I want to know everything he’s been hiding from me since the moment we met.
All his secrets. All his lies. All his truths.
But I will have none of them until he’s healed.
Gritting my teeth, I lower him to the ground, and then drag him back onto the stretcher. I do my best to retie the material he tore. Luckily, I fastened the original knots with plenty of material to spare.
Once he’s secured, I continue our journey across the rocky plane, fighting exhaustion with every step I take.
The moon is rising by the time I reach the edge of the mountains. The incline is steep, and multiple times, I nearly lose my footing, sending stones clattering down the hilly landscape behind me.
The pass through the mountains finally looms in front of me. It’s about twenty paces wide, and cliff faces soar up on either side of it. The path is not straight, curving along the ground and leading to what appears to be a sharp turn, beyond which I can’t see what lies ahead. The cliff faces on both sides are jagged, not smooth, but at least the path is wide enough that I won’t brush up against of them.
Thaden said there would be caverns on the right-hand side and that he and my siblings would shelter at the entrance to one of them so I could find them easily.
The promise of reaching my family drives me onward.
Once I get to them, I will be able to remove the life-sustaining titanium from the Vandawolf’s body, my sister will heal him, and then we will all be free to choose our future.
Of course, I’m forgetting the band now welded to my hand, but I promise myself I will figure out a way to be rid of it, even if it means losing my power altogether.
I shudder at the possibility that it may require removing my hand, but I’ll face that decision if it comes to it.
For now, this power is keeping me alive.
An hour later, I finally approach the first cavern on the right-hand side of the pass. My heart leaps when I see its shadowed entrance and hope quickens my footsteps.
My heart sinks when I peer inside it. The cavern is shallow, extending no more than thirty paces into the cliff face, so it’s easy to see…
It’s empty.
I fight my sinking heart and carefully place the stretcher on the ground, freeing up my left hand to press it to the ground. It’s how I’ve always detected the location of a rising monster and, early this morning, I also detected my sister’s presence this way.
It only works if my brother or sister has awakened their tools and is wearing them, but now that I’ve reached the first cavern, it’s worth trying.
I pray for a streak of energy to travel toward me through the ground, but nothing happens.
Perhaps it’s a relief that neither of my siblings has awakened their medallions. If they had done so, it could mean they were in danger.
I force myself to move on.
The next cavern is deeper, and I have to veer inside it to ascertain that it, too, is empty.
I try to bring moisture to my dry lips as I drag myself and the Vandawolf away from the opening and continue along the pass, my hope draining with every step I take.
My footfalls are stumbling and, above me, the moon has risen high by the time I reach what must be the fifth cavern, this one appearing much deeper than the others.
Again, the cavern is empty at its mouth—but this time, I make out the sound of trickling water within it.
I need water.
I immediately swerve inside the entrance, trying to see what dangers could lie in the shadows that fill the space beyond the edge of the moonlight.
When I call out softly, “Hello?” my voice echoes into the distance.
Nothing stirs.
As the sound of my voice fades, there is only silence.
