He doesn't say anything, just allows me to say goodbye to the island in peace. I'm glad to have something to look forward to. I can feel in my soul that I will return to Ophis Isle again.
Before long, our ship is anchored as close as it can to the shore where the hidden opening to the tunnel sits behind two large boulders. We use the tender to row groups of us to land one at a time.
I'm in the first group, along with Lavinia, Shreya, and a few others. We set to work moving the boulders to expose the entrance right away.
The gaping mouth of the tunnel stares back at me. I'm frozen, unable to make myself step into the dark.
“Afraid of the big bad tunnels?” Shreya asks, the sneer twisting her face and the shadows haunting her eyes smack me with a different fear.
I want to reach out and grab her hand. I want to tell her I'm sorry, but before I can, she disappears into the tunnel.
A small, soft hand takes mine. “You okay?” Lavinia asks.
I turn to face the ocean, gauging how far off the tender is and trying to discern whether Raiden is in the next group or not. They're too far out to tell for sure, but if I know him, he's going to be the last one off that ship.
“Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Let's wait here for everyone else to come through.” My friend grins at me.
Ten groups of fae arrive on the beach and head into the tunnel before, finally, the last group comes ashore. My mate and Baltas help the group out of the little boat and send it back with a member of the skeletal crew we're leaving behind with the ship.
“You waited,” Raiden says, wrapping me in a hug and kissing my forehead.
“I'd wait for you forever,” I tell him.
“Don't let her fool you,” Lavinia says. “She only waited so the two of you would be there to protect us in the creepy ass tunnel.”
I pinch her in the arm. “That's not true!”
“Hey!” she squeals and runs for the mouth of the tunnel laughing.
Then she disappears into the dark, and the cavern swallows her whole.
Unparalleled, irrational fear washes over me, and I take off after my friend. Raiden and Baltas shout behind me, but their voices are muted by the wind and the thudding of my heart in my ears.
I hit the tunnel and skid over a layer of small rocks and sand that sit on the surface of the tunnel floor, landing on my ass.
“Lavinia!” I yell into the cavern, but only my echo responds, and then silence.
Strong hands pull me to my feet.
“She's fine,” Raiden whispers. “This is classic Liv, and I'm sure she's waiting in the shadows to jump out at us at any second.”
That does not make me feel better.
“I fucking hate this place,” I say, and Baltas' deep laugh follows.
We walk a little while in silence. The first part of the tunnel was unaffected by the collapse, but the deeper we move, the clearer the damage becomes.
Piles of rocks line the path where huge pieces of black rock have fallen from above, narrowing the tunnels, and forcing us to walk one at a time.
The walls are scarred and stalactites no longer hang overhead. The stalagmites shooting up from the ground have been crushed or snapped off at the middle.
The damage goes on and on. We walk for so long that I've almost forgotten my search for Lavinia when she pops out from a pile of boulders, and I all but jump out of my skin.
“You're lucky I didn't punch you in the face! Why would you do that to me?” I yell at her while the males laugh.
In the dark, I can barely make out her wagging brows. “It worked, didn't it?”
I want to strangle her a bit. “Am I so easy to read?”
