Zuko and Raze smirked at each other and struck fast, blades flashing as they pulled out two identical daggers. In ten brutal seconds, the cavern floor was painted with the slugs’ glowing insides.
Zuko stood panting, knife dripping. “Gross.”
Raze wiped goo from his face and muttered, “Disgusting.”
“Did you two get matching daggers?” Slater cooed. “How cute.”
“Best friend daggers are cool,” Raze muttered in his defense.
“I love them,” Zuko assured him, and I couldn’t help but giggle.
How cute.
The path narrowed as we went deeper.
Fae glyphs crawled across the walls, shifting, rearranging, trying to trap us in a maze of illusion magic.
Dimitri took the lead, narrowing his eyes at the glyphs. He seemed to understand them in a way I couldn’t. “This way,” he said, voice low, and we followed, step by step, through fae traps that would have crushed us if we’d fucked up.
Koa kept the dark at bay the entire time. His phoenix fire was mesmerizing. It burned hot and wild, searing against the cavern walls.
When Hawk stumbled, coughing blood from being hit by a rock projectile, Koa pressed his blue flames to him and healed him until Hawk could breathe again.
“Should be just behind this door,” Slater told us as Snakey hissed.
The path ended at a slab of carved stone, massive and completely out of place. It didn’t sit in the cavern—itgrewout of it. Veins of crystal threaded through its surface like arteries.
This cave was more alive than I had expected. The air hummed around the door, low and steady, vibrating in our chests.
It was sentient.
“How the fuck do we communicate with a door?” I asked, frowning.
“Shh.” Eleanor tilted her head. Her doe-brown eyes shimmered faintly, unblinking. She whispered, “It’s listening.”
This was why Eleanor was slotted as an envoy.
Lorian stepped forward, shoulders squared. His voice was deep, steady, meant for negotiation but ready for battle. “We’re travelers,” he introduced slowly. “We seek what’s beyond, nothing more.”
The door’s carvings rippled, and the hum deepened.
Eleanor exhaled softly. “You’ve stood here a long time, I’m sure.” She reached her hand toward the stone, not touching it, but close enough that the glow of her aura brushed the surface. “You’re tired of standing alone, aren’t you?”
The door groaned, stone grinding against stone.
“We honor your dedication,” Lorian added. His words were careful, each one a weight. “But let us pass, and your watch will not be broken. We’ll disturb nothing that doesn’t need disturbing.”
For a long moment, the cavern held its breath. Fae magic crawled over my skin, pressing against my teeth until my fangs ached with the vibration.
The door shivered and exhaled with a rush of warm air from nowhere.“You may pass.”
Stone split, the edges grinding apart, and the tunnel revealed itself.
Aura lingered toward the back of our group as we moved forward. She never took her eyes off Hawk, her fingers twitching with sparks of imp-magic like she was ready for him to detonate at any second.
But she didn’t say anything.
Finally, the cavern opened wide.
