Page 53 of For the Love of the Quest

“Holy shit,” Thomasin said. “What do we do with it?”

Edith shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we take it with us.”

So they did. Edith carried it aloft in front of her, terrified she would break it somehow. With no desire to retrace their steps across the tiles, or swim back out through the freezing pool, they followed the stairs that spiraled upward. They were worn and ancient, but the stone was sturdy as they trudged up step after step. Edith held on to the staff so tightly that she felt the etched symbols imprinting onto the skin of her palm.

The damp humidity of the cave began to soften, and cold air started to filter in. The soft, cool glow of twilight soon followed, sifting in through cracks in the earth above them.

They emerged in a cave that was hidden in a rocky outcropping. The entrance, barely large enough for them to squeeze through, was hidden by moss and overgrown shrubbery.

“Well, this would’ve been nice to know about,” Thomasin said as they walked through the woods, trying to ascertain just where they had surfaced.

“If we had gone this way, then we wouldn’t have earned the clue. We wouldn’t be worthy.” Not that Edith felt worthy of the staff anyhow.

“You’re too noble,” Thomasin said fondly.

Edith didn’t get a chance to respond, because a hand wrapped around her mouth and pulled her backward, away from Thomasin’s grasp. Then a knife was pressed to Edith’s throat.

Thomasin drew her own dagger, eyes darkening. “Let her go,” she commanded. When she took a step toward them, the person holding Edith shuffled back, forcing her to stumble back withthem. The blade kissed her skin, and she clenched her teeth at the sharp bite of pain.

“Stay where you are.” It was Worthing. Worthing held Edith captive.

But it wasn’t Thomasin he needed to worry about. Before she could even try to make a move, Jay came out of nowhere, storming through the trees and launching himself at Worthing. He tackled him from the side, and Edith tried to squirm away, but Worthing’s arm stayed locked tight around her as the three of them fell in a heap.

It was a desperate struggle of punches and kicks. She curled in on herself, unable to escape the melee.

There was a shocked cry, a guttural groan of pain, then the arm around her loosened. Relief flooded Edith as she pushed to her knees and saw Thomasin running toward her. Edith stumbled forward, falling into Thomasin’s arms.

“Look what you two made me do,” Worthing growled.

Edith felt Thomasin straighten, her body going rigid with shock. In the circle of Thomasin’s arms, she turned, looked back at where they had struggled.

Jay lay on the forest floor, unseeing eyes watching the stars. There was a deep gash across his throat, a pool of blood surrounding his body. It still bubbled from the wound in little spurts.

Another first, she thought senselessly, shock settling over her.

Edith had never seen a dead body before.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Thomasin held Edith back with one arm wrapped around her shoulders. With the other, she leveled her pistol at Worthing.

Worthing reached for the knife that had dropped next to Jay’s body. Thomasin cocked her gun, and he froze, half stooped over. She flicked her wrist, gesturing for him to rise slowly and to put his hands up where she could see them.

Edith thrashed against her, soft cries falling from her lips as she tried to get to Jay, but Thomasin held the gun steady, kept her aim true.

“Move,” she ordered Worthing. Under threat of the gun, she directed him away from the body. Only once he was several feet away, her pistol still aimed at him, did she let Edith go.

She fell to her knees next to Jay, and Thomasin let her focus narrow entirely on Worthing.

“Last words,” she said, offering him the decency he hadn’t given Jay.

“You’re not gonna kill me. Not in front of your little girlfriend,” he sneered.

“Watch me.” Her finger tightened on the trigger.

“Wait!” Edith cried. Thomasin spared a quick glance at her tear-streaked face. Edith stared at Worthing with condemnation burning in her eyes, but then she looked at Thomasin and said, “Don’t kill him. I don’t want anyone else to die for this.”

Thomasin paused, the barrel of the gun dipping just slightly.