The images flicker away, the last thing I remember is the van taking a track that led away from the pink water and into the forest beside it.
"Lu?" The hound is closer now, and rests his hand on my shoulder. I look down and see my claws have retracted.
My human fingers are caked in red clay.
“Hey, big guy. You’re shaking like you’re on your twentieth espresso. What’s going on?”
I turn to look at him. The hound-boy goes quiet.
What does he see in my face?
“Let’s give it a rest for tonight. We’ve done good, must be halfway there already. What do you say?”
If I could, I’d say we have to dig faster. Keep going until our claws bleed.
I shrug, but Maximus doesn’t take his hand off me.
—Lu? What’s going on? Max is worried about you—
Ah. He was talking to my nymph.
—Lu?—
Even words in my mind are difficult to form right now, but I do my best.
—The passage…not complete yet—
—That’s OK. We didn’t expect you guys to be able to do it in one day. Max has to return to Electus anyway—
—I will continue—
—No. Ludo, seriously. No. Go and rest—
—I am not able to see you until the tunnel is finished—
I need to be close to her.
I feel unmoored.
—We’ll see each other soon. Hopefully tomorrow. Are you…OK? What’s going on?—
How do I explain?
I’ve no experience of ‘sharing’. I look down at my muddy hands again. The hellhound was not exaggerating, they shake like a man with palsy.
I am not myself right now.
—As you wish, Nymph. I will go and rest—
—I love you—
—I also love you—
23
Jordan stuck to my side like glue today.
Seriously, I barely had a second to myself, it’s unbearable.
