Page 85 of The Unseen Hour

CHAPTER 36

Ifroze once we were inside. It was a sanctuary, just as Death had described. The whole thing was like the interior of a cathedral. Instead of stained glass, there were shimmering crystals scattered down the curved walls, from the towering roof of the cavern to where the walls met the sands. All covered in glistening purples, blues, and creams.

“It’s beautiful,” I gasped.

The water was spilling out of a raised pool rimmed in steel-gray stone.

We approached the pool, climbing several slabs of stone as though they were a set of altar steps.

“Do you see the baton?” Orion asked.

“No.”

Tree hoppers swooped outside the cavern’s entrance, perhaps keeping watch, or just not interested in flying inside and feeling cooped up. I looked at the crystals, the sand, and around the stone and crystals for any sign of the baton.

“Ry. Maybe … do you think … the water?”

The water within the stone pool was glowing. If there was some sort of magic relic within the cavern, I was willing to bet it was in those depths.

“Could be, but it could also be warded by Charon in some way. I’ll check it.”

“I can help.”

“I know you can, but I’ve been around Charon for a hundred years. If there is some sort of defense in place, maybe it’s like his home? Where I’ll be able to break the barrier easier than you? I’ll try, and if anything starts to go wrong, you can absolutely come to my rescue.”

I still didn’t like it, but I let go of his hand as he stepped over the stone rim of the pool and made his way into the water.

“Well?” I asked as he waded around the pool, water up to his waist.

“I feel fine. I’m going to search the bottom.”

Orion took a deep breath and sank beneath the water. He resurfaced after several moments, took another breath, then dove again. He repeated the action several times.

“No baton. But I feel wonderful. My leg isn’t aching at all.”

“The cure Death mentioned! It’s got to be this pool.”

I was elated. Orion had a grin on his face as he clambered out of the pool. Knowing he wasn’t going to be in pain anymore was a relief, but there was no baton.

That meant one thing.

“We’ll have to go south to the beach.”

He nodded.

“Yes. And if we’re going to need to trek back up the side of the canyon and hike through the woods, I vote we rest here first.”

“You’re not worried about being found here?”

“Not if Death told us to come. She said she’d distract Charon for now, and we made it here fairly quickly. This might just be the safest place for us. We’re protected from the elements better here than on the canyon wall.”

“That’s true.”

“And I’m fully healed,” Orion added.

He gave me a lingering look, slowly glancing at me from my head to my toes. The cavern suddenly felt much warmer.

“You are. And did you have anything in mind?”