Page 440 of Coal Hearts

“Sorry, Ily. Follow us when you’re ready.” Caishen hung his head. “We’ll go slow. We’ll yell when we get out so you can follow our voices, okay? We won’t stop shouting until you’re with us on the beach.”

“See you soon, guys,” Citra whispered. “Please forgive us.”

With apologetic winces, the five jewels all turned their backs and squeezed into the crack we’d just come from.

“You can’t take the only light source!” I wriggled behind them, grabbing hold of Sonya’s wrist. “We won’t have any light to find our way out.”

“Then I suggest you start walking,” Caishen said sadly. “I’m sorry, Ily. I really am...but we voted, and this is what everyone needs.”

“Peter didn’t get a vote.”

“Peter would want us to do whatever we can to survive, and right now...I’m gonna lose my ever-loving mind if I stay down here another second.” Grabbing something from the back of his nude underwear, he passed me the knife he’d taken from the Temple of Facets. “Here. Just in case.”

My hand shook as I accepted the knife.

And then...they were gone.

Rachel and Mollie didn’t say a word as I fell back into the small cave.

The sounds of bare feet on stone faded with every heartbeat.

The pressure of the earth crushed my bones until I collapsed to my knees beside two awake jewels and one unconscious.

Thick, dank silence.

Heavy, hungry darkness.

And just our shallow breathing for company.

* * * * *

Water.

Icy, salty water lapping at my toes.

“Rachel,” I hissed. “Rachel.”

Patting along Peter’s feverishly hot body, I found Rachel’s hand on his hip.

After the shock of being left behind, the three of us had agreed to rest for an hour and then leave. We’d do whatever it took to wake Peter and help him hobble back home.

Our plan was cruel, and terror whispered that he wouldn’t make it, but...if he slept for an hour, hopefully he’d have the strength to get back to the castle so Dr Belford could heal him.

We’d all agreed to give him the best chance of recovery by sitting in a row and hauling Peter’s dead weight onto our laps to protect him from the wet stone. With his head and shoulders on my legs, his torso on Mollie’s, and his thighs on Rachel’s, we’d done the best we could to stop him from dying any faster than he already was.

“Do you feel that?” I kicked my feet. The faintest splash answered. “Where’s the water coming from?”

Mollie shifted beside me, removing some of her body heat. “Victor did say some of the caves fill up with water at high tide.”

“I’m guessing the tide is coming in.” Rachel sighed and upturned her hand to squeeze mine. She sounded exhausted and deflated and at the edge of her limits.

I blinked, willing the absolute darkness to fade. No glow worms like some of the other caves. No luminescent algae or light sources of any kind. We were blind. Completely and utterly blind and we needed to run.

Rocking Peter on my lap, I stole my hand back from Rachel’s and raked my fingers through his sweat-wet hair. “Peter. Time to wake up, okay? We need to leave.”

We’d been smart.

The game wouldn’t be entirely over, but at least we were one hour closer to dusk. By the time we found our way out, Emerald Bruises would be finished and Victor’s rules firmly back in place.