The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the sound of Kaelen’s heavy, rasping breathing and the softplinkof a pebble falling from the ceiling to bounce off his chest.
I stared at him. His wings looked scrunched up against the rock like a broken umbrella shoved into a container that was too small. His furious, soot-stained face was red with exertion and indignation.
I saw all that, and I laughed.
It bubbled up from my gut, unbidden and unstoppable. It was the laughter of hysteria, of exhaustion, of the absolute, crushing absurdity of the universe. I doubled over, hands on my knees, wheezing as the tension in my chest uncoiled.
"You..." I gasped, pointing a shaking finger at him. "You look like a turtle."
Kaelen stopped thrashing. He went perfectly still. He glared at me, his eyes burning with enough heat to melt lead. "Help. Me. Up."
"A turtle!" I howled, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. "A grand, scaly turtle flipped onto its back in a ditch. Oh, gods, Kaelen. Is this your battle form? Is this how we conquer Olympus? We just wedge ourselves in doorways until they give up out of pity?"
"I will incinerate you," Kaelen hissed, his voice dropping to a dangerous, draconic register. He strained, veins popping in his neck, finally retracting the appendages. The wings dissolved into golden smoke that was sucked back into his skin, leaving the back of his grey tunic completely shredded. "I will turn you into a pelt, Wolf."
"You have to catch me first," I choked out, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. "And considering you just lost a fight with a stationary wall..."
A sound came from the floor. A small, bubbling snort.
I looked down. Aria was crouched, clutching her ribs, her hand covering her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking.
She giggled. It was a wet, ragged sound, bordering on tears, but it was definitely a giggle.
"He did," she managed, her amethyst eyes dancing with a manic, exhausted light she hadn't possessed thirty seconds ago. "He looked exactly like a turtle."
Kaelen froze. He looked at me, his jaw set, then down at Aria. He opened his mouth to roar, to assert his dominance, to remind us who he was and the gravity of our situation. But then he saw it. The terror in her eyes, the reflection of the teal light, had receded, washed away by the sheer stupidity of the moment. The paralytic fear caused by the beacon had broken.
His shoulders slumped. A long, suffering sigh escaped his nose, accompanied by a small puff of grey smoke.
"Fine," he grumbled, rolling onto his side and pushing himself up with a groan. The pout on his face was legendary. It was the pout of an emperor who had tripped on his own coronation robe. "Mock the dragon. See if I share my hoard next time."
He stood up, dusting himself off with aggressive dignity, though I noticed the tips of his ears were tinged a deep pink. He reached down and hauled Aria to her feet, his hands gentle despite his annoyance, giving her a quick, clinically possessing scan for injuries.
"Are you broken?" he muttered, brushing a strand of dark hair from her face, his thumb lingering on her cheekbone.
"Just my dignity," she said, leaning into his touch, a fresh, genuine smile tugging at her lips. "And maybe a rib from laughing."
"Hmph." Kaelen straightened his shredded tunic, trying to regain his stature. "We’re moving. But walking. No more running."
"Good plan, Turtle," I said, clapping him solidly on the back.
He swatted my hand away with a snarl, but the ozone stench of his panic had faded, replaced by the smell of burnt dust, old stone, and embarrassment. It was a vast improvement.
We walked the rest of the way to the Cradle in silence, but the air was lighter. The suffocating weight of the immediate threat had been pushed back just enough to breathe.
When the tunnel finally opened back up into the vast cavern of the Cradle, the sense of gloomy safety washed over me. It was a massive hollow in the earth, dominated by a subterranean lake of ink-black water that acted as a mirror for the few luminescent fungi clinging to the stalactites high above.
The water was still, disturbed only by the Skal, Steve, I think Aria called it, waiting by the entrance. The ugly little creatureclacked its mandibles in greeting, its unblinking eyes tracking us.
We gathered near the obsidian amplifier in the center of the cavern floor. It was a jagged spire of black glass that seemed to drink the light, humming in the dark with a low, hungry sound that vibrated in the soles of my stolen boots. It reminded me exactly why we were here.
Kaelen stopped, turning to face Aria. The humor of the tunnel evaporated instantly, replaced by that intense, driving need. He looked at the amplifier, pulsing with its dormant potential, then at her.
"We are here," he said, his voice tight. "We are hidden. But for how long? We need to do this, Aria. Tonight."
I stepped between them again, holding up a hand before he could loom over her.
"Stop," I said. My voice was calm this time, grounded in the earth rather than the hunt. "Kaelen, look at me."
