Thorne
Dust and debris hung heavy in the air, so thick I could barely see.
“Clarissa?” I choked out, trying to rise from my knees but disoriented from the fall and the ringing in my ears.
My throat tightened as the dust began to settle. She was crouched to the floor with a hand on the back of her head and another gripping her leg. We were trapped in a small corner of the cave with no light other than a single torch burning to my right. The ceiling between us and the others had caved in, leaving a solid wall of rock.
Marigold.
I scrambled to the pile of stones. “Marigold! Mother!” I roared as I clawed at the jagged boulders, willing them to part. I just needed to see her face. Hear her voice. Know they were safe.
My movements barely dislodged two rocks. I ripped them away and pounded into the barricade. My fingernails split with a sting, but still, I kept going. We had to get to them. We had to get out of here. We?—
We were trapped.
A fist squeezed around my lungs. I struggled to breathe, drawing in a single, gasping breath before my vision flickered. Icouldn’t move my fingers. Slowly, I fell down the mountain of boulders, sharp edges snagging my skin and clothes. Gray spots appeared in my line of sight, and I blinked them away with another ragged inhale.
“Thorne. Thorne!” a distant voice yelled. Soft hands found my neck, but all I could see were gray stone walls closing in, crushing me, crushingher, crushing my daughter…
Blonde hair haloed by the glow of the torch hovered before me, blurry and glimmering like a mirage. Lips moved, and while I couldn’t understand what she was saying, I kept my eyes focused on her. Her, and not the image of the mountain slowly collapsing. Her, and not the idea of my little girl stuck behind layers of solid rock. Her, and not the air being sucked from my body with every labored breath.
Just her.
“Thorne, can you hear me?” Clarissa asked.
I nodded as a cough racked through me, making my vision sway. But her hands kept me upright.
“Listen to me. You’re alive. You’re okay.We’reokay. We’re going to get out of here, but you need to breathe.” She wasn’t panicked, only resolved. A safe, strong beacon in a sea of darkness.
I took a deep breath, and suddenly it was as if I couldn’t breathe fast enough. My chest expanded and contracted as my lungs tried to catch up. Air swooped in and out of my nose faster than I could control it, my pulse pounding to the rhythm of half-formed thoughts flying around my head.
Marigold.
Breathe.
The cave.
Breathe.
Not enough air.
Breathe.
Crushing.
The back of my legs hit the floor as my spinecrashed into the wall of rock. My hands grappled for anything,anythingto hold on to, and they landed on something soft and smooth.
“Thorne, please. Please look at me,” Clarissa pleaded, her voice now lined with a hint of fear. “I’m trying to help you. I need you to stay with me.” A weight landed on my thighs. Her face came back into focus, those dark eyes glittering like onyx in flames, beautiful lips turned down, with tendrils of blonde waves framing her cheeks. Hands cradled my neck as she breathed in and out, motioning for me to copy her.
“If you can hear me, tell me three things you can see,” she said shakily. “Just three things. Nothing else is here.”
I took another breath, slamming my eyes shut and opening them again to clear the haze. They landed on the lit torch to my right.Just three things.
“The fire,” I rasped, then forced my gaze onto the wall behind her, drowning out everything else. “A—A diamond.” It was peeking out from the edge of a rock, caked in dirt but giving off a faint shine.
My eyes flicked back to her. “You.”
She nodded. “Good. You’re doing so good. It’s going to be okay. Tell me two things you can feel,” she said in a whisper, her hands trembling at my neck and cheek.
