At that Xander dropped to his hands and knees. “Lia, look at me.”
I was trying but the bridge’s swinging made it impossible to keep my gaze on his. “I can’t!”
“You can. Keep moving. And as soon as you get close enough, I’ll grab you. I promise.”
Part of me wanted to stay put but I couldn’t. With these winds, at some point the ropes on this bridge would snap, and I would plummet to my death.
Things couldn’t end this way.
I wouldn’t let them.
My hair whipped around me as I started to crawl forward. My heart was in my throat as I grabbed the ropes that held each plank in place and used them to propel myself forward, scooting along the wood. My legs were getting scraped up but I didn’t care.
“That’s it, keep going.” Xander tried to sound calm, but I heard the panic and desperation at the edge of his voice. “You’re doing it. Almost there.”
Somehow the wind got stronger and the ropes cried out in protest, as if they would burst apart at any moment.
“Just a little bit farther,” he encouraged me.
All I could do was edge forward, keeping my head down and moving inch by inch until ...
I felt his hands on my back, grabbing my tunic and hauling me to him. I was so relieved to be with him I nearly wept. I threw my arms around his neck and held on.
“You’re safe, you’re safe,” he murmured to me over and over.
He was who I’d crawled toward.
Not the cave with the greatest weapon.
Not my adelphia.
Xander.
The winds immediately ceased and the chasm went silent.
“What was that?” Stephanos asked, alarmed.
“The trial of air,” Io said.
It was difficult to argue with her. If the other trials all happened this quickly ...
“Stop almost dying,” Xander ordered me.
“Lia, will youpleasestop almost dying?” I teased, but he didn’t smile back.
“You can’t joke now. I have never felt so helpless. I can’t watch you die.”
Now I was the one comforting him, telling him that things would be all right, that I was safe, that he didn’t have to worry.
And I didn’t truly mean any of them. The winds had felt like a portent of things to come.
When he finally released me, we decided to eat and drink something before my sisters and I went into the cave.
“Maybe we should camp here and you could try to enter it in the morning,” Xander said.
I knew that he wanted to delay me possibly putting myself in danger again. None of us knew what was in the cave.
And he wouldn’t be able to follow me there. He would have to wait, without knowing whether we were safe.
