She and Ethan were a team. They shared an unbreakable bond.
Then surely – after all the impossible things that have happened to me over the past few days – weshouldbe able to do something as seemingly impossible as finding this locket!
Feeling a little buoyed, she resumed her scan of the chasm below. They would find the locket somehow. Theyhadto. Curtis was counting on them.
Holding on tight to the pegasus’s mane, she leaned over slightly so that she could get a little closer. Not that a few inches were likely to make any difference, but, well, every little bit counted.
Seeming to understand what she was doing, Ethan brought them down a little lower again, so that his wingtips werepractically skimming the ground. Even though she completely trusted him to know what he was doing, it was a little hair-raising! The slightest miscalculation, and he could catch a wing and be sent tumbling.
Determined not to waste his effort, Chloe squinted into the gloom, doing her best to focus her eyes. She paid close attention to everything on their right, while Ethan, apparently reading her mind again, scanned everything on the left.
The gorge rushed by beneath her, rocks and scraggly plants flashing past, coming and going before she could even get a chance to fully look at each one.
Come on. You can do this.
And then –
It took a moment for her brain to catch up with her eyes, but then she registered it – a dull, silvery glint, barely there for even a split second.
No. It can’t be.
Surely not?
“There!” she called excitedly, pointing – and then the pegasus was wheeling in the air, coming back for another pass.
Chloe looked again, eyes zeroing in on the ledge where she thought she’d seen it. It was a long way down – at least twenty feet, if not more – and shrouded in shadows.
It’s not there,she thought despairingly, her stomach twisting.I imagined it.
The pegasus slowed and turned once more, coming in to land near the edge of the gorge. Chloe slid to the ground, despondent.
… And then found herself almost knocked off her feet as Ethan, now in human form, practically barreled into her, engulfing her in a giant bear hug.
“Huh?” she said, even as she enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her.
He pulled back a little, hands around her upper arms, and smiled at her. Not just smiled – butsmiled. It wasradiant.
Wow,she thought, dazed, her upset momentarily forgotten.That’s a good look for him.
“We did it!” he exclaimed. “Chloe, we saw it.Yousaw it.”
“Wait, what?” she said, confused. “No I didn’t. I thought I did, but it wasn’t there.”
Now it was Ethan’s turn to look confused. “Yes you did. It was harder for you to see the second time around because the sun had gone back behind the clouds, but because I knew where to look, the pegasus was able to spot it.”
“No way.” A lightness began to pass through Chloe’s body. Had they really done it? Had they located the locket that Eula had been looking for for so long? “Well… first things first. Let’s check it out properly. It could just be some other piece of metal that found its way down there. Let’s not get our hopes up too high just yet.”
“Sensible,” Ethan agreed.
Hitting upon an idea, Chloe edged closer to the edge of the gorge and pulled out her phone. She noticed that there was no signal – Kira had been correct about it being a dead zone, of course.
Looking over her shoulder nervously, she bit her lip.
“You won’t let me fall, right?”
Ethan pretended to consider, stroking his chin. “Well, Iwasplanning on it, but since you asked so nicely…”
“Jerk,” Chloe muttered affectionately, before getting down on her hands and knees, and then lying flat on her stomach. Even knowing that Ethan would catch her if she fell, standing at the edge of the gorge made her knees wobbly! She was quite happy to lie down and look a bit silly instead.
