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Chapter Nineteen
I woke to the sound of Lucas’s voice. The sun was just breaking over the horizon. Rays of sunlight cut through the leaves, making it seem like God was shining light down on the mountain. My back ached from sleeping on the hard ground and I wished there were a hot shower in my future, but that wasn’t happening. Probably not until I was back with Raphael.
That thought jolted me all the rest of the way awake.
No time to waste. I threw off the blanket and got up. I didn’t remember taking off my shoes, but they were lined up in front of the tent. I slipped them on and double knotted the laces.
“Ready to go?” I asked.
Lucas nodded. “I’ll pack our gear.” He handed me a protein bar as he brushed past. His fingers lingered on mine for a just a second before he started folding up the tent.
He was always doing that. Giving me lingering touches. More and more. I watched his back as he moved, enjoying the view a little. I quickly ran my fingers through my hair before redoing my braid, and then dug into the protein bar.
The crumbly texture made me thirsty. I grabbed a water bottle from the side pocket of Lucas’ pack, and took a long drink. “It’s cold.”
“I went to the falls to fill up. They’re not far.”
I nodded, but my stomach soured. What about parasites? If I got some kind of worm from this… I stared down at the bottle in disgust.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, city girl. I cleaned the water. It’s safe to drink.”
Easy for him to say. “I didn’t grow up in the city, but we had clean, running water.” I took another careful sip, then almost gasped when it hit my tongue. It might be the best tasting water I’d ever had.
I quickly inhaled the rest of the protein bar and drank some more water before putting the bottle away. I stretched, and my ribs still ached. It was bearable, but if I thought about it too much—about Matt—the anger would overwhelm me.
Gobble had shifted back in his tiny form and he sat in the tree above the tent, watching us move around. It made me nervous when he stayed quiet like that.
The sound of Lucas zipping up the backpack caught my attention. “All right. Let’s go,” he said as he slipped the first one on his back. “The mine is this way.” He slipped the other one across his chest and started walking.
Gobble flitted down from the tree and settled on my shoulder. The image of tiny little teeth tearing into my ear raced across my mind, and I stiffened.
Lucas spun toward me. “Why are you—” He didn’t have to finish his question. “Get off of her. She doesn’t like you sitting there.”
“Sure the tasty does.” His tiny voice screeched in my ear.
Lucas’ eyes flashed bright. “And she doesn’t like you calling her the tasty,” he said, with a low rumble in his voice.
They started arguing back and forth as we walked.
The day had just begun and I was already getting a headache.
***
Lucas had been dead on when he said it would take two hours to get to the mine. We stopped for a rest when we arrived. Weeds and branches covered up most of the entrance, blocking it from view. Without the map to tell us where to stop, we might’ve walked by it a million times and never seen it. It was too dark to see all the way inside, but a set of rusted and broken cart tracks ended at what looked like the mouth of a very long cave.
Lucas reached into his bag, grabbing out two flashlights. I took one, thankful for it. I hadn’t thought to bring one. It was rare that I found someone more prepared than I was. I kind of admired that quality in Lucas. It was nice.
As we stepped inside, the air grew thick and heavy. It smelled stale and earthy, like no one had entered in a good long while. Spider webs ran down from the corners of the braced walls, and I moved to walk behind Lucas.
He glanced back to me. “Don’t like spiders, huh?”
“Does anyone like them?”
Gobble flew in front of my face. “I like them just fine. Tasty,” he squeaked.
“Right.” That didn’t surprise me in the least.
One of the branches off this mineshaft exited to a secret valley between the mountains, but I had no idea which part or how we were supposed to find the right path. The map didn’t show anything about the inside of the mine. My only lead was magic. The mages’ auras had stuck to the map. If they’d used the mine to access their temple, then it stood to reason that there would be more traces of pure white to follow. I just had to find them.
