He stops.
Charm and Orion untangle themselves and get Titus up in a sitting position. He’s breathing hard, but his eyes are clearer than they were.
“Are you listening?” Orion asks him.
Titus nods.
“Are you going to let us save your omega?” he says, gentler.
“Yes, I’m sorry, yes. Please help him. I’m sorry, please help,” Titus says, eyes watering.
“It will be alright. We’ll get him back to you,” Orion says.
He nods and presses his hands against his eyes.
They cautiously let go of him. Titus remains where he is, and Magnus tucks the sedative back in his pocket.
Orion nods at me and the last of the tension drains from my chest. I’m still not totally comfortable using my hiss to control someone, but having Orion’s approval helps, especially since he knows how it feels to be on the receiving end of it.
Now that everything’s settled, Magnus and Charm set up as our belayers. Cato, Henri, and I climb to the top of the rocks.
The boulders themselves seem to be stable enough, but they’re slippery with ice. We carefully walk to where the snow has been disturbed and shine our flashlights into the crevice, looking for any sign of Cassius.
There’s nothing but more gray rock. He must be wedged farther down.
“Can you see our lights?” Henri calls out to him.
“No, I don’t—wait. Wait, I think I saw it, go back,” he says.
We play light tag until we figure out at what point he can see it. The gap is narrow and wouldn’t be easy to navigate, but the jumble of boulders formed a cave system, so there might be another route. Cato and Henri check the larger crevices nearby while I stay above Cassius and coordinate between them.
“I can try to get myself upright again,” Cassius says as they search.
“No! Don’t do that. Just stay put for now. We’ll tell you if we need you to do anything,” Henri says.
We already determined Cassius is stuck on his back with his arms and legs wedged above him. He isn’t able to get leverage to readjust, which might be for the best since we don’t want him slipping further down.
Cassius agrees, and it’s several more minutes of Cato and Henri climbing up and down to see if there’s a way to get to him from the side.
I remain above the spot where he fell in—a gap just wide enough to fit an omega.
“There’s a hole further down, I’m going to check it to see if I can come up under him,” Henri says.
I frown.
“I saw another opening this way,” Cato says, and they start to move off.
“Wait. We’re wasting time. I’ll go down from here and see what I can do,” I say.
“It’s too narrow, I’m worried you’ll get wedged in there with him,” Henri says.
“I’m connected to our ropes. If I think I’m about to get stuck, I’ll have you pull me back up,” I reason.
“I trust your skills, I’m just concerned about the logistics. Titus said Cassius is about five and a half feet tall and slim, so similar to your size,” Henri says quietly so the other omega can’t hear. “He’s barely small enough to fit down there. I’m worried about what kind of shape he’s really in.”
“Let me go down and look at least, give us an idea of what we’re working with. I might be able to find a connecting cavity you can go through. Cassius is in the dark and doesn’t know what’s nearby. There could be a hole right next to him. Let me try. If it’s too risky, you can pull me back up,” I say just as quietly.
Henri still looks worried, but finally says, “Let me check with Orion.”
