We rush out of the shuttle and into the cave. The wind howls at our backs, reaching into the entrance with grasping fingers of sand and grit. But we move fast, following the path deeper intothe earth, and soon the sound of the storm begins to fade behind us.
By the time we reach the springs, we can barely hear it at all. It's a distant rumble, like thunder from very far away.
"There." I point to an alcove off the main cavern, a protected hollow in the rock wall that is about twenty feet from the edge of the glowing pool. "That will be a good spot for a shelter."
Cody sets up a compact tent, then we arrange the bedding inside. The mattress pads go down first, then the blankets, then the pillows. When we are finished, it looks almost cozy.
Cody positions the subsonic emitter near our shelter. Probably unnecessary this deep in the cave, but he is not one to take chances. While he does that, I unpack the emergency lanterns and set several of them on nearby rocks, spacing them so their glow reaches both the shelter entrance and the edge of the pool. The cavern transforms around us as each one flickers to life, the pale blue shimmer of the springs brightening in the growing light, steam catching the glow in slow, drifting ribbons.
I turn back to our supplies. I count out our ration kits, set the med kit inside our shelter entrance, and position the backup power cells nearby. I also set out a water purifier. The springs have healing properties, but I am not certain the water is safe to drink.
The light filtering through the fissures has dimmed as the storm swallows the sky above.
When everything is arranged, we stand side by side at the edge of the main pool. In the muted lantern light, the water shimmers pale blue.
"Well," Cody says eventually. "This isn't how I expected the evening to go."
I lean into his side, and his arm comes around me automatically. "No. But perhaps it is not so bad."
"Trapped in a magical underground cave with a beautiful woman? No, I guess it isn't."
The storm rumbles above us, muffled by tons of rock. Down here, in the soft blue-green glow of the springs, we are safe. We are together.
"Thank you," I say again. "For all of it. For bringing me here. For getting us to safety. For…"
"For what?"
I turn to face him, looking up into those sky-blue eyes that have come to mean so much to me in such a short time.
"For seeing me," I say. "For making me feel like myself again."
He cups my face in his hands, gentle and sure, and presses a kiss to my forehead.
"Always," he says.
CHAPTER 12
Cody
A'Vanti grimaces beside me, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She plucks at the front of her shirt, shaking it, and a small cascade of fine golden sand pours out.
"I am itchy," she announces with a scowl. She reaches behind her back, trying to scratch between her shoulder blades. "I feel as though the entire desert followed us inside."
I bite back a grin. There's something endearing about watching someone who carries herself with such effortless grace waging a losing battle against sand. "Yeah, I've got sand in unmentionable places."
She gives me a withering look, the kind that would send most people scrambling to fix whatever they'd done wrong. But I catch the tiny twitch at the corner of her mouth.
"I want to bathe," she says, turning toward the glowing pool. Steam curls off the surface, pale and lazy. "I need to get this sand off my skin before I lose my mind."
My brain helpfully supplies an image of A'Vanti slipping into that water, and I have to look away for a second to get my thoughts in order.
Because the pool is right there, shimmering and warm and inviting. And she's talking about bathing. And we are very much alone, with a sandstorm sealing us in and no one else for miles.
"I can, uh—" I gesture vaguely toward the shelter. "I can go sit in there. Give you some privacy. Or I can head back up toward the cave entrance if you want more privacy."
A'Vanti goes still. She turns to look at me. Her eyes study my face with an intensity that makes my pulse kick up a notch. It's the kind of look that sees past the surface, past the easy jokes and the grin, down to whatever's underneath.
"Cody." She says my name like she's testing the weight of it. "I think we are past that."
