I give a time orb to Raef and Gaethri. Meela and I already have one. “Meet right back here by the time the flame reaches the third lowest line.”
They nod, taking it and turning away. I give Meela one last encouraging smile. “See you soon.”
“Yep.”
Everyone picks a tunnel. Daegan and I end up on the right, and we start our journey.
“You better not try to make out with me down here, Gaethri.” I hear the echo of Raef’s voice from their tunnel, but it already sounds incredibly distant.
An exacerbated sound follows, and I giggle to myself.
Then it becomes deathly silent.
We are truly alone down here.
Daegan has me walk in front of him, but he follows close behind. A long stretch of silence passes with nothing to look at but dark gray walls with black vines still crawling in every direction.
When I can’t take it anymore, I speak.
“You can ease up a little, you know.”
“What do you mean?” he mutters.
“I’m not that essential to the mission anymore. You guys know everything I know. If I die, you can just take Maethrel’s blood from my neck and continue on without me.”
“That’s not funny.”
“It’s not supposed to be funny. It’s just true.”
“It’s not.”
“Well, you’re wrong. And I stand by it. You can ease up. People are going to think… I don’t know.”
“I don’t give a fuck what people think.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to go with Raef?”
He lets out an exasperated sigh. “Raef can take care of himself.”
“And I can’t?”
“You’re not trained.”
“Raef almost died in the woods. I survived.”
“I’m not chancing it,” he says quietly.
“Maethrel told you something about me, huh? Something that makes me important.”
“No. It’s not about that.”
I whirl around, holding out my arms in annoyance. “Then what? Please enlighten me on why I’m so special, why I need you as a personal bodyguard, because I’m not getting it. I don’t know why you give a fuck.”
He stops, looking into my eyes. His jaw ticks. “Because I’m a selfish fucking bastard. That’s why.”
I scrunch my eyebrows at him. “Yeah, I’m aware, but that’s still not an answer. That’s just… even more confusing.”
He pulls in a deep breath through his nose. “Can we just get through this and then we can talk? Later?”
