PROLOGUE
“There’s someone trapped in the mine. We have to help him,” I blurted. I said it as a settled fact, which in my mind, it was. I tugged myself from Caspian and Mothman’s hold, getting up off the ground and looking around the cave room for anything helpful.
This place looked like a supply closet with wooden crates stacked against the walls. A thick layer of dust had collected on everything. It was easy to conclude we were in an abandoned mine and that the workers had made use of this natural alcove as a place to keep supplies.
“Now?” Caspian asked in disbelief, dried mud streaked across one of his cheekbones. Mothman was still sitting on the ground next to him, looking as if he didn’t plan to get up either. The feathery antennae atop his head shifted slowly in circles. His fur-covered face tipped to the side slightly, as if in question. His red, glowing eyes swept me up and down as if checking to make sure that I was really okay after what had just happened in the tunnel outside.
I swallowed and buried my hands in a crate, pushing through old cans of food to look for water bottles and first aid materials we might need. My mind kept creeping back to the image of Loren stumbling towards me, the pickaxe I’d buried in his head wobbling into soft tissue as he walked. I could imagine it wiggling a hole bigger and bigger in his brain.
I took a deep breath and let the image slide away as I traced the edges of canned spam and corn. Dust transferred to my fingers as I did it.
I could understand Caspian’s point. We’d just survived a trauma. I’d just unintentionally killed a man—something I was trying not to think about. Even if that man deserved death, it didn’t mean I wanted to be the one to dole it out. It was just one more trauma involving a person I’d rather not think about again for the rest of my life. One final big event to punctuate his memory in my mind and I hated it.
With all that in mind, now was the time we should crawl from this cave and go home.
Except we had to do this.
“Yes, now. He’s been stuck for a while. We don’t know how bad it is or how much longer he can last,” I responded. Caspian gave me an apprehensive look. Brandon got up quickly and started to help me look for anything useful. He pulled crates from the top of stacks and set them on the ground for us to go through.
“Stop being a selfish asshole. We aren’t leaving someone here alone,” Brandon commented. His eyes still looked red from crying. We looked at each other over the top of a crate.
“Thank you for killing that bastard,” he murmured. I started to reach for his arm, to offer him some small touch as comfort. He quickly moved to the next crate, further away, and I pulled my arm back.
I hoped he would be okay. That we all would.
“Wouldn’t it be better to get the rangers?” Caspian countered, his brown eyes flicking back and forth between Brandon and me. Mothman reached out and righted the knocked-over lantern before it went out. The flame flashed in Caspian’s eyes, reflecting the light like mirrors despite him being in human form.
I shook my head in response. There wasn’t time for rangers. It could take all day to get someone here and that was only if they had anyone to spare while dealing with the carnage and fire in the woods.
We were here now and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if another man died simply because I wouldn’t walk a little deeper into the cave to help. It wouldn’t take long. He sounded close enough.
Brandon and I found a few more canteens, heavy with old water, but not much else. He nodded at me and I took a deep breath, then we headed out into the cave, the lantern clutched in my hand.
“Wait! We’re coming,” Caspian called. A moment later he was beside me, his arm sliding around my waist. Mothman quickly took up my left side, his hat back atop his head. His hand brushed the back of mine before he slid his long fingers between mine, threading them together slowly, watching my reaction as he did.
The splinter erupted with a sharp, immense pain. I cried out from the sudden intensity of it. Mothman jerked back in shock while Caspian startled. We all came to a halt.
“What’s wrong? What did he do?” Caspian asked with a bite. I pulled up my hand and eyed the splinter in the light of the lantern. My eyes widened as I saw an angry reddish blue that hadn’t been there before. That didn’t make me happy but a small infection wasn’t an immediate issue. I’d half expected that it would eventually require attention from the moment I couldn’t get it out.
Mothman seemed upset to have caused me pain. He pulled his hat from his head and dropped it on mine. It fell over my eyes, blinding me a moment before he readjusted it. His antennae unfurled like growing ferns atop his head. He reached out and cradled my face in his long fingers. His hands swept down my neck and he gripped my shoulders as if urging me to see his regret for causing me pain.
“It’s okay,” I murmured, looking up at him—big red eyes and a thin line for a mouth. I could smell him on his hat—woods, leather, dirt, and a hint of smoke. The oversized hat covered the tops of my ears. His attention moved to my hand. Gently, as if I were something far too delicate, he slid his fingers around my wrist and lifted my hand back to the light.
He bent over, looking closely at the splinter. His thumb gently caressed the sensitive, thin skin at my wrist. He flipped his eyes to Caspian and then gently let go of my hand. There was tension in Mothman’s body. I wondered how much he understood about human illness.
“It’s okay. It’s just an infected splinter,” I explained.
“It’s infected?” Caspian asked. I sighed, wanting to move on. Brandon was a few steps ahead of us, appearing antsy to push forward.
“It’s fine, let’s go,” I said, moving ahead.
“Hello!” I called out, but when only silence swarmed around us, we all stopped. The guys eyed me dubiously and I could see their doubts.
“Are you sure it wasn’t Loren tricking you?” Caspian asked. I shook my head. The climber had kept talking after Loren... couldn’t. I had tried not to look at his body when we had passed it. The violence of it was disturbing and I didn’t want any more images of it seared in my head. It kept flashing behind my eyes though; the axe wagging like a dog’s tail as it jutted from his skull. I pushed the visual away.
The darkness in front of us was thick, like a solid object.
“Hello! It’s Ava! Are you okay!” My words were swallowed by the cave. There wasn’t even an echo. Something was off about this place. It made goosebumps pop up on my arms, generally a sign of something peculiar. I recalled the sensation of dread I’d had when we entered the cave and I began to doubt this plan. I didn’t want to ignore my instincts anymore. Willing ignorance wasn’t possible with two monsters huddled beside me.
