Page 56 of Stealing the Star Stone
She stumbled to a stop.“The other side didn’t have any.”She swept a gaze at the disturbed lake.“Maybe we should run?”
“Hell yeah.”
She exploded into a sprint, the butt of the rifle slapping her on the ass.“Up ahead is a sliver of darkness.It could be a doorway.”
“It could be a pit,” he called.
“No choice,” she said, stopping in front of the carved archway.“Now that’s interesting.Look at the symbols.”
“He who passes through will die?”he offered.
She snorted.“More like, ‘Only the worthy may enter.’”
He winked.“Well, you’re worthy in my book.”
She met his gaze, her breathing slowing, and yet a staccato heartbeat reached his ears.Without breaking eye contact, he pressed two fingers to his wrist, measuring his pulse.It didn’t align to the thundering in his…mind…
“Come,” she said and slipped into the shadows.
He hesitated.It had looked like black quicksilver, engulfing her in an instant.
“Thorne?”
He followed, allowing the icy liquid to coat his skin as he stepped through it.
Red-tinted sunlight streamed through a crevice in the cavern’s ceiling.A jungle had grown at the base—tall trees, vines, with birds circling the oasis.At its center was a gigantic flower, long petals dipping to the floor.From up high, a waterfall cascaded into nowhere.
“So pretty,” she rasped but when she faced him, she paled.“Thorne, the archway’s…gone.”She darted around him to slap solid stone.
He gaped.“We’re trapped.”
Chapter Sixteen
The moon, Lethara
Stuck in some cave.
When weird shit gets weirder.
Day Three.
“Fuckthat,”Novasqueaked,inching closer.“It’s vanished.Doesn’t that scare you?”
“No,” he said.
And yet a wave of sourness washed over her.She stiffened.Either he was as shit scared as she was, or something weird had made their gathering a party of three.Traveling in space, she’d seen many a thing she couldn’t explain.She’d shoved them to the recesses of her mind to never be poked.
But nothing this wild.
She tapped the rock, the coldness of it solidifying its existence to what she’d hoped was an illusion.“All right, let’s hope Orien can’t follow.”
She studied the next step in their adventure.“It’s beautiful.”Shuffling back, she surveyed the wall of rock, searching for a symbol.“Which way?”
“I’d say we travel along the circumference.Map this area, so to speak.”
“Sounds like a plan.”She glanced at him then scowled.“Quit it.”
He stopped rubbing a breast.“But it’s sore.Does it look bigger to you?”
