Page 36 of Solar Bound
The helicopter returned, forcing them to duck down in the jeep until it passed. Once it was clear, Poppy started the engine.
"Hold tight," she warned. "This isn't going to be a smooth ride."
She wasn't kidding. The jeep bounced over the rugged terrain, each jolt sending spikes of pain through Dani's injured ankle. But Poppy drove with impressive skill, navigating between rock formations and along barely visible trails that seemed to disappear and reappear at random.
As they drove, Dani kept looking back toward the caves, searching for any sign of Solar's golden glow or Eclipse's twilight shimmer against the red rocks. There was only the harsh sunlight and increasing distance.
"We'll find them," Poppy said, correctly interpreting Dani's backward glances.
Dani nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She turned her attention to the path ahead, watching as Poppy navigated the jeep down a nearly invisible track that wound deeper into the wilderness.
The sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon, painting the red rocks in deeper shades of crimson. Shadows lengthened across the landscape. This was Lunar's time.
“If anyone could find Solar and Eclipse in the darkness of those caves, it would be Lunar,” Poppy assured her.
They drove in silence for ten minutes before coming up behind the animal clinic. As she slowed the vehicle, Poppy gave Dani directions on where to meet them.
Dani barely had time to get out before Poppy was speeding away. The jeep's dust cloud hung in the air long after the vehicle disappeared. Clutching the backpack of alien tech to her chest, Dani hobbled toward the back door of the clinic. Her ankle throbbed with every step, and her clothes were still damp from the cave stream. Behind the building, she spotted the motorcycle Poppy had mentioned. The battered but serviceable motorcycle had a half-tank of gas.
As she turned the key in the clinic's back door, she heard the distant thump of helicopter rotors. Milano was still hunting. Somewhere in those caves, Solar was fighting to survive. Dani took a deep breath and pushed inside. She'd patch herself up, gather supplies, and be ready when they found him.
Because they would find him. They had to.
Chapter
Ten
Darkness.
Solar despised darkness. It was antithetical to his very existence.
Yet here he was, his natural radiance dimmed to conserve energy and hide his presence, huddled beside a human female in the oppressive gloom of an Earth cave. The irony was not lost on him. A warrior of the Solarus Elite Guard, a being of pure light and heat, reduced to hiding like a shadow-dweller.
"You're glowing again," Rowan whispered, her voice tight with strain.
Solar forced his energy to contract, pulling the golden light deeper beneath his skin. The effort was painful, like trying to fold a star into a matchbox. "Did you hear Milano's scanners?"
"I don't know," Rowan admitted. "But we can't risk it."
They had been moving through the cave system for what felt like hours, though Solar's internal chronometer suggested it had been less than ten Earth minutes since they'd become separated from Eclipse. The memory of that moment sent a surge of anger through his system, causing his skin to brighten involuntarily.
Eclipse had created a diversion, expanding his twilight energy to cover their escape while Milano's forces closed in. It was tactically sound but relied on the assumption that Eclipse could protect himself. Solar had his doubts. Those weapons had been specifically designed to counter their energy signatures.
But his most pressing concern was Dani's whereabouts. When Milano attacked the Desert Suite, she had been out with Rowan. Logic suggested she was safe, but logic provided little comfort against the visceral fear that had taken root in his system.
A distant rumble shook the cave, sending a shower of dust and small rocks pattering down around them. Solar instinctively brightened, creating a protective dome of energy over Rowan.
"Was that an explosion?" she gasped.
"Eclipse," Solar said grimly. "He must be using his twilight energy to distract them from our position.”
The thought of what might be happening to Eclipse sent a fresh wave of anger through Solar's system. Despite their differences, Eclipse was a fellow Zorveyan. More than that, he was... Solar searched for the appropriate Earth term. A comrade. Perhaps even a friend, though Solar had little experience with such relationships outside of the guard.
"He's buying us time," Solar stated. "We need to make it count."
They pressed on, the cave system growing increasingly complex. Multiple passages branched off in different directions, some too narrow for comfortable passage, others sloping dangerously downward.
"Do you know where we're going?" Solar asked, noting Rowan's hesitation at each junction.
