“You okay?” Thane asks, stroking my jaw with his fingertips.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I answer, though my hands are still shaking.
He studies me thoroughly, cupping one half of my face. When he accepts that I’m all right, he sighs and drops his hands. “Okay. Come on. Can’t waste any more time here.”
Algar pulls the sphere from his pocket as he blows out a relieved breath. “To the right, it says.”
Even though my legs feel like liquid, I follow him and the others. I have a feeling those serpents and six-eyed creatures were only the start of our problems.
There’s more out there. I canfeelit.
Hopefully, we make it to the temple before anything else notices we’re around.
Chapter 51
Farther along, the air thickens and the temperature increases, producing a tiring humidity. The fabric of my tunic sticks to my back as a wave of thirst strikes me.
We trudge through the sand, half expecting something to pop out of it and grab us, but the Kelvanite Sphere keeps us from encountering any other danger. We follow Algar’s lead as he clings to the sphere. My boots sink with each step, and there are times I have to really yank my leg up so my foot comes out.
Algar hobbles a few more yards before stopping.
“Orvena bless,” I breathe, pressing my hands on my knees and drawing in a few deep breaths.
Algar studies the orb when Rynthea and I join him. We pull out our canteens to take a few swigs of water. As I swipe my hand over the back of my mouth, Thane meets up with us, and we all release a sigh as we stare at our next grueling challenge ahead.
The trees no longer stand upright but tilt forward like blown candles. I spot another cluster of trees at the very bottom of a deep, wide crater that only several large explosions could have made.
We’re at the rim of the bowl. I now understand how the island has gotten its name—from the shallow pit in the middle of it.
It’s here where the Temple of Elphar lies silent—ominous.
It’s where we need to be.
“There.” Thane points at the broken tips of a tan stone building swallowed up by trees in the distance. “That’s the Temple of Elphar.”
I feel my heartbeat pick up speed. We’resoclose. I can’t believe this. Are we really going to make it? Orvena must be listening to my prayers.
Something red flashes in the corner of my eye, and I look at the sphere in Algar’s hand. The arrow is pointing to the left, in warning.
“What’s this thing doing?” Algar gives the sphere a shake. “Maybe its time has run out.”
Thane takes the sphere from him before facing the area it’s pointing to. “It’s giving us a warning.” Thane takes another step and squints his eyes. “There are stairs that way, but we shouldn’t take them.” The sphere flashes green again, and Thane faces the crater. “It’s pointing ahead. We have to go straight down.”
“Well, let’s go.” Rynthea hikes her rucksack higher on her shoulders and starts the march forward, entering the crater. This time, Thane hands the sphere to me.
“You good holding on to it?”
“Sure.” I cradle it in my hands, following him down the steep hill.
“Careful,” Thane calls to me over his shoulder. “Watch your footing.”
“Okay.” I walk slowly, digging the heels of my boots into the dirt with each step to keep myself grounded. I hold the sphere close to my chest, my pulse thrumming, hope swelling in my chest. The hill levels out the farther down we go, but then I make the foolish mistake of looking up to see how close we are to the temple and my foot slips. I let out a sharp gasp and fall on one knee before completely rolling downhill.
“Zaira!” Thane shouts. I try to stop myself by digging my fingers into the dirt, but with every roll, my efforts to stop myself become more useless. I’m falling too hard, too fast. My head hits the ground several times. I hear a loudcrackand squeeze my eyes shut. Then a hot, familiar grip wraps around the upper half of my body and brings me to an abrupt stop.
Groaning, I lie on the ground for a second, staring up at the hazy, milk-gray sky. I wait for the pain to flood my body…but nothing comes. That crack must have been a broken bone, right?
Seconds later, Thane and Rynthea are hovering above me.
