With every rattling breath the night, the cave, the cold, the tide came whooshing back to me. My chest rose and fell sharply. It had just been a vision, and during it, at some point, the power holding the sea back had folded, and now the water was rushing in.
The grottos overflowed. The waves crashed overhead. I had to leave now.
I crawled out of the pool like a dripping swamp monster, pausing on the bank. Angry surf rammed the cavern’s entrance, the current stealthy and sweeping, sucking up every little thing in its path. And with the—acid singed my throat—ghosts lurking in the murky shallows, I couldn’t imagine even attempting to go that way.
I turned the other direction, where the path meandered into a pit of black, the Pearl of Truth lighting my way. The symbols on the wall were little more than fuzzy wisps of color as I passed them, faintly glimmering like a mirage.
Back here, the darkness was palpable, a sentient thing. It was the essence that filled this cave, watchful, illusory. I swore the chill running up my spine was actually a claw.
No way I’d turn around to confirm it.
Out of sight, out of mind. My useless mantra did nothing to tame the fear, but at least it kept my legs chugging forward.
Ahead, the path split in two. Footsteps slowing, I held up the Pearl, bathing the chamber in light. Someone else had been here and lit the candles, and no one in their right mind would choose to dive through those waters. One of these forks must lead out.
Nothing major stood out in either tunnel; they were both old and musty, both carved into the rock. I shifted towards the one on the left.
The ever-burning light in the artifact sputtered, shadows flickering over the walls. Heart thrashing against my ribs, I backed away, its luminance growing steady once more as I turned to the right.
Well, that settled that.
Turning away from one hungry maw of darkness to the other, my quick feet padded over the dirt. That sensation, someone—something—was watching, listening, breathing on me never left. I couldn’t shake it, not until I crawled through a narrow shaft, squeezed through a smaller hole, and stumbled into the starlight.
Head swiveling, I was able to gather the gist of where I’d ended up: on the sloped top of the cave, where it met the bluffs. I was out, but I couldn’t call myself safe, not yet.
Grasping onto roots and rocks, I snaked along the crumbling wall. Goosebumps flooded my skin. The other tunnel must go deep inside the earth. I definitely wouldn’t be exploring that one anytime soon.
The fog had dissipated, thank God. If I didn’t have a clear view of the bridges, there was no doubt in my mind I’d slip and fall into the raging sea below.
I rounded a corner, my stomach tumbling at a precarious drop-off. A white circle whizzed over the tide pools like a shooting star—a snarling, spitting thing clambered after it.
What the?—?
The dwarf’s cackle drifted in the air, his shoulders bouncing up and down with mirth.
He was throwing his jawbreakers across the rock as if they were tennis balls.
The pathetic flock of scuttlers jumped away from his candy projectiles, chomping at each other, stains of sugary dye dripping down their damp, onyx skin.
Even with his back to me, I could just feel Nemuik’s diabolical, toothy smile.
“I thought those were for emergency measures,” I deadpanned.
Spine stiffening, he stole a glance back at me, and the color drained from his face.
Once he seemed to determine I wasn’t a ghost, he cleared his throat. “Jus’ tryin’ to pass te time. Ye took bloody hours in tere.”
“Here.” I thrust the artifact into his grasp. The second it met his hands, my tattoo flared one final time. A farewell. “It’s done.”
“I’ll be damned.” Awe softened his hard expression. “Te Pearl of Truth.”
A twinge of sourness curdled my insides as I watched him fawn over it like that. Mine—it was mine. The urge to steal it out of his hands was almost paralyzing. My gaze zeroed in on him, as if he were a target I needed to dispatch.
I staggered back.
It was just the pull of the tattoo, I told myself, just its magic diluting my emotions in a heady aftershock.
I breathed deep. With every crash of the waves, every inhale of salt, the painful wanting faded from my body. It wasn’t mine. I exhaled. I had no claim to it.
