Page 109 of Forsaken Secrets

43

Kaiya

Body aching, I stumbled through town, over the bridge, and into the forest. I paused as I reached the first trees, breathing deeply to make the darkness around the edges of my vision go away.

Each breath sent a new spasm through my back, but I needed to get to Eli.

Hopefully, I wasn't too late.

My vision wavered as I stumbled deeper into the forest, and my thoughts were a muddled mess of stress for Eli and guilt over ruining things so thoroughly for Aunt Grace and I.

My heart ached at the thought of leaving the manor behind — Uncle Calix would be so disappointed.

Hot tears coursed over my cheeks, and I rubbed them away.

Finally, I stumbled into the clearing and looked around. Where was he?

"Eli?" I shouted.

There was no answer.

I stumbled towards the cliff edge and sure enough, two ropes were hanging from the anchors we'd installed that first day. My heart leapt. Was Lynk there, too?

What were they doing down in the ruins?

We'd tried going down once, curious if we could see anything new. But had heard people working on the other side of the rubble in the storage room. The last thing we wanted was to run into those twisted mages again!

I could wait here for him to return …

No. That might not give him enough time.

Groaning, I hooked myself into the rope and whimpered as it rubbed against my torn back.

This was stupid — so stupid. But I couldn't just let them walk into danger without warning.

Gritting my teeth against the wave of nausea, I slowly released the rope. My stomach lurched at the fresh, fiery pain. A cool trickle down my back told me the wounds were still open.

Darkness closed in on my vision as my feet touched the ledge. Stomach rolling, I turned and heaved over the cliff-side.

Fuck.

Head spinning, I slipped into the main room, unhooked the rope, and tied it off. Two voices were arguing down the tunnel to my left. Good ol' Eli and Lynk, they could barely agree that the sky was blue if I wasn't around.

Lynk had better have a damn good reason he's been gone so long.

I trudged through the maze of halls towards the storage room, pausing wherever I could to catch my breath and push back the dizziness. Finally, I passed the broken spryke cage.

Almost there.

"Liam, what were you thinking?" The voice was strange, deeper than Eli or Lynk's, and it had a unique accent — like silk and heat.

I pressed my fist to my lips and slumped against the wall. Those people were not Eli and Lynk!

Had Ellingsworth found our entry point?

My stomach churned, and I fought the panic. I was in no shape to confront strangers or to get out of here.

I was stuck.

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