When I opened my eyes the world was bathed in a blue glow and I saw a hole in the rock ceiling about ten feet above me that I must have fallen through.
How could I see? Where was that blue light coming from?
I tried to suck in a lungful of air, but immediately started choking on rock dust. When my coughs finally subsided, I sat up and looked down at myself to find I was covered in dust from head to toe. I ached all over and had some scrapes, but I didn’t see any gushing wounds and was able to wiggle all my fingers and toes, which I took as a good sign that nothing that broken.
Gingerly, I pushed myself to my feet. The sand was probably the only reason that the fall hadn’t left me a broken and bloody mess, so I was thankful for it.
My muscles and bones protested as I straightened. Come tomorrow,I’d definitely be covered in bruises, but the truth was I was lucky to still be alive.
Turning to take stock of my surroundings, I caught my breath. I was in a cavern, lit by glowing blue stones embedded in the rock wall, ceiling, and ground. In the middle of the cavern in front of me was a large pool of crystal-clear water.
I rushed over to it and immediately cupped my hands and brought the water to my mouth to drink. It was fresh as if it had come from a spring and tasted clean. When I’d had my fill, I splashed my face and scrubbed my hands the best I could and then stepped back to take a better look at my situation.
The cavern was breathtaking. The blue glow from the stones almost gave it an ice grotto feel, except the temperature was warm and balmy. In truth, I’d never seen anything like it. On this second look, my eye was drawn to the back wall on the other side of the pond where it looked like there was a concentrated cluster of glowing stones.
I skirted the water, taking care of where I stepped on the uneven ground, to investigate. One nasty fall for the day was enough for me.
It didn’t take long to get to the spot with the cluster of luminescent stones, which turned out to be set deep into the cave’s stone wall in a circle shape that was about twice the size of my head. All of the brilliant blue stones were glowing except for the center of the circle cluster.
Reaching out, I realized that there was some sort of deep depression inside the circle cluster. An indentation that felt suspiciously like the shape of an anatomical heart.
Was this where the Shadow Heart had been? And if so, where was it now?
“It’s not here,” a deep voice said behind me and I spun, my heart hammering in my chest as if I was having an attack.
Stryker stood on the other side of the pond, staring back at me.
I blinked a few times, almost sure that I was imagining him, but as I remained frozen in shock, he moved toward me, ringing the pond like I had until he stood right in front of me.
Emotions swirled within me. Warring with each other. Part of me just wanted to jump into his arms, but the other part of me wanted to hurt him like he’d hurt me. I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there, torn.
“Are you all right?” he asked. His concerned gaze was nothing more than clinical as he looked me over from head to toe and back again, yet still it made my cheeks heat.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice hardly louder than a whisper.
Reaching out, Stryker tried to take my hand, but I pulled it away before he could touch me.
Hurt flashed across his face that he covered quickly. “I just wanted to make sure you are uninjured,” he said.
“I’m fine,” I snapped back and Stryker flinched. “How did you find me?”
“Zander contacted me and told me where you were headed,” he said, surprising me. “We can mentally communicate over large distances, my brothers and I. It drains our energy, so we only do it when it’s an emergency. When Dawn told him where you’d gone and what the Wise Ones had told you,he reached out to me. It’s not safe here. We have to go.”
It looked like Stryker was going to reach for me again, but he stopped himself this time. Wise man.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, lifting my chin. “The Wise Ones gave me a mission, and I intend to see it through.”
Turning, I started around the pond in the other direction, looking at the walls and the ground. Perhaps the Shadow Heart had fallen on the ground? Maybe the tremor had caused it to fall from its spot in the wall?
“Aribella, what are you doing?” Stryker asked from behind me. I knew he was following me, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of glancing back at him.
“Looking for the Shadow Heart.”
He sighed loudly, which just made my annoyance spike. “I already told you it’s not here.”
“How would you know?” I shot back.
“Because I’m the one who moved it.”
