The Prophecy of Shadows (21 page)

“I dropped the lighter and had to find it,” Blake called back. “I got it now.”

“Good,” Danielle said, and at the sound of her voice, I took another step away from Blake. If I didn’t, I was afraid I would reach for him again, and I couldn’t allow that to happen. “Can you put it back on?” she asked. “It’s pitch dark in here.”

“Yeah,” Blake said. “Just a moment.”

His hand brushed mine, but I pulled away, running my fingers through my hair to smooth it. My stomach twisted with the knowledge of what I’d let happen. Contributing to cheating was unlike me. Then again, I wasn’t the same person as I was back in Georgia. Now I knew that the blood of ancient gods runs through my veins, and that I have powers most people don’t believe exist.

But I wouldn’t let that change my morals. Because despite what Blake had told me about wanting to end his relationship with Danielle, he hadn’t done it yet.

Until he did, nothing could happen between us.

“Nicole?” he whispered. “Are you okay?”

“That never should have happened,” I said. “It can’t happen again.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Yes.” I swallowed away tears. “I do. Now, go get the others. They’re waiting.”

He was silent for a few seconds, as if expecting me to take it back. But I didn’t. So he flicked the lighter back on, and despite being able to see again, I refused to meet his gaze. Because if I did, I might lose it completely.

It didn’t take Chris long to lower Kate, Danielle, and himself down the cliff. I couldn’t look at Blake again, for fear that one of the others would see the way I was looking at him and realize that something had happened between us in the darkness. It was the hardest when he brought down Danielle, his arms wrapped tightly around her the same way they’d been around me. Because despite what he’d told me about wanting to break up with her, they had history together. They’d known each other for
years
. How was I supposed to compete with that?

Not wanting to focus on them for fear of tearing up again, I looked around to get an idea of my surroundings. The cavern looked even bigger from the bottom of the cliff than from the top. The walls sloped up into a dome, the stalagmites and stalactites growing longer down here than the ones on the top of the cliff. Some of them were so old that they now met together to form giant columns.

“Let’s keep going,” Blake said, turning around to continue forward.

We reached the end of the room and arrived at the tunnel we’d seen from the top of the cliff. It was about ten feet tall, like a gaping mouth, and like the rest of the cavern, it was so dark that I couldn’t see where it led. A warm breeze blew from inside of it, pushing a few strands of my hair out of place. It was like the place was alive. And while I didn’t know what was waiting at the end, I had a terrible feeling about it.

“We’re really supposed to go in
there
?” I asked. “What if it collapses on us?”

“I have power over the earth,” Kate said. “I won’t let that happen.”

I nodded and tried to swallow down my worry. We couldn’t turn back now. And Kate was right. We all had powers over the elements, and we wouldn’t let anything happen to each other. I had to trust my friends.

“I’ll go first and light the way,” Blake said, taking a few steps closer to the opening, the fire glowing brightly in his hands.

I hurried to follow him, but Danielle had the same idea, and I nearly crashed into her. She glared at me and scurried ahead so she was directly behind Blake. Kate walked behind me, and Chris trailed in the back. He diligently dropped a piece of paper every so often to mark our path.

Blake’s light didn’t extend far enough to show us an end anywhere in sight. We continued forward, the air thickening with humidity. Beads of sweat accumulated along my brow, and I unzipped my coat, which was a welcome change from the freezing weather we’d had outside.

A feint bubbling echoed in the distance, like water in a pot when it starts to boil. Finally the tunnel came to an end and dumped us into another large chamber.

The fire in Blake’s hand grew bigger. “We have another problem,” he said, his voice steady as he looked straight ahead.

The ground ended, but this time it didn’t stop at a cliff. It met with a steaming lake of boiling water that spread the entire width of the cave. Huge bubbles popped to the surface, and it was so hot and sticky in the chamber that I wanted to peel off every layer I was wearing and toss it on the ground. Instead, I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, grateful for the hairband I always kept on my wrist.

“Do you think you can fly us across?” I asked Chris.

“I used a lot of my energy up back at the cliff,” he said. “I wish I could say yes. But really … I don’t know.”

I glanced across the cave again in defeat. The only way to the other side was to swim. Unfortunately, that would be impossible without burning ourselves to death. And my healing power wouldn’t do any good if we couldn’t make it across alive.

“Why do you all look like the world’s about to end?” Danielle laughed and stepped to the ledge. “It’s just a boiling lake. I’ve got this.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and kneeled down, lowering her hand into the water. I expected her to scream in pain, but she just squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself as she focused on whatever she was trying to do.

A cracking sound filled the cavern, and a thick line of water turned into ice, forming a path that led straight to the other side. The lake boiled around it, but the path didn’t melt.

“See?” Danielle flung the water off her hands and smiled. “No problem. I don’t know why you all doubt my powers so much.”

“Hopefully none of us slip while walking across,” Kate said, her lower lip trembling as she looked at the path.

Chris moved next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Take your time,” he told her, his voice soft and reassuring. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Thanks.” Kate leaned into him and took a deep breath.

Blake placed one foot gently against the ice and put some pressure on it. It seemed solid, and he put his other foot down, too, so he stood completely on top of it.

“It holds,” he said, bouncing his knees to test it out further. “Just remember to take it slow. If you rush, you’ll risk slipping and falling in.”

Kate looked over at Danielle, who was smiling as she admired her work. “I don’t know why you didn’t freeze the whole lake,” Kate muttered, loud enough to be heard over the boiling water.

