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The sickly light of the pillars spread tendrils across the darkness, lifting the shadows in some sections of the cavern but casting others into deeper darkness. Our niche fell between the two. Whatever was coming through that gateway had only to glance our way and we were gone.
Then, suddenly, the light stopped pulsing and a shadow stepped through. It was a man—a tall man, with broad shoulders and dark hair. As he strode toward the exit, the light between the pillars died, leaving only the sickly glow of the runes to lift the sudden darkness. It wasn’t enough, and the stranger became little more than a shadow, hinted at but not fully fleshed out.
He paused at the north point of the circle and waved his hand over them. The light in the six runes died and he strode toward the tunnel, quickly disappearing. Oddly enough, though he’d appeared taller than Jak when he’d first come into view, I had no sense that he was in any way restricted by the tight confines of the tunnel. Maybe it was just the weird light that had made him seem taller.
As the sounds of his steps faded, Jak bent closer, his breath warm against my left ear as he murmured, “Now what?”
“We wait.”
“But if he came through those pillars, why can’t we use them to exit?”
“Because he’ll sense the magic kicking in and will either give chase or send something after us.”
“Either option is better than getting caught in this damn niche.”
“Not when we have no idea if the pillars are both exit and entry. For all I know, the exit point here is nothing more than a ruse. It could be what I sensed down at the other end of the tunnel.”
“But Ilianna said—”
“That she didn’t understand the entire spell. It won’t hurt to wait, Jak.”
“It just might if that man comes back and sees us,” he muttered. “Just because I have a knife doesn’t mean I can use it.”
“Then it’s a good thing I can use the sword, isn’t it?” I all but snapped.
“Yeah, I guess it is.” His free hand slipped down my back and came to rest on my butt. “You have no idea how exciting I find that.”
Actually I did, given how close we were standing. But then, he was a werewolf, and danger was an aphrodisiac to most wolves, even if they didn’t actively seek it out. I grabbed his hand and shoved it away. “Behave.”
He chuckled softly, but otherwise did as bid. I flared my nostrils and sifted through surrounding scents, trying to get some idea of the man who’d come through the gate. But no matter how hard I tried, I could neither smell nor hear him. Maybe there was an exit at the other end of the tunnel. Maybe he’d done little more than check what his trap had caught and then moved on-
A gruff voice cut the thought short. “Look, I’m telling you, there’s no one here.”
It was hard to tell just how close he was because his words seemed to echo in the still blackness. One thing was sure—his voice was unfamiliar, and that was something of a relief. I’d half expected otherwise—that it would, somehow, be Lucian. Azriel’s distrust had a lot to answer for.
“Well, apparently vermin can set the trap off,” the stranger said. Despite the hint of exasperation, there was a deeper edge of wariness enriching his voice. He feared the person he spoke to. “As I said, there’s no one in the hole.”
He was definitely closer now, and tension wound through my limbs. I licked my lips, and once again tightened my grip on Amaya. Her screaming ratcheted up several notches, but at least she was restrained enough to keep it internal—although that didn’t help the ache in my head any.
“Yes, I’ve released them.” The stranger paused. “Yes, I’ll head up now and move any cars that might be hanging about, just in case.”
“Damn,” Jak muttered. “If he damages—”>“Fuck me!” he said vehemently. He swept the sweaty strands of hair from his forehead with hands as bloody as mine and looked around. “Where are we?”
“I have no idea. And not in a million years.”
“I’ll remind you of those words the next time we make out—” Jak stopped, and his eyes widened. “What the hell are those?”
“I don’t know.”
It was somewhat absently said as I studied the two pillars. They were about six feet tall and stood the width of a body apart from each other, so that they formed an odd sort of doorway that seemed to go nowhere. Though they were mostly gray in color, their surface was littered with quartz that Amaya’s flames sparked to life, sending rainbow-colored flurries skating across the earthen walls. There were markings and weird symbols etched into each pillar, but it was no language I’d ever seen, and it felt ancient. No, not just ancient—powerful.
I stepped forward cautiously. Energy caressed my skin, similar to the magic I’d felt briefly when I touched the door handle. I swept Amaya’s light across the floor. While it was mainly dirt, there was a series of wide, flat stones that formed a circle around the pillars. While there was no quartz within these stones for Amaya’s flames to catch, there was writing. This time I recognized the language, even if I didn’t entirely understand the spell. They were runes, meaning the stones were some sort of protection circle.
“You think it’s a gateway of some kind?” Jak said.
“Of some kind.” I walked around the pillars, making sure to keep close to the walls and well away from the runes. “Be careful where you step, Jak.”
“I may be a skeptic when it comes to many things magic, but even I can sense the wrongness in whatever is written on those stones.”
