“Yeah, I think so. I mean, I haven’t seen much of your world at all, so I could be wrong. But if you don’t know what any of those things are, then yeah, it’s likely this is similar to my world’s past. But she was clear about this being another realm, not a parallel one. So I have a feeling that there’ll be quite a few differences. We never had giant birds people could fly on. Also, in my world,if I told somebody that I came through a portal and replaced an identical version of me, people would think I’m crazy and probably put me in an insane asylum. You two seem to be taking it pretty easily.”
“I’m not so sure that’s how everybody here would take it. But I know you wouldn’t lie to me, so I have to believe you.”
“Me too, Baby.” I squeeze her hips for good measure. “ Now, tell us about that… phone you’re holding. It’s a portable light?”
“That’s just one of the things it can do. Its main function is a phone. Which is a device that can be used to call anybody else who has one. In my world, basically everybody carries one of them with them so you can contact anybody no matter where they are.”
“Wow, that sounds amazing. We need those here for sure.”
“Yeah, they’re pretty cool. But people get caught up in them too much these days. There’s so many other things you can do on the phone that people tend to use them instead of having genuine connections with people.”
“That’s kind of sad, I can’t even imagine that. What else can you do on it?”
“Two of the main things are playing games and social media. That’s like umm… how do I explain it? Do you ever have village meetings that everybody attends? Where everybody can talk about upcoming stuff or air out their grievances or something like that?”
“Yes, we call them community village gatherings.”
“Okay, well, imagine that you could have these gatherings without leaving your house or even seeing each other. From your phone you can write out comments and other people can add comments to it, and you see it almost instantly. It’s like a document that everybody can access on their own phone. It’s really hard to explain without you understanding what the internet is.”
“It sounds pretty complicated, but interesting. Your world must be so different from this one,” I tell her.
“Yeah, I think it might be.”
“Do you… do you think you want to go back there? Knowing what you’re missing now?” I can feel my heartbeat pick up as I wait for her answer.
She bites her lip before shaking her head, and I sigh out a breath of relief. “No, there’s nothing back there for me now. Besides, my fairy godmother told me it was a one-way ticket.”
“Does that make you sad? Being stuck here?”
She looks at me before turning the light to Ryker’s face, where he’s now sitting upright beside us.
“Not if I have you two with me.”
Ryker reaches out to caress her cheek before pulling her face to his in a gentle kiss. As he pulls back, I squeeze her hips and command her, “Come here, Baby.”
She presses her hands to my chest and leans down to kiss me. Fuck, this woman already meant everything to me.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
RYKER
After Penny explained that her light is only going to last for so long before it dies, we decided to quickly explore the tunnel to see if we can find a way out. Luckily it’s a bit larger than it looked and we have ample headroom to stand, even Brax, at his towering height.
Penny insists on leading the way, but thankfully, Brax refuses, getting her to give him her light so he can lead the way. She holds both our hands as she walks between us with me at the rear. We’re quiet as we move through the tunnel, I’m not sure if they’re worried about what we might find down here or just trying to listenfor some signs of life. But I’d be a liar if I denied I was a little worried. Who knew what lived in these caves. Luckily, we hadn’t seen any signs of life yet.
I was totally out of my depth protecting Penny down here, I only had my instincts to rely on. Anything to do with skyreachers, that was definitely my wheelhouse. I was also pretty good with a bow and arrow. But down here, unarmed in this dark tunnel, I was man enough to admit that I was really happy we had Brax with us. My girl needs all the safety she can get. I have a feeling that jumping on Harriet was not the most extreme thing I’d see from her, and I needed to make sure she was always kept safe.
It feels like we’ve been walking for hours when Brax’s voice breaks the silence.
“I think I see something.”
“Give me the phone, I’ll turn off the light.”
He hands her the phone, and she makes quick work of turning off the light. We all stay still, letting our eyes adjust to the new darkness. I step up behind her, watching the path in front of us, trying to see what Brax saw.
I wrap my arms around her shoulders and pull her close, pressing my lips to the side of her head. I can’t seem to stop myself from touching her. She grips my forearm, giving me a small squeeze as we wait for our eyes to adjust.
“There,” Brax says, and I realize I can make out his arm pointing in front of us. I couldn’t make anything out before, so there must be some source of light.
