“What do you think, viper? You up for it?” Ty asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
Was she? She’d been raised to serve Gaia and the balance, so intentionally getting closer to Iblis felt sacrilegious. But, when in the company of daemons, who’d been embracing Iblis their whole lives and were still good people, she knew she needed to let that ingrained fear go. Besides, wasn’t that why she was so drawn to Ty? The chaotic freedom he made her feel? And her Gift too…she couldn’t deny she loved the feeling of letting go and giving in to it now that she wasn’t so afraid of it.
So maybe she should keep embracing that feeling—it hadn’t steered her wrong yet.
“Yes,” she said. “Why not?”
Turner made a whooping noise in celebration behind her, and she shook her head, but smiled despite herself.
After another ten minutes of descent, long after they’d passed the exit into the lower levels that Lara had taken her through before, the carved staircase they’d been winding down simply ended.
It was nearly pitch black ahead of them, but with the darkrock lanterns they held, Ena could already tell that these caves were significantly more untamed than the ones above. The walls were rough, and stalactites hung low from the ceiling, so she had to duck in some places.
It was colder, too, likely because they were underneath where the hot springs bubbled. But most notably, it was dark—the dense blackness ahead of them seemed endless, and Ena couldbarely make out anything beyond the small rings of blue light their darkrock lanterns created.
They moved forward as a group into the darkness, and Ena found herself reaching for Ty’s hand for reassurance.
He chuckled, low and deep. “Scared, viper?” he asked, turning his lantern towards her.
“No,” Ena said stubbornly. “It’s just…so dark. How do you even know where we’re going?”
“Venator, remember? We’re almost there,” he said, squeezing her hand in reassurance.
They moved across the jagged cave floor, down several twisting passages, until they entered into a large chamber. It was nothing compared to the size of the chambers on the upper levels, which had clearly been excavated more, but it felt significantly less closed-in than the passages they’d been moving through to get here.
“Here we are,” said Ty as the five of them spread out through the space.
Ena squinted, trying to make out anything about the space around her, but it looked the same as everything else. Dark, blackish-gray walls of stone. Where was theallucinae?
“Come look,” Turner said, gesturing her over to where he stood.
He held up his lantern, illuminating the wall, and Ena watched as he ran his hand gently along it. Trailing after his fingertips, Ena saw a glowing green substance appear. It wasn’t very bright, but in the glow of the lantern, she could see its color—stark against the drab walls of the cave. It was furry, like some of the mosses that grew in the forests back home, but once Turner stopped running his fingers along it, it turned back to the same blackish-gray color as the walls.
Ena’s Knowing perked up in the presence of the cave-dwelling plant. There wasn’t much that was alive down here in theUnderworld. Yes, Ena could feel the stone, but that was different—it was a much more muted feeling than she was used to. And, since she couldn’t sense daemons with her Knowing, she hadn’t realized how much she’d missed using it.
Because now, she Knew this moss, and it was…so interesting. She could tell it thrived here in the dark, and it wanted to be left undisturbed. Like a silent passenger, it grew and multiplied away from predators and pests, it’s eerie glow a foreboding warning of its toxicity and hallucinogenic properties.
“Okay,” said Turner, distracting Ena from drinking in all she could about this strange plant. “Who’s up first?”
“I’ll go,” Lara said, coming over next to them. “Iblis, it’s been years since I’ve done this.” She sounded giddy, and gave Ena a full, joyful smile, before turning to the wall, sticking out her tongue, and licking the moss.
Ena stared in partial disgust and confusion as a trail of luminescent green trailed after Lara’s tongue.
Ty burst out laughing beside her. “You should see your face, viper,” he said. “Fucking Iblis, it’s priceless.”
“I’m sorry,” Ena said, holding out her hands as if this was suddenly all too much to comprehend. “Did she justlickthe wall?”
Lara pulled back, her wide smile somehow even wider as she turned towards Ena. “Scraping off the moss to eat it works, too, but the moss doesn’t like to be disturbed. If you scrape off a portion, it could kill the whole colony, so it’s tradition to just lick it instead.”
Ena pondered this for a second, and it made sense. She Knew the moss did not want to be removed from its home, but still…she shuddered in disgust.
“What’s it taste like?” she asked skeptically.
“Not much,” Ty answered. “Just like dirt and stone.” He watched her, a light still in his eyes from his laughing outburst.Gaia, she loved seeing him so happy and unburdened like this—it reminded her of the way he was nine years ago when they’d first met. Before he’d been kept from her and granted his Power, along with all the responsibilities that entailed.
“Here, I’ll go next,” he said, handing off his lantern to her.
Ty proceeded to lick the wall, too, eliciting the same eerie-green trail after his tongue as Lara had, followed by Turner, and then, reluctantly, Steig. Apparently, he wasn’t much for theallucinaeexperience, so it was a big deal that they’d dragged him along and gotten him to loosen up a bit.
