Shift (The Pandorma Adventures Book 1) (22 page)

I soon come to a high cliff ledge and the butterflies move away. I look back, watching them, a glowing ball traveling down the tunnel. I need to get back to Ryan, and soon before he decides to do something crazy like jump into the river of lava after me. If he would do that . . . I don’t think so, but he might. In this second of pause I listen for sounds from above. There are faint rumblings to my right, but that’s it. I can't see the bottom of the cliff but I still jump and shift into a falcon. The wind whistling through my feathers is all I hear as I descend, my eyes searching for the floor. Finally I spot the bottom and spread my wings,
Lissa,
and clumsily drop onto the sand-dirt floor. To my right is a wall but I can go forward or backward. I choose forward. As I walk down the passageway the walls of rock on either side slant farther and farther down until I can see the rocky stalactite ceiling.

I keep walking straight, ignoring any turnoff tunnels. Ahead there’s an orange-red glow. Frowning, I pick up the pace until I come beneath a river of lava that stretches from wall to wall. I look at it in astonishment. The lava is flat, slowly flowing down the tunnel—but above me. I stare at it questioningly. The lava didn’t burn me on my way down, so it might not burn me if I go up. I turn my gaze to the wall—it's only about twenty feet. It’s pitted, with many handholds so I begin scaling it. Once I’m close I shift my weight so that I can stretch out one hand. My fingers are inches away from touching the lava when a female voice with a French accent says, “I wouldn’t do that.”

I yank my hand away and whip my head around. A lion stares up at me curiously.

“Why not?”

“Singe you to the bone,” she says as she comes closer.

I immediately get suspicious. “I wasn’t burned when I fell in. Why would it burn me going out?”

“That’s just how it works,” she tells me placidly.

That’s just how it works?
I look back up at the lava. Perhaps this is one of those places where natural rules don’t apply. Rocks clatter to the tunnel floor as I shift my position.

“What are you doing here?” she asks.

I look at her carefully. She doesn’t seem to be a threat and she might be able to take me back up quicker than I can find my own way up.

“I need to get back up there.”

She sits, her tail flicking, and her gaze thoughtful. “You’re on prohibited territory. I should turn you in,” she tells me robotically.

I make a noise of indignation. Maybe she’s a threat after all. “Turn me over to who?”

“Medusa. She owns this Earth Hollow and she’s very adamant that trespassers be either executed or turned over to her. But I could make an exception for you. After all, I’m not a sentry, so it’s not obligatory for me to hand over intruders.”

“So you can take me back up?” I ask hopefully.

The lion’s ears flatten. “Will I regret it?”

“No. And I need to hurry so can you
please
just take me back up?”

“Alright. Follow me.” She springs up and dashes off. I let go of the wall,
lion,
and race after her disappearing figure. She looks at me in surprise when I sidle up alongside her.

“You’re a shifter?” she asks. I don’t answer. She unexpectedly swerves to the left, trotting through a narrower hallway, which begins to slant up after roughly thirty feet. The tunnel zigzags several more times and I start to wonder if it’ll open up near the volcano or somewhere further away.

“We’ll still be near the volcano right?” I pant.

“Of course,” she says matter-of-factly.

“How do you know?”

She gives me a sidelong glance, as if deciding whether or not to answer me. She comes to an immediate halt and I trip over myself to stop as well. My legs tangle and I fall in a heap on the floor. A short, thick purr comes from the lion as I stand and shake myself off.

“I’m a Charter.”

“Isn’t that a thing?” I ask confused.

She looks at me calmly. “I chart the tunnels and geographical features. At least that’s what I’ve been doing. Who knows where I’ll be shipped next.” She begins climbing the almost vertical, slender tunnel in front of us. “We must hurry,” she warns before teasing, “Hope you’re in shape.”

I say, “Why don’t you just quit? If you don’t want to be here.”

