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Chapter 29
Darkness swallowed Phantom and me as we entered the cave, hand in hand. Specks in the ceiling and walls glimmered with a faint radiance that provided enough light to see the person beside or in front of you. Was this the Fae dust the dwarves mined or did some of the minerals in the rock glow? I doubted it was the dust when anyone could enter these ancient tunnels and collect the stuff. Imagine how many more crazy magic wielders Haven would have to deal with if it were this accessible.
At least the crows wouldn’t stray too far into the tunnels. Then again, those were no average birds with their horrid red eyes…unless that was a display of my stepmother’s power over them. In a confined space like this, the birds might be devastating. Add to that the possibility of hunters lurking about.Sea God!That had my mind seizing with fright. I had to stop worrying about what might be and focus on succeeding; otherwise, I’d curl up into a frightened ball and never move again.
Raspy voices echoed along the tunnels from farther ahead. It was cold and stuffy as hell down here and smelled like dirt and stale air. But it beat being set on by murderous crows.
Shadow tracked up ahead with Flare, giving me my space with Phantom.
Several hundred feet in, the tunnels narrowed, squishing Phantom and me shoulder-to-shoulder. Not that I minded being so close to him.
I couldn’t stop wondering what it’d be like to be jammed between Shadow and Phantom… Not just in the tunnels…in my chambers…on the bed…like the night we’d spent in the cave. A panther sandwich. Heat blasted down below, making my panties wet at the thought. Maybe when we got back to the resistance, Shadow and I might meet in the tunnels for a bit of fun. That propelled me forward with some hope for a change.
***
Countless leagues disappearedbeneath my feet. By now, I was well and truly warm from all the trekking. Sweat pooled on my forehead and upper lip. I brushed it off with the back of my wrist.
Some of the resistance members smelled a little funky, like unsavory armpits, and the smell choked me. Not to mention, a strange gas smell suffocated the air, making me feel a little dizzy. Sea God, I’d never prayed for fresh air more than I did now. The panthers hadn’t had such an odor when we’d traveled underground back from the dragon king’s palace. This certainly made me regret my suggestion to travel subterraneously.
But at least the tunnels had widened, giving me a little space beside Phantom, and the sides of our arms didn’t scrape along the tunnel walls.
We heard a few muttered words—mostly “oops”and “watchit”—coming from ahead of us in the tunnel.
All of a sudden, Yanik, the tiger shifter ahead of us, stopped, and I bumped into his back…or at least I hope it was his back. Height-wise, I came up to his stomach…so there was the possibility I may have hit something else. He was a pretty solid fellow. The kind you wouldn’t want to meet down a dark alley.
“What’s going on?” Teeny shouted.
“Fork in the tunnel,” Axe replied.
“Which way?” Phantom’s voice buzzed through my body.
“Don’t know,” Teeny said. “Don’t have a map.”
This wasn’t like the dwarves. They were known for their sense of direction underground. Why were they so confused? Grimm, Hunter, Axe, and Teeny always went on about their time spent underground in the mines.
“What’s that smell?” A cough interrupted the speaker’s next words. “It’s making me dizzy!”
“Hunter’s armpits,” Axe joked.
A thump sounded, and someone slammed into the wall.
Hmph. Dwarves.What could you do?
“That’s enough of that.” Grimm wheezed. “I’m feeling lightheaded, too. I can’t think straight.”
Now that they mentioned it, I was feeling a little disorientated. It felt like a squid had wrapped its tentacles around me and strangled me of air. My throat and nose burned, too.
“Damn it,” Axe said. “I can’t breathe. Someone make up their mind and tell me which way we’ve got to go.”
Grimm held up his palms, trying to calm the situation. “Let’s put our minds together and figure this out.”
Phantom squeezed my hand tightly, keeping me close, just where I wanted to be.
“I’m getting a little claustrophobic,” admitted one of the resistance members—clearly not a dwarf.
I imagined his face turning green.
“Me, too,” said another before descending into a coughing fit.
