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Stepping back farther, I kneel on the wet ground and spread my magic out before letting it sink into the earth. One by one, I latch onto the hundreds of insects in the ground and summon them to the surface.
The ground in front of me boils as the insects and worms make their way up, loosening the hard-packed soil.
Orianna yips with excitement and darts forward, snapping up a fat earthworm and tossing it into the air before catching it between her teeth.
“This isn’t a buffet for you,” I tell her when she darts in for another.
“What’s going on?” Marc appears by my side and stares down at the roiling ground.
“I thought I’d soften up the forest floor to make digging go faster,” I explain, “and my rotten familiar is taking it as a chance to glut herself on worms.”
Sharpe comes up on my other side and drops a shovel next to me before looking at Orianna. “Stop eating and start digging. All hands—and paws—on deck.”
“What I wouldn’t give for an Earth witch right now.” I release my hold on the insects.
As Orianna’s snacks burrow back beneath the softened forest floor, she whines and paws at the ground.
I nudge her in the side. “You heard the man. Start digging. You can eat whatever you catch along the way.”
We form a loose circle above where I sense Pen and Darius’s energies and start digging.
Even with the softened earth, it’s back-breaking work filled with frequent pauses when we hit thick tree roots and Marc grabs the ax to hack through them.
As we work, the rain worsens, making it harder as the loose earth turns to mud and footing turns treacherous.
“Anny, get back, girl,” Marc says when we’re shoulders-deep in the hole. “It’s too dangerous for you to be down here.”
She yips and scrambles up the slippery side, then runs circles around us, barking in encouragement.
Mud pools around our feet and seeps into our shoes, the hole filling in even as we try to empty it.
Marc’s shovel slams into something hard, and he grunts as he wiggles it free. “Hit another root.”
Sharpe’s shovel strikes an obstacle on his side, and then a reverberation travels up my arm as my shovel gets stuck, too.
“Hold up.” I crouch and thrust my hand into the mud, feeling around.
Thick ropes of tree roots tangle together, forming a solid barrier below us.
“There must be a build-up of roots over the cave roof.” I trace the line of a root as thick as my thigh. “These are going to take a while to cut through.”
“Okay, everyone out.” Marc tosses his shovel onto the edge of the hole and grabs the ax. “If this collapses beneath me, I don’t want you both going down, too.”
“Wait, let’s tie the rope around you first for safety.” Sharpe turns to Orianna, who stares down at us with her mouth hanging open. “Bring us the rope, girl.”
She barks and disappears, returning a moment later with the end of the rope clamped between her teeth.
She tosses it over the edge, then nudges the slack until Sharpe grabs it. “Good girl.”
She yips several times, the sound echoing through the forest, and an answering whistle comes back, faint but there.
I straighten with surprise. “Did you guys hear that?”
Marc cocks his head. “I’m not sure.”
“Orianna, yip again,” I encourage.
Marc’s brow lifts. “Orianna?”
