Rocks tumbleand the tunnel shakes, but I see the Lasap hatch in front of us.
Even at dusk, the snow is horrifically bright after the pitch dark of the tunnel.
Risk shoves the hatch shut and spins the lock before taking large steps away from it, legs sinking into the fresh snow, and we follow.
Exactly like he said, a boom echoes behind us, and I spin back.
Dark yellow flame spews from the garage. A massive sheet of ice drops down, covering the hatch, and fire shoots out of the outpost windows far overhead.
We watch the destruction for a moment before we turn away. There’s nothing to salvage. No reason to try to put the fire out.
I feel a moment’s disappointment.
“I saved a few things before we left for the meeting,” I tell Arc, nodding toward the bikes’ hiding place.
Kissu waits for us in the snow beside them.
His fur is coated in the blue powder, and when he sits perfectly still, he could almost disappear.
“I know I’m missing half my suit.” Arc pauses, shaking his head. “No, I’m not going to take the time to change.”
Watching the one-sided conversation would be amusing if I wasn’t antsy.
“He knows where she is,” Arc says.
I pet the zurgle’s head. “Thank you for doing that. I know it wasn’t fun or safe.”
He puffs up his chest and sneezes.
“No one saw him. He’d like to remind you that he’s been hiding from the people in Calisan for long enough he can get around people whoaren’tlooking for him here.”
“Where are we going?” Risk pulls the cover off our bikes and Kissu hops onto Arc’s.
Arc exhales as he climbs on too and grabs his helmet. “Back where this all started.”
RISK
We park the bikes a distance away, trekking the rest on foot.
The snow is thick, floating down in heavy chunks, but it isn’t enough to obscure Kissu’s tracks, even when he gets further ahead of us than I’d like.
Following a zurgle who wants to be followed isn’t hard when we’ve been hunting the cavrinskh for so long.
I send a general message, letting the others know that no one was in our outpost, and tell them to let it burn. We all have more important things to worry about.
The entrance to the Maker’s lair is through a long, dark fissure that cuts beneath the lab he tortured us in.
“I’ve circled this caldera thousands of times,” Arc says. “How did I miss that he was here?”
“He might not have been. If he was working in the outer caldera most of the time…”
“I can’t hear anything inside. But Kissu is sure they’re here.”
“He probably coated the walls in Lasap to keep you out,” Shock guesses, my voice and mutation failing.
Chrysisinside. And she’s not scared. The bond is useful for so many things, but I’m most grateful for that right now.
Arc’s emotions through the bond though…
