My fingers trembled as I pressed my palms against the ground and stood, willing my body to stay upright. It was the only physical sign of the fear coursing through my body, and I hated it. I met his scowl, smothering it with anger.
“No one gave me instructions before abandoning me in the middle of nowhere,” I snapped. I was still on the brink of freezing to death, and he was standing there, unconcerned whether I lived or died.
He glared at me with an unblinking stare. “You’re no longer in your mountains, recruit. Watch your tongue.”
I glowered. That was for damn sure. I didn't know where the hell I was, but before I had a chance to speak, he walked away, his cloak gliding after him.
“What a prick,” someone said.
I glanced at a guy approaching me from over by the fire. He nodded in greeting before glancing at the armored man. “I’m Cody.”
He held out his hand.
I shook it awkwardly, noting the misty light of early dawn—I’d spent all night getting here. It was a miracle I didn’t freeze to death. “I’m Anna.”
The tension in his expression softened.
“Oh, good,” he muttered.
I raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Just relieved to find someone,” he glanced around and lowered his voice, “speaking English without an accent that I can’t understand.”
He grimaced. “Don’t get me wrong, I love meeting new people, but I’m partially deaf, and unfamiliar accents on top of that are damn near as hard for me as getting here was.”
“Oh,” I said, amused. “Are we the only ones from across the pond then?”
“We might be,” he chuckled. “I’m glad you got in. How was it out there?”
I shivered thinking about it and noticed his warm cloak that I had seen on many of the others in the camp.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, taking his cloak and throwing it around my shoulders. The warmth cocooned me, and I basked in its bliss. I mouthed a silent thank you before giving him a soft, grateful smile. Without his cloak, I noticed his casual clothing: a black jacket, jeans, and regular sneakers. His chivalrous move, familiar clothing choices, trustworthy-looking short red hair accompanied by freckles across his nose, and slight midwestern U.S. accent made him my new best friend.
“You look like you’ve been through it,” he said, his face scrunched into an empathetic smile.
I shuddered. “I was dumped in a blizzard, got lost in a cave, and then somehow found this,” I turned and gestured behind me, “exit from the…”
I stared at the rocky cliff face behind us, noting the many layers of sediment with no sign of a cave. I gaped as I walked over to it, sliding my hand against the cold stone. There had to be some mechanism that would reveal a hidden door.
“It was here; just now,” I said, running both hands across the stone.
Wasn’t it? Had the cold gotten into my brain?
I dropped my hands, convinced I must’ve passed out again and lost where I’d come in.
Cody stood there with his hands in his pockets. “This place is weird. I had a similar experience when I arrived. I slipped in the snow and fell into a ravine. I thought for sure I was dead, but when I got up, I was here.”
I shivered, still staring at the rocky wall. It’d be one thing if it were just me, but both of us got here mysteriously? I wasn’t hallucinating, right? These people were real, weren’t they?
I stuck my hand into my pocket, pulling out the riddle. I looked at him, reached out, and touched his arm. Yup, it was an arm. He raised an eyebrow and laughed nervously.
“Here, I used this too,” I said. “Did you have anything like this?”
He took it, squinting hard. “What language is that? I’ve never seen it before; it looks like Arabic, but it's too slanted and has far too many sharp angles.”
I took it, staring at the odd writing. He was right, it was in some language I certainly couldn’t read.
“This was in English before, I swear it was,” I said.
