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I groaned as an overhang loomed straight ahead.
Our choices narrowed. We’d be head-to-head with the hellsna if I turned around to find a better path… I prayed to every ancestor who’d ever mentored me that the drop wouldn’t be too far.
“Faster, JayJay!”
When she laid her palm over my heart, it was like an amplifier, turning my protective instincts up to the max. My blood pumped faster, my lungs sucked in great gulps of air, and all my muscles tensed. Tucking her head to my chest, I shoved off the ground like the hero in the stories my mata used to tell me as a youngling.
Feet in the air, soaring, one breath, two…
My knees jolted, absorbing the impact as my bootheels dug through the snow and hit rock. “Thank you, goddess.”
We weren’t in the clear yet. I tore through the entry, coming to an abrupt stop as the bags on my back wedged tight. The thick-bodied worm barreled along the tree line, screaming on our tail. Its vision was poor, but its hearing and sense of smell were excellent.
Ginger pushed against my chest. “Set me down. We won’t fit together.”
My lungs heaved, and I shimmied sideways. This had better open up, or else I’d just led us to our doom.
The narrow slot was too small to permit the hellsna’s entry and too solid for it to destroy, but it slithered back and forth, sensing us beyond it nonetheless.
“We’re trapped.” My voice echoed, causing the hellsna to scream again.
“But we’re safe.” Ginger’s soft voice reassured me, and when she squeezed my biceps, my throat squeezed in time.
The unsaid ‘for now’ hung in the air.
6
“Put me down, JayJay,”I said for the third time. But it wasn’t until I’d removed my mitten and rubbed my thumb over a bloody gash in his otherwise smooth brow that he loosened his grip. Surprised by the velvet-soft texture under my fingertips, I lingered for a moment longer.
A hot rush of blood flooded back into my legs when he released me. After being clasped in his powerful arms for so long, I hobbled, clinging to the rough walls of the cave for support.
In the dim light, tiny scrapes stood out on his face and hands where loose rocks and sticks had nicked his skin. A large gash curled behind his ear, oozing blood.
A chill ran through me now that I was no longer in his arms. I jerked my head back to look at the sliver of dusk-lit sky shadowing the entrance, and a full-on tremor ratcheted up my spine. Far from quiet, the hellsna smashed against the cave entrance.
“Jesus, that thing doesn’t give up.” To distract myself, I crouched, legs protesting, to unzip my bag. “We need to get you cleaned up. I have a first aid kit somewhere in my supplies.” My swollen fingers fumbled through the contents, taking twice as long. “We’re safe here, right?” I lifted my gaze.
He nodded. “It’s nothing. You are not under obligation to care for me.” His deep voice rumbled as he reversed deeper into the tunnel. “Let’s move away from the entrance.”
Obligation? “Just accept the help, King Kong. No need to get all weird on me.”
Another screech ripped through the dark cave. My stomach clenched—it was déjà vu. I’d been trapped by a hellsna with Makir and his pregnant sister-in-law in a different cave not long ago. JayJay had saved us then, too.
I need to stay far, far away from caves.
I’d always been able to portray an outward calm, even when my insides were plummeting down a roller coaster. I tipped my head toward the entrance, where the hellsna wormed back and forth, and forced the wobble from my voice. “Anything we can do about that?”
“Not without my team of soldiers and a bloodroot fungus dart.” He spoke with authority. “We must move away so it can’t hear us.”
Nodding, I gestured for JayJay to pass my pack over and pulled out a flashlight. I left the comment about the bloody mushroom and his team to sort out later. With a stiff roll of my shoulders and a shaky step forward, I delved deeper into the Starry Mountain.
“I can do it,” I grunted as JayJay lifted my pack from my aching shoulders.
As if Geo could sense my stubbornness, a conversation we’d had over coffee surfaced. “To be a true friend, I needed to quit being so stubborn and accept help. That friendship didn’t work if only one person did all the giving.”
A sharp pang shot down the outside of my arm as I tried to reclaim my bag. All right, Geo, I’m listening. Though my body may have forced the issue. If we were friends, being trapped together wouldn’t be so bad, right? I released my pathetic grip and let the towering giant with superhuman strength and agility carry it. Deep down, I breathed a silent sigh of relief.
On second thought, superhuman would be an insult. I bet even among Rock Dwellers, JayJay was extraordinary. My lips parted, then snapped shut. Why couldn’t I muster a thanks? A small thank you for carrying my bag was peanuts when he’d saved my life, but thank-yous had been as few and far between as praise growing up.
