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He groaned loudly. “Bloody hell. What kind of… godforsaken birds do they have in this realm? I hate fuckin’ birds.”
All three of us laughed, and tears began to flood down my cheeks. I’d held them back during our entire search for a healing potion, but abject relief broke down all my emotional barriers. I didn’t care if I looked weak, I was just happy as fuck to have him back.
Lach tried to sit up, but Trace put a hand on his shoulder and pressed him back down. “Hold on there, buddy. Let the potion work just a little bit longer before you get up.”
Lachlan relaxed back into the softness of the leaves beneath him. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks, ma.”
I chuckled, grabbing one of the large man’s hands and pressing it between mine.
As Lachlan rested, Merrick opened his hand, revealing a small piece of paper.
“I found this too. It’s a clue. It looks like a small part of the map.” He held it aloft, tilting it slightly so that Lachlan could see it too. “It’s hard to make out what’s going on here; part of the map is missing pieces. But from what I can make out, the lower portion is where we started, Giant’s Pass. The others went to the right, and we went to the left. This, in the upper left-hand corner—I believe that’s where we are now, and from the looks of it, the gem is somewhere in this general direction. That means the others went the wrong way, but we went the right way.”
“I knew
that all along. All part of my master plan.” Lachlan laughed as he sat up slowly, his lips quirking up in a devilish grin.
“Yeah, good thinking, Lach,” Trace said.
“That’s not what we’re here for though, is it?” the Irishman asked, rolling his shoulders experimentally, as if making sure everything truly was healed.
“No,” I agreed. “It’s not. Let the others fight over the gem if they want to. I want answers, and to get those, we need to find the gods.”
“That means we need to get out of the Gods’ Challenge playing field,” Merrick said, glancing down at the map piece again. “Maybe we can use this to get closer to where we want to go.”
“You good?” I asked, glancing at Lach. I wanted to tell him to lie back and rest more, but I knew he’d never go for that. I wouldn’t either in his shoes.
We gathered our things, and I helped Lachlan to his feet.
His skin was healed and unbroken, as if he had never been injured. He seemed to have even more energy than he did before the bird took him. My heart squeezed with happiness, something warm and sweet spreading through my stomach.
There was no denying it anymore. I cared about these men so much more than I had expected to in the beginning.
Merrick shouldered the pack again, and the four of us kept our magic ready at our fingertips as we turned away from where the clue was pointing us, and instead headed toward the outskirts of the Gods’ Challenge playing area.
We were heading deeper into the godly realm, with no idea what we would find… or what would find us.
Chapter Fifteen
Sitting down on the edge of a rock, I pulled open the pack I had found.
The men gathered around, waiting to see what exactly was inside. Merrick’s pack was mostly practical items—charms and healing potions, and wilderness gear. I had found a second pack earlier in the day, but with the man-eating plants everywhere we turned, we’d decided not to stop until we found a safer area. It was midday, and aside from a small break to nap around dawn, none of us had slept. We had been hiking for what felt like a million years.
Since we knew that traveling in the opposite direction of the gem would draw unwanted attention and suspicion, we had created illusions of ourselves that would move slowly toward the gem. I wasn’t sure how convincing they would be, but hopefully they would keep focus off the four of us until we made it out of the challenge playing area. I was fairly certain the magical surveillance wouldn’t follow us beyond that.
Because no students were expected to leave the playing area. Ever.
“So, what’ve we got in there?” Merrick asked excitedly, drawing my attention back to the pack in my hands.
Trace chuckled. “It’s amazing how out here in the jungle, and the desert, finding a backpack with some random shit in it could actually make us excited.”
“At least while we’re out here, we can appreciate the small things.” Merrick shrugged. “When we get back though, I’ll appreciate large plates of bacon, orange juice, and clean sheets.”
Lachlan scoffed. “The first day we were back last semester, I just appreciated walkin’ around the corner and not havin’ some sort of creature try to eat my fuckin’ face.”
We all chuckled as I began to pull things out of the pack. “A canteen that seems to already have water in it, a knife, some rope, and…”
Everyone sat there staring at me, waiting to see what else I was about the say. I pulled out a black satchel and opened it up, reaching my arm elbow deep inside even though originally it fit in the palm of my hand. I smiled as I gripped what I knew had to be rations and pulled them out, tossing one to each of the men.