“When pigs fly,” she mutters before amending sadly, “Once you’re under their thumb, especially Medusa’s, there’s no turning back or getting away. I swear she’s got tracking devices on all of us. So I hope you understand that I’ll have to send somebody after you.”

I don’t answer; instead I concentrate on trying not to fall back down. My claws grasp the somewhat-loose dirt as hard as they can, my whole body straining not to lose my grip. I almost fall more than once and have to scrabble frantically at the dirt to keep myself from falling. After my seventh near mishap, the lioness moves behind me. It seems to take forever to get to the top, but as we draw closer I definitely feel the ground trembling and being pounded. Now, I stare up at a hole about half my size. She nudges me forcefully.
Fox.
I slip out and turn around, expecting her to follow, but she doesn’t. She’s gone.
Lissa.
On tired legs I stand and look around for Ryan. He’s nowhere in sight. Great. If he jumped into a rift to save me I’m going to have to do . . . something to him.

“Lissa!” a very relieved voice calls. I turn only to be suffocated by Ryan’s chest.

Before I can tell Ryan to let me go, he releases me. “I thought you were killed,” he says, swallowing hard. I look up into his dead serious eyes.

“I thought so too,” Shiver whimpers. Ryan scoops her up.

“Of course not. You’ve got to give me more credit than that. Let's get out of here before we get pummeled to death,” I say, even though I just want to rest. But we can’t. The volcano continues to spew lava and rock, continues to shake and crack open the earth. We have no choice but to keep running. We jump over cracks that open larger as if they are trying to capture us.

Suddenly I let out a cry of pain and crumple to the ground. A burning rock has hit me in the lower part of my thigh. My hand shakily hovers over a gaping hole where flesh is supposed to be. I squeeze my eyes shut and bite my finger— which tastes of dirt—hard, holding back a whimper. Ryan crouches next to me; he takes in a shuddering breath then comes closer like he’s going to carry me.

“No,” I grit out, stopping him. Using Ryan I pull myself up, wavering.

“Lissa you can't
walk
—”

“Well carrying me won't work because Shiver needs to be carried and we won’t be moving fast enough,” I protest. As if to make a point, a fireball skims right above his head, singeing the hairs on top. He looks at me defiantly, not even registering his scrape with possible death. Cuven’s warning about shifting with a large wound rings through my head but I ignore it since he also said I heal faster in animal form.
Leopard.
Ryan’s jaw tightens but he follows me as we slowly walk toward the forest that should provide cover. The rocks keep raining down and the earth keeps breaking open, but as we move farther away they get easier to avoid.

The second we reach the woods I lie down.

“We need to keep going,” Ryan urges.

“No.” I hate the words that I say next. “I can’t.”

“Yes you can.”

“Ryan, please,” I say softly.

“I’ll be back,” he says then moves off.

Lissa.
I close my eyes, gritting my teeth against the pain, and let my thoughts take over. I want to be everything I should be right now. Strong, resilient, disregarding the pain and pretending I’m fine, fearless. But then I’m scared. Scared of the deadly secrets this world holds that I keep stumbling across. I’ve never had to fight so hard to stay alive, never had to worry about my meals or water. Or my friend’s lives. What if I’m too weak to destroy Medusa and Xavier . . . too weak and afraid to return the restrained love Ryan keeps showing me hints of.

Ryan comes back, cutting off my thoughts. He crouches down, setting aside his sword and bow.

“No,” I protest when he tries to slide his arms under me. “I can walk.”

He doesn’t listen, just picks me up and starts walking. I stay rigid in his arms even though I want to sink into them. He sets me down in a cave. Straightening out my hurt leg, Ryan peels away bits of my pants and I stifle a gasp, clenching my hands into fists.

“Be gentle,” Shiver whispers.

Ryan looks up at me then he stretches out his neck, trying to see behind me. “Where’s the pack?”

“I left it on the cliffs,” I say in a strained voice.

Ryan runs a hand through his hair. “We need it. Synth put some kind of special healing water inside.”

