“The vines in there will catch too!” Meela yells.
“Just trust me!” I say in a rush. The flames from the other tunnel are getting closer. “If we run for the exit, we’re leaving them both to die down there.”
They follow me with no further questions into the narrower tunnel that Raef and Gaethri should still be down. I stop just inside of it, motioning them behind me with haste.I face the opening to their tunnel and throw up a swirling wall of water that completely seals the entrance. I can only hope this holds the flames back, and that it passes to the cave exit and fizzles out.
I hear a gasp behind me as I watch the blurry lights of the fire fill the cavern on the other side of my water wall. I suck in a breath, sending all of my concentration into maintaining it. As the orange lights on the other side grow bigger and more intense, the silence on this side seems eerie, like we’re inside of a dream.
The flames touch my water wall, nearly penetrating it, so I freeze the wall into solid ice. I can sense the flames still trying to melt it from the other side, so I pour all of my focus and energy into maintaining it.
It’s working.
That’s the first victory. Now we just have to hope the flame passes quickly and fizzles out.
“It’s working,” Rhydra says with awe.
“I don’t know how long I can hold it,” I admit, my voice coming out strained.
“You can do this, Elle.” It’s Daegan’s calming voice. It gives me the boost I need to push through, summoning more power deep within me. “Do it for the wolves. The Skeldaryns. The Dothronites.”
“And the dragons,” Meela adds.
“And the rest of the world,” Rhydra says.
I can sense the heat on the other side of my ice wall fading. If I can just hold on a little longer…
“What the—”
I almost break my concentration as Raef’s voice sends a shock through me. But then I smile, choking on a sob.
“Gaethri too?” I ask, still holding out my hands to keep the ice wall intact.
“Aye.”
I hear a “shh” behind me, but I don’t know who from.
The heat is receding. I can tell it’s almost burned out in the main cavern now, traveling farther toward the entrance. Eventually, we’ll be in the clear to leave. I hope.
Just to be sure, I melt the ice but maintain the water wall so I can see to the other side better. No flames are visible on the other side.
I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I know exactly whose it is. “You can let go.”
So I do.
And then I collapse into darkness.
Chapter 38
I wake in darkness.
I’m in a highly uncomfortable bed. No, wait. I’m on a cold, hard ground.
And I smell him.
I look around, and the first face I see is Rhydra’s. She’s sleeping on the ground across the cave, with Gaethri close by. He’s also asleep. And he does, in fact, snore.
Suddenly, panic washes over me, and I sit up.
Why are we sleeping in a cave?