“Stop complaining,” Danielle said. “I’ve used up a lot of energy today. It would take about a hundred times more energy to freeze the whole lake, and I didn’t want to risk it. I can do more if it’s too hard for you, but the path is wide enough that I don’t see why it would be a problem.” She spun around and strutted towards the lake, digging her stilettos into the ground for emphasis.

“It’s easy for her to say,” Kate spoke softly enough so only Chris and I could hear. “She won’t boil to death if she falls in.”

“You’re not going to fall in,” I assured her, even though looking at the bubbling water surrounding the ice path made me uneasy, too. “Take it slow and you’ll be fine. On the off-chance that anyone
does
fall in, I can heal them.”

As long as we pulled them out before they boiled to death.

She nodded, and I headed toward the path, watching Blake and Danielle as they made their way across. They made it look so easy. I put one foot on the ice, and it wasn’t as slippery as I’d anticipated. Even so, I took each step slowly, not wanting to lose my footing. It wasn’t too hard—as long as I focused on my feet and didn’t look at the boiling water on both sides of me.

Danielle and Blake stood halfway across the path, waiting for us to catch up. I reached them, and glanced over my shoulder to see how Kate and Chris were progressing.

Kate was only about a quarter of the way down the path. She trembled before each step, holding her arms out at both sides to balance herself. Chris stood behind her, his hands poised to catch her if she fell.

They eventually made it to us, and Blake turned to lead the way down the remaining part of the path. The first half hadn’t been too hard. We could do this.

He and Danielle easily made it to the other end in the amount of time that it took me to travel ten feet. Reminding myself that I only had a little farther to go, I took another step forward, focusing on staying steady and not slipping.

Then something cracked from behind.

I glanced over my shoulder, and my heart leaped into my throat at what I saw. The ice at the beginning of the path had cracked. It crumbled into the boiling water, melting on impact. Another chunk fell in a second later. At this pace, it wouldn’t be long until it caught up with us.

Terrified, I turned back around and ran. It was slippery, and despite almost losing my footing a few times, I kept my balance and made it to the other side. My body wouldn’t stop shaking, and I wrapped my arms around myself, breathing steady and focusing on collecting blue energy to calm down.

Once relaxed, I looked back at Kate and Chris. Kate was ahead of Chris, and she was taking each step slowly, her eyes wide in fear. The ice melted behind them, catching up quickly—they wouldn’t make it in time. And if I ran back onto the path to help them, it would only take up space and create more chaos. I could crash into them, or fall in.

They had to hurry and make it on their own.

“Grab her and fly yourselves across!” I screamed to Chris.

“I don’t have enough energy left.” He buried his fingers in his hair, sweat dripping down his face. “Not after sending everyone down the cliff. Come on, Kate. You have to run.”

“You just have to make it to my hand.” Blake stepped to the edge, reaching his arm forward. “Then I’ll pull you in.”

Danielle crouched next to the lake, her hand emerged in the boiling water, her eyes squeezed shut. The path was melting faster now. It was getting dangerously close to Chris, who looked like he was about to pick Kate up and carry her across himself. Kate glanced behind her, saw how quickly the ice was disappearing, and hurried towards us, her eyes wide in panic.

She almost made it, but her foot slipped from under her and sent her toppling towards the ice. I held my breath, frozen in fear, unable to do anything to help.

Then Chris reached forward and grabbed her from under her arms. He caught her right before she could roll over the edge. They collapsed into a heap on the path, steady for now.

But the ice was still melting, and it wouldn’t be long until it caught up with them. What was taking Danielle so long to stop it? She remained still as she concentrated, her head bowed towards the water, her hand submerged within it.

Finally the ice stopped crumbling, inches before it reached Kate and Chris.

Kate pushed herself up to sitting position and pulled her legs towards her chest. All of the color had drained from her face. Chris reached down and scooped her into his arms, somehow keeping his balance while carrying her to the end of the lake.

“That was close,” he said, placing Kate on the ground. His cheeks were bright red, and he rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.

Kate scrambled away and braced herself against the wall. “Remind me to never do that again.” She shook her head and looked out at the lake, which had returned to its natural boiling state.

I wished I could promise her that, but I couldn’t. Because we would likely have to come back the way we came. And we’d used up so much of our energy making it this far … how were we supposed to make it back?

But we were already here, so I couldn’t worry about that now. We had to focus on what was coming next. Because looming ahead was another tunnel, identical to the one we’d faced at the bottom of the cliff.

We had no other option but to continue forward.

This tunnel was shorter than the first—so short that we could see the light at the other end. Even from far away I could make out the shapes of candles lining the sides of the walls. At least Blake wouldn’t have to use his power to keep it lit anymore.

I stepped inside the next chamber, and froze at what I saw.

My sister was on a wooden chair in the center of the room, her wrists and feet bound together, her arms tied behind her. A cloth was wrapped around her mouth so she couldn’t speak. She squirmed in place, her curly hair huge and messy, as if she’d gotten in a fight.

“Becca!” I ran towards her and ungagged her, checking her for injuries. Other than the raw red areas where the rope had rubbed against her skin, there didn’t appear to be anything seriously wrong with her, which was a huge relief. But her involvement in this made no sense. “What on Earth is going on?”

Her mouth opened like she was about to say something, but nothing came out. For the first time in her life, Becca was speechless.

I kneeled down to undo the knots around her wrists, tugging at the rope as hard as possible. But it refused to budge. Then Kate screamed my name, and I turned to see what she wanted.

A shadow passed over the floor, and an oversized bird landed next to me with a resonating boom, its huge feathery wing pushing me over. My elbow collided with the ground and broke the fall, cracking on impact. I immediately grabbed it and healed it.