Chapter Forty-One
I wake up with Ryder shaking me violently.
“Thank the Gods!” He breathes a sigh of relief.
I sit up, still shocked by what I have just seen, and struggle to catch my breath.
“You wouldn’t wake up,” he says, looking as disturbed as I’m feeling.
I slow my breathing as he leans over me with the flames from the small fire behind him, giving him an orange glow.
“I went there.” These are the only words I can stomach.
“Went where?” Ryder stares at me with a mixture of worry and confusion.
“The mountain.” That’s all I have to mutter for him to know exactly what I saw.
We climb onto Versivius’ back and trail down his long spine, wedging ourselves between the spikes and saddling him.
We are held by invisible tethers to keep us from falling to our demise.
I told Ryder everything that I saw in the mountain…
the armed guards, the bolted rooms and how the terrifying creatures chained within them turned out to be the one thing we were searching for.
We are still sticking to our original plan and staking it out so Ryder can see it for himself.
I give Versivius the rough coordinates of the facility, and he leaps into the air, spiralling gracefully around the volcano and out of its open mouth.
My mind whirls again at his speed, but soon stabilises when his long and windy vessel slithers out of the exit and into the open air.
Versivius’ skin changes from opaque to transparent in a matter of seconds, and I watch as my hands start to do the same, absorbing his camouflage shield and taking it on as my own.
It’s not completely invisible, but the way it mimics the surroundings perfectly, it might as well be.
Thank the Gods I can still see the rough outline and shape of my extremities because otherwise I would have convinced myself I was fading away into the unknown.
When Ryder said his camouflage would be advantageous, I didn’t realise we would be able to use it too.
We soar upwards through the sky completely unnoticed, blending into the pale blue sky and dusty white clouds.
The impulsive thought of falling to my death creeps up on me and makes me feel queasy, so I shut my eyes and place all of my trust in Versivius.
My ears begin to pop when we reach the space so high we are above the clouds, where it is just us and the brightening sun, its rays beam over the clouds, making them appear like a golden lake shimmering beneath us.
Versivius uncloaks his camouflage, and I let out a breath I did not know I was holding.
I forgot how much higher sky serpents can fly than elions; no other creature can reach this altitude, which must be why Versivius can drop his cape of protection.
I can’t imagine it will be long until we land because of the rapid rate at which Versivius flies through the open sky.
My hair was drawn up into a loose ponytail, but the force of the wind ripped out my hair tie, sending it on an elastic descent through the clouds below.
Now, each curl attacks my face as the strong gusts pummel it.
Versivius makes a dive, and my stomach dives with him.
We must be nearing the location because the jagged edges of snowy mountaintops come into view as he cloaks himself again.
He keeps close to the mountains, making sharp turns, weaving in and out of them, dodging them by what seems like millimetres, whilst the unforgiving terrain stares back at us and threatens to pierce our hearts on its rocks below.
Versivius perches himself on the top of a neighbouring rock face, giving us a clear view of the mountain of secrets, still wearing his cloak.
The sound of Ryder’s leather jacket rustles as he stands to offer me his hand to begin the dismount onto the snowy blanket below us. It is hard to make a descent when you cannot see the surface you are walking on, but we make it down, nevertheless.
“As long as a part of your body remains touching him, you will stay camouflaged,” Ryder states, pointing to where Versivius would be if we could see him properly. It’s funny; the only way I can tell he is there is from the piercing yellow of his eyes that blink every so often.
We lay army-style amongst the cold snow, gripping binoculars, our eyes fixed on any movement outside the mountain.
We decided not to use Versivius’ camouflage, as we are a safe enough distance away, and it is actually nice to be able to see each other.
Every gust of icy wind feels like a shard of glass against my cheeks, and I have to tense my jaw to prevent my teeth from chattering.
Ryder notices my shivers and moves in closer to me, wrapping his jacket around my shaking shoulders.
“I can’t take that; you’ll be cold,” I whimper.
“I spend my life in moonlight. I’m used to the cold.
” He sends me a quick smile and peers back down through the lens of his black binoculars.
“Plus, it looks better on you than it does on me,” he flirts, making my icy cheeks go warm as heat rushes to them, and I have to remind myself we are on a mission.
“Fine, but only because the view is better for me as well.” I chuckle at him as I wrap my fingers around his biceps and give them a squeeze.
