She doesn’t seem to realize she’s doing it.
Mouse growls once — low, disapproving — but doesn’t stop her.
Finn watches from across the camp, biting his cheek. His chaos magic sparks faintly in the darkness, restless.
Malrik pretends not to notice. His silver eyes are fixed on the path ahead, but his jaw is tight.
Torric is simmering. I can feel the heat radiating off him, anger he’s barely containing.
And Darian just… settles. Accepts the space she gave him. Doesn’t acknowledge what it means.
I see it all with brutal clarity.
Darian is a gravity well.
Kaia is orbiting without realizing it.
And I am losing the one thing I’ve been pretending I didn’t want anymore.
Halfway up a goddamn mountain, and somehow he’s still the one she gravitates toward.
I hate how unsurprised I am.
Chapter 32
Kaia
Mouse finds the cave.
One moment he’s scouting ahead, a dark streak against the white. The next, he’s back at my feet, tail flicking toward a shadow in the rock face I would have walked right past.
“There?” I manage through chattering teeth.
He flicks his tail again.Obviously.
The entrance is narrow — barely wide enough for Torric to squeeze through sideways — but it opens into a space large enough for all of us. Dry. Sheltered from the wind. Cold, but not the killing cold of the exposed mountain.
It’s the closest thing to salvation we’ve found in days.
“Thank the gods,” Finn breathes, stumbling in behind me.
Nobody argues. Nobody has the energy.
Torric gets a fire going with a flick of his wrist — his rune flaring bright before settling into steady flames. The warmth spreads slowly, pushing back the worst of the chill. We cluster around it like moths, drawn to the heat with a desperation that would be embarrassing if we weren’t all feeling it.
My shadows settle around us. Bob takes position near the cave entrance, a dark sentinel against whatever might try to follow us in. Patricia’s notebook dims as she drifts toward the fire. Linda hovers near Aspen, who’s already half-asleep against the cave wall. The Eds cluster around Darian, as always — fewer of them now, after the boulder.
I try not to think about that.
Mouse curls at my feet, a warm weight against my frozen toes. Finnick attempts to burrow into my coat pocket and gets batted away by Walter, who’s taken up residence there without asking permission.
“We should set watches,” Kieran says.
“We should sleep,” Finn counters. “All of us. For once.”
“The mountain—”
“The mountain will still be there in the morning.” Finn’s voice is exhausted. “And we’ll be useless if we’re dead on our feet when whatever’s waiting at the top.”
