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Chapter twenty
TORY
“I’msorrytobreak up the reunion,” Jack said suddenly, “but we’re not out of trouble yet.”
I pulled back, letting Jack grip West’s hand and pull him up to stand. Between them, they got me to my feet. The blood flowing from my leg had slowed, and the pain was more bearable. I tested my weight and found I was able to stand, though running might be tricky. When I looked over to where Jack was gesturing, my insides turned to ice. Hatay were still pouring from every entrance in the cavern, and they were all fixated on us. They moved towards us, slowly but steadily. A rustle above me made me look up, and I grabbed Jack’s arm, pointing up at the cavern ceiling where hundreds of the things were crawling along it like bats. In the span of a few minutes, we’d gone from dozens to hundreds.
“What the fuck?” West muttered, staring up at the ceiling and then out across the cavern.
“I’ve never seen so many,” Jack said, turning to him. West’s brief shake of the head said that he hadn’t either.
“We need to move quickly,” he urged, but Wesley planted himself in front of him.
“You’re not going anywhere until I’ve fixed your shoulder.”
“What’s wrong with your shoulder?” I asked.
“Dislocated,” West grumbled, staring hard at Wesley. “You know what you’re doing?”
“Oh, yes, of course.” Wesley stepped around him, eyeing his shoulder and arm carefully.
“Wes, I don’t mean to hurry you, but there are a few hundred hatay about to rip us open and feed on our souls. I can do without the arm until we get out of here.”
“No, no, I’ve got it,” Wesley murmured, grabbing West’s wrist and turning his arm slightly. “Right, it’s lined up. I’m just going to pull it down and it should pop straight back in.”
“Should?” I repeated at the same time West looked up at him in alarm.
“So I’ve read,” Wesley replied and pulled. West roared in pain, but to my amazement, the shoulder slipped back into place with an audible pop, and Wesley backed off, leaving West gasping.
“How is that?” Wesley asked, polishing his glasses and staring wide-eyed at his patient.
West reached up and felt his shoulder. An incredulous expression spread across his face. “Not bad actually.” He stretched his arm out in front of him, twisting and turning it. “Pretty good. Well done, Wes.”
“Guys...” Jack’s voice interrupted us, and West spun around. The hatay were beginning to climb up the outcrop.
Zayn moved between us, his khopesh ready, loose, and relaxed in his expert hands as he looked at West. “You go ahead, I’ll hold them off.”
West nodded and turned to me. “Can you walk?”
I leaned onto my bad leg. The pain was intense, but it was healing slowly, and as I focused, warmth spread into my leg, easing it a little, so I nodded.
“Great, let’s go.” He grabbed my hand and we took off across the outcrop, heading for the end where it dropped off into the lake. The others followed, with Zayn bringing up the rear and dispatching any hatay that got too close. As we reached the end, I turned, breathing hard, my leg aching from pounding against the ground, but I ignored it.
“Now what?” I asked West. We looked out across the lake. Above the cavern, the sky was lightening, and only the last few stars were visible. There were still a good couple of hundred metres to the slope which was presently miraculously free of hatay. Huge boulders, or sections of the cavern roof, had at some point collapsed into the water, and it was those West pointed to.
“We jump,” he told me.
“Ha ha,” I replied. “Unless our powers include growing wings, that’s not going to happen. These rocks are easily ten metres apart. I propose we swim for it if your shoulder can take it.”
Jack took my shoulder and steered me around to face another slope that flowed down into the water. It looked to be covered in huge broken tree trunks and branches. At least that was what I thought until one moved.
“Jack, what the fuck are those? More demons?”
He grinned. “Nope, just boring old Nile crocodiles. I imagine they were trapped here years ago. They have probably survived by feeding off the hatay that were drawn here.”
“No swimming then,” West remarked. “We’ll have to jump.”
“How?” I asked incredulously.