Good, Cuven was able to get the water into the pack.
I wonder if Cobalt knows we have it.

“I’ll go look for it later.” Ryan has been picking around my wound, but now he looks into my eyes, concern the only emotion in his own. And I know why. I’ll have to depend on my own healing ability for my wound to heal, but a wound this big and deep won't mend quickly, I could easily get an infection.

Ryan reaches his hand to my face, but stops halfway; slowly he takes his hand back. “We need something to wrap it with,” he says.

In a pained voice I joke, “Not your shirt I hope.”

Now he does touch my face. He runs his thumb down my cheek and over my lips before getting up and briskly leaving. Part of me is glad he left because now I can breathe. I move away from the wall and lie down on the sandy floor. The pain makes any hope of sleep nonexistent so I don’t try. Shiver is very quiet. Poor little thing has probably never been through so much.

It’s not long before Ryan returns. I hear him crouch next to me; just barely I can hear him whisper my name. My eyes snap open and relief washes over his face. He looks torn. Like he has to decide between two decisions and he doesn’t favor either one.

“I have to . . .” he starts but trails off. A spasm of pain grips my thigh and I cover my eyes, pressing my fingertips into my forehead. In a distant voice I hear Ryan say something, the pounding of my heart overruling his words. As the pain recedes a bit I uncover my eyes, finding Ryan leaning over me. He pulls back then repeats, “I have to go get the pack.”

I frown not really understanding him at first. “The one at the cliffs?”

Ryan nods.

Leave me?
I scold myself for suddenly being afraid of being without him, but it doesn’t help much. I don’t want to make this any more difficult than it should be but I still object. “Ryan I can heal—”

“How fast? Fast enough that you’re not in danger of—” Ryan stops and looks away. I can shift, but I still won't heal fast enough to stave off anything serious. I consider telling him the opposite just to keep him with me, but I don’t think lying will go over so well.

Ryan’s eyes search mine for something. I look away.

“You should go get it.” I keep my eyes trained away so that he can't read them.

“I’ll hunt first. Leave you food then,” Ryan pauses, “I’ll head out in the morning.”

“Okay.” I still don’t look at Ryan. I think he wants to tell me to look at him, but he doesn’t, he just leaves. I sit up and inspect my wound once he’s gone. I notice small bits of new flesh. But it's not enough to obstruct the blood flow or make things better.

I watch the little orange-red flames jaggedly skip up and down. I sit with my damaged leg far away from the heat. The wound is packed with leaves, each carefully hand-checked by Ryan. The blood has clotted around the leaves.

Ryan holds a strip of meat over the fire, his gaze intent on the flames. I already ate a slice, not feeling very hungry. Ryan sighs softly, running a hand over his eyes. I wonder if he blames himself for my getting hurt.

“It's not your fault Ryan.”

“I should’ve listened to you—”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I should’ve listened, you should’ve listened,” I sigh. “We all should’ve listened. But we don’t because like my dad told me, ‘we prefer to learn it our own way.’ Anyways it's just as easily my fault as it is yours.”

“How?”

“I’m the one who picked to go this way, remember?”

Ryan shakes his head. He pulls his meat away from the fire, blowing on it before taking a bite.

I can feel Ryan inching closer to me, while trying to maintain distance. I don’t know if he’s seeking heat or something else. My back is to him. I’m facing the entrance; head turned up to the sky, seeking out constellations, specifically Orion. Then I scold myself for looking for Trevor’s favorite constellation. But I can't find any other constellations so I go back to looking for Orion, which I can't find either. So I study the forest. The forest is thin, consisting mostly of trees with narrow trunks and thin-leafed tops. I can see the volcano. It still spits out lava, a blast of magma and smoke here and there into the black sky. Suspiciously, almost every gap in the earth has closed. I didn’t see it happen and it boggles me. But I have no time to mull over this because sleep is draping my body. So I slide farther back into the cave and lie down. Darkness instantly engulfs me.

* * * *