Ryder laughs and flexes them some more for me, the sun’s glow making his dark features more prominent.
“But you’ll tell me as soon as you need it back,” I add in all seriousness, hating the thought of him freezing for me even though I know he wouldn’t dare take it back off me.
My shoulders warm in the shelter of his jacket, and I feel more content in the environment.
I look to Ryder to make sure he isn’t shivering, and I don’t see a single goosebump on his body or a tremble claim his lips.
I suppose it helps that the sun is shining directly onto us and there is a large rock beside us that is blocking out most of the wind.
My arm keeps brushing against his, setting off tiny fireworks in my nerve endings, but I ignore the feeling as best as I can.
The mountain has been quiet since we got here, and we have not seen much at all.
I do my best to recall to Ryder the number of armed guards and people I saw entering and exiting the building, but I am starting to doubt myself the more time that passes.
The mountain looks just like any other. Maybe it was just a dream. A very vivid and realistic one at that.
“Are you sure this is the right mountain?” Ryder asks, raising a bushy brow my way.
I nod my head. “Yes, I’m sure…see that road there.” I point to the gravel road that winds up the mountain face, and his eyes follow the tip of my finger. “That’s where I saw the van stop, and that’s where I saw Maddox fall out of that box.”
“What time was this?” Ryder replies, glueing his eyes back to the mountain.
“I’m not sure, a lot happened that day,” I confess, strangling the thought of Nala falling to her death. Ryder senses my unease and gives me a reassuring nod, asking the next question that pops into his mind.
“So what do you think they meant when they said the boy failed the transition?” Ryder’s warm breath creates steam in the crisp air.
“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.” I can feel my features souring as the thought of the creature breaks down my walls. “If you could have seen its face… His face.” I shudder, and Ryder turns his full attention onto me, his eyes searching mine for salvation.
“We have to get them out of there before more of them are killed or turned into one of those beasts. We have to save them.”
“We will because we have a secret weapon,” he responds, not breaking eye contact with me and imprinting his thumb on my cheek.
“What’s that?” I ask, curious about the advantage he has failed to tell me about.
“We have you.” He places a kiss on the tip of my icy nose, and I move into his touch. “And they will never see you coming.”
I stare at him in shock at the pure faith he has in my abilities. I am nowhere near my full potential and have yet to win a fight against him fairly.
“And what if they do see me coming?” Doubt invades my mind.
“Then it will be the last thing they ever see.” Ryder’s eyes narrow, and a menacing smile overruns his features. I swear I see the inky veins in his arm expand as the thought of violence excites him. He is hungry for blood, and I definitely won’t stand in his path when he gets it.
Ryder nudges me softly and gestures for me to look at the neighbouring mountain.
“We have movement.”
He passes me his binoculars and stares at the sight a mile ahead of us. A black van with modified wheels is making its way up the windy road.
“Is that the van you saw?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” I pass the binoculars back to him.
“Does this mean another Moon is missing?” I mutter, not being able to keep my unpleasant thoughts to myself as the sound of the brakes squeaking travels through the air.
Ryder doesn’t respond; he just lies still and doesn’t take his eyes off the van until he knows more.
“No,” he finally responds, and I let out a sigh of relief, pinning the binoculars back to my eyes and watching carefully.
A man stands by the open doors to the back of the van, letting a team of armed guards and some in hazmat suits jump out and walk towards the rock.
A soldier places a card of some sort onto a particular area along the rock face, and it separates, giving a view of a large metallic door.
Just like I saw last night. The men filter through, and four armed guards search the perimeter with hands poised on their weapons.
“Shit,” Ryder murmurs. “That’s a lot of guards.”
“I told you. Getting in there will be a death sentence.”
“Well, that’s lucky we have a Restorer.” Ryder chuckles, and I throw him an icy glare.
“I’m being serious,” I reiterate, but I am sure he has gathered from my unimpressed facial expressions.
“I’m joking.” He backs down. “We just need to come up with a better plan.”
“I agree.” I stare back down at the guards trekking through the doors and disappearing into the mountain. “There’s no way we can pull this off just the two of us.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Ryder says, so sure of himself, and I think back to that moment in the tunnel where his friends were ready to fight. I suppose I would be too if it were one of my friends who went missing.
“But how will we even get in?”
“We need to get our hands on one of those suits,” Ryder says as the black van travels down the rocky road and hides behind the edge of the mountain.