Page 114 of A Drop of Anguish
“They’re not far,” he whispers, meeting my gaze.
I step onto the stone and look down into the small black hole. “We have to go down there?”
Jarron nods then once again taps his lips with his finger. Back to silence, and now we have to go caving. My guess is demons and wolves have fantastic vision in the dark.
Me? Not so much. “I’m not going to be able to see very well.”
Jarron climbs in first, leaping down the several feet until he reaches flat ground. Then, he holds out his hands to me.
Something flutters into my chest. “Me neither,” Lola whispers.
“Let’s stick together, then.” Especially her. It’d be so easy to lose her down there if she can’t see where she’s going.
I climb down carefully, keeping care of where Lola clings to my chest.
Jarron guides me, one hand on my waist, one at my elbow until my feet are firmly planted on some kind of solid ground. I can’t see anything, though. So, for all I know, there’s a steep cliff just inches away.
“The farther you go in, the easier it’ll be for your vision to adjust. Don’t look toward the light at all.”
I follow his guidance, stumbling over uneven stone. My arm brushes up against something cold and wet. It’s even chillier down here than above ground, although I wonder if the lack of breeze will make up the difference.
“Wait here,” he whispers.
“Uh-huh,” I say, voice too high-pitched. I most certainly won’t be going anywhere else, that’s for sure.
Lola is trembling against my chest, so I fold my arm up to tuck her in gently.
“You okay?” I whisper.
“Not a big fan of being underground.” She shivers.
Pixies aren’t exactly underground creatures. Some flying creatures are okay with caves, but only ones with some alternate way of maneuvering and telling where they are.
Janet being half-troll should mean she’s completely at home underground.
When Lola’s trembling seems to build as opposed to settle, I aim for some distraction. “So,” I say, “I spent the afternoon with Jarron in Elite Hall.”
She wiggles against me. “You didn’t get to spend much time with him, did you? What’s going on with you two, by the way? He’s looking at you like he’s ready to sweep you away and hide you from the world for eternity.”
My cheeks redden.
“I—I don’t know what to make of it all,” I say honestly. “It’s, well, you know what’s holding me back.”
A tiny tug on my wrist distracts me from the pain in my gut. That’s the first time I’ve felt the secret bond at work. I wonder what it would feel like if I were to begin saying something that edges close to the secret?
Would my whole arm feel like it’s on fire? Like I’ve sawed it off? Or will the pain move to other places in my body?
“Yeah,” she murmurs.
“I just don’t know for sure that there’s a future for us, and if there isn’t—”
“That boy is in love with you, Candice. At some point, you’re going to have to realize that. You let himbiteyou; didn’t you like that?”
My cheeks heat, and I comfort myself with the knowledge that it’s much too dark to tell. I know she’s teasing me now, but then again, maybe she’s trying to distract me too. “Yes. A lot more than I expected.” And now, I’m thinking about how I’d like him to do it again.
She wiggles against my chest and tinkles out a little laugh.
Finally, the group makes their way down to us and Janet curls her arm in mine. “You guys good?”
