Page 29 of The Stone Secret
“Donotlose those.”
He looked at me strangely, as if he wasn’t sure if this whole thing was some kind of trick or not. I didn’t have time for his insecurities and doubts. We had maybe an hour and a half left to get to extraction.
I hauled the makeshift raft to the riverbank and shoved it partially into the water. “Get on.”
He hesitated. “You’re sure you can do this?”
“Have I swum across a river lugging a makeshift raft behind me before? No. But I’m confident I can do it. You just need to stay onboard, okay?”
He swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay.”
Two minutes later and I was submerged and swimming for the other side of the river. Thankfully, the current wasn’t too strong, and I was able to move quickly because damn, the water was icy.
“You keep an eye out for any critters in the water.”
“It’s clear so far,” Bax said. “We’re good.” He sounded strained, but that was to be expected if he was afraid of water.
I picked up the pace, alert to potential threats. My dip in the rushing river a couple of weeks ago played on my mind. There’d been creatures in the water. I’d almost drowned. But today we reached the other side without incident. Bax quickly crawled off the raft, eager to be away from the water’s edge.
My lastonflex was soaked, my skin icy, but by the time I’d reached for my shoes, I was dry. “What the fuck?” I patted my clothes. “Don’t tell me, another awesome feature?”
Bax merely nodded, his expression wary and conflicted.
He’d exposed his weakness to me, which was probably a huge no-no in the goyle world, and considering he was Dayn’s bitch, I was also the last person he’d want to share it with. “Look, it’s no big deal. I’m not going to tell anyone, okay? That’s not who I am. We’re a team, right?”
A little of the unease melted off his face. “Right.”
I didn’t have time to pacify him any further; we had an extraction point to get to.
I took a moment to study the map again, then headed into the woodland onto a trail that should lead us to the mountains.
Bax followed.
Silence reigned for several minutes before Bax broke it. “This hardly seems like survival training. Aside from the river, which…They couldn’t know about my aversion, and there was nothing dangerous in the water, so…”
“I don’t know. We still have an hour left to get to extraction. A lot can happen in that time, so stay sharp.”
The steady symphony of woodland sounds told me that all was well. The buzz was a base marker, and if it stopped, then I’d know something was wrong. Smell was another thing for me. Danger didn’t have a specific scent, but the particles in the air seemed to become charged when there was a threat nearby.
Years of hunting had primed me to pick up on these things, and the assessment was constantly running in background mode. “So tell me about you. You got any siblings?”
He was silent for so long I was beginning to think he wasn’t going to respond, but then he spoke, his voice low and gruff.
“A sister. She’s an omega. She’ll be coming here next year.”
The ground was getting softer, almost mushy, and the air was beginning to get humid. The trees gave way to large, leafy bushes that had an almost tropical vibe. “What is this place?”
“One of the academy training grounds. They’ve got several,” Bax said.
“And they really just abandon cadets here?”
“Yes.” He looked away.
“What is it? What are you not telling me?”
“You didn’t have to help me back there, you know,” he growled.
“No. I didn’t have to.”
