It couldn’t be true. I’d detected several people. Even if they had been here earlier, I wouldn’t have picked up their scents that strongly.
My gaze drifted to the hay bale randomly stowed in the small space. Why keep a bale here when they’re usually kept with the livestock? I picked up the bale by the string keeping it together and set it outside.
On the floor, barely visible in the night, a metal handle refracted the sliver of light from the sky. I crouched, reaching out, praying all the while. My grip was gentle, like this moment was something breakable and I wouldn’t take the chance. The wood groaned and creaked, but the slat lifted, revealing a dimly lit set of stairs.
A cellar. A burrow in the ground, like a fox’s den. My mind was a flurry of hope and fear, but I stepped in and closed the doors behind me. I descended silently toward the future I never dreamed I’d have, and I found my knees growing weary, hesitant.
Shuffling sounds echoed off the stone lined walls. I held my hands up in supplication as I stepped into view. Several bodies lay on thin rugs on the dirt floor, a few others standing with weapons aimed in my direction. Torchlight danced in the underground hole, a few hung on the walls. I scanned the faces until landing on one that had the back of my eyes burning with emotion.
Jai stood there, poised with an axe aimed at me. His cheeks had thinned, a mature version of the teenage boy I’d last seen years ago with a face our mother had loved to pinch. Scruffy facial hair painted him as a man, and I saw a glimpse of our father in the cut of his jaw.
His brow furrowed beneath the mop of dark curls, like he questioned if his eyes were playing tricks. He still held a whisper of youth in his appearance, especially with the silver hoops in each nostril, entering his twenties by now.
“Jai.” My lungs crumpled like bunched up paper, stealing any other words I might have thought to say.
He simply used his foot to kick the sleeping body at his feet. Kaval turned, one sleepy eye annoyingly assessing his assaulter. Jai didn’t look down, so Kaval followed his line of sight. He shot up, blinking fiercely to clear his vision. “Dae?” he whispered.
Kaval hadn’t lost the softness in his face, the spitting image of our mother. His dark hair even held the same curls she had, a few of them wayward from sleep. Seven years older than Jai and only a couple behind me, my heart swelled to see how he'd taken care of raising our youngest brother.
“Hi,” was all I could manage to say, emotion clogging my throat. Kaval sprung up, laughing from joyous disbelief. He bound me in a firm hug, which I gladly returned. Over Kaval’s shoulder, Jai slowly lowered the weapon, though the crease between his eyes didn’t slip.
“I was starting to think we’d never see you again,” Kaval said.
“Starting?” I quipped. I’d let that hope dwindle long ago.
“Ah, well, you know I’d never fully lose hope for you, brother.” He smacked my back with the classic firmness of a man, then pulled back to assess me. “The longer hair looks good on you. You never used to let it grow past your ears.”
“Yeah, well, access to a decent barber has been limited.” I cupped his face. “Gods, you look like mother.”
He snickered. “What every adult man wants to hear.”
I clapped a hand on his arm, dragging my gaze to Jai who now stood, arms crossed, in the same spot. “You’re looking good, too, brother.” I swallowed against the knot in my throat for missing his developmental years into adulthood.
“You look like shit,” he said, coldly.
“Jai, could you ease up for like ten seconds maybe for the brother we owe everything to?” Kaval asked in an exhausted manner, rubbing his temple.
“Feisty as ever, I see.” Of all us boys, Jai had always been the outgoing, loud, raucous one. Kaval had been friendly, sweet, and patient. Mother used to joke that I left all my energy behind in the womb, since I’d often been considered quiet and reserved, and Kaval had been too polite to take much, leaving it all for Jai.
“Yeah, thanks for everything,” Jai sarcastically replied while glancing around the underground quarters.
“I’m happy you got the messages. I couldn’t have done it without Delia’s help. She let me know of your coded language and network,” I told Kaval.
A boy no older than sixteen sat up. “My mother? Where is she? Is she with you?”
The resemblance was striking. Same eye color, hair color. Even the shape of his nose was a replica of hers. “I wish she was, but before I left, I helped her escape. It will probably take more than another week for her to make it this far by foot.”
Kaval slapped my back. “Not everyone can run with the speed of lightning, eh brother?”
“Why did it take you so long to leave?” Jai interrupted, no falter in his challenge. Seemed like my answer would determine how heated he was about to become. Within minutes we might end up throwing punches.
“It was better I stayed there to monitor their movements, otherwise we wouldn’t have had the upper hand. I was able tothrow them off your trail a couple times after I first arrived, then Delia and I worked together to keep you informed of their searches.”
“Don’t you think we would have had a better chance if you were here to fight with us?” Clearly this had been something Jai stewed over for a long time.
“No, I don’t, Jai. I’ve seen what they’re capable of firsthand. It’s…terrifying. None of us stand a chance. Even members outside of The Eleven are magically juiced. I’ve seen strong, well-trained men and women fall within seconds to the dark power they wield. Cut down like they were no more a threat than an injured bird. The best thing I could have done for you was stay away.”
His chest rose and fell rapidly as he grappled with the truth, but I could see what lay behind it. I cautiously stepped closer.
