they might find a way to separate us.
“Are you sure about this, Dawn?”Fletcher asked his daughter.
I’d never heard anyone call Scarlet by her birth name.It must be a measure of how concerned he was for his daughter if he’d done so now.
Scarlet nodded.“I’m sure.”
Her mother and father didn’t look happy with this answer, but they didn’t argue with her either.I imagined it was difficult for a caring parent to watch their child grow up and move on.
