Chapter Forty-Three
“Come on, Gemma. Wake up. Please, wake up,” Christian called, his voice penetrating the darkness.
Gemma’s eyelids fitted open. “What happened?”
Christian dropped his head, swearing under his breath.
She lay on a dry, dusty floor, staring at an orange celestial ceiling. To her right, a stone ball rested on top of a chalice-shaped pillar, and throughout the small inlet were several doorless gateways filled with glittery purple light.
“You tell me,” Christian answered her question. “I heard you scream. You were unconscious by the time I found you.” He helped her into a seated position, one slow inch at a time.
She winced at the mild pain in her head, and Christian’s jaw clenched. How had she ended up on the ground? The last thing she remembered was running her fingertips across carvings in stone columns.
Maybe her glucose level had fallen too low. It had been a while since she’d eaten anything. But then that wouldn’t explain the scream . . .
“I found an exit!” Imara shouted from a short distance away.
Christian sighed. He stood and held out a hand to Gemma. “Do you think you can stand?”
Gemma nodded. She put her hand in Christian’s, and he hoisted her to her feet. The world spun momentarily.
He palmed her lower back as her eyes focused. “I’m not sure we should keep moving, yet. Maybe you should take—”
“I’m fine,” Gemma cut him off. “It’s more important we find the outpost. I can monitor my symptoms.”
The small muscles in his jaw flexed. “Promise me you’ll tell me if you start feeling like something’s wrong.”
She glared at him, but the worry in his eyes softened her frustration. Gemma nodded. “I promise.”
They weaved through the maze of carved, red stone walls until they found Imara standing near a barricade. It was nearly identical to the one Gemma, Hawk, and Colton had dug through from the cavern.
Was there a reason the entire area was closed off? Gemma shivered at the thought.
“Let’s shift some of this stone,” Hawk said before tossing aside a larger rock.
Gemma stepped forward to help, but Christian grabbed her hand, a playful grin plastered on his face. “Someone told me it’s important that you don’t do physical activity too soon after falling unconscious.”
Gemma scowled at him until he gently pinched her hip. She smacked his hand away, a smile betraying her.
Within minutes, Imara, Hawk, and Colton had created a gap large enough for even Hawk to fit. One by one they slipped through. The further down a sloped tunnel they went, the less the light from the purple and orange celestial galaxies reached them until they had to use their torchlights.
Several twists and turns later, they stepped into a long, wide corridor where a tall, vaulted ceiling stretched into infinity, adorned with a galaxy map identical to one Gemma had studied during her schooling. An entire spaceship could’ve fit in here, given its size.
The gasps out of her teammates’ mouths echoed in Gemma’s heart.
An ethereal glow emanated from the galaxy map above, bathing the room in an otherworldly luminescence.
The five of them carefully descended a short set of steps onto what had once been a polished, red floor.
In the very center stood a statue of a man—no, an alien—wearing battle armor and carrying a two-pronged spear.
His face and body were humanoid, but his eyes were too large and too far apart, and where ears should have been, there were four slits, like gills.
“What is this place?” Hawk asked, looking around wildly.
Imara spun slowly. “It almost looks like . . . a temple.”
A rising sense of unease clawed at the edges of Gemma’s consciousness. This place was sacred, but not to humans.
You shouldn’t be in here.
Her palms sweat inside their gloves, and her clothes began to feel too tight. The air grew thick with unknown history and forgotten secrets, this place struck by a profound sense of reverence.
GET OUT.
Panic surged through Gemma’s veins like the slinger’s acid, consuming every rational thought in its wake. Desperate to escape, she tumbled toward the exit, the echoes of her footsteps reverberating through the chamber.
At the other end of the corridor, she pushed against a set of gigantic, red stone doors. Please, let me out. They didn’t budge.
Her throat tightened as she pounded her fists against the barricades. “Let me out! Please, I need to get out of here!” Her heart thrashed against her sternum.
Her breaths had grown shallow and erratic; the walls of the temple closed in and around her, suffocating her for her trespass. “Let me out!”
“Move, Gemma,” Hawk said.
Someone grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the way.
Hawk put his entire weight behind his kick, slamming his foot into the gap between the doors. Dust filtered from the cracks of the frame, and a sliver of sunlight peeked through.
Grunting, he kicked the door again, and Gemma covered her eyes when the blinding rays from Reva’s sun burned through an opening that Hawk’s kick had made. The doors had barely come apart, but it was wide enough for her petite frame to fit through.
She made a leap for it—
Christian barely got his good arm around her before Hawk’s foot slammed into the door again, hitting where Gemma would’ve stood.
The doors flung open wide, and Gemma clawed out of Christian’s hold, running into the fresh air.
Hands on her head, she paced in a circle, sucking in deep breaths. She hadn’t panicked like that in a long time. But something about that place . . .
She relished the blazing heat on her fair cheeks, even though she knew it wouldn’t be long before the sun’s rays reddened her exposed skin.
With each deep breath, the tightness in her chest loosened, and the racing tempo of her heartbeat slowed to a steady rhythm.
Her teammates watched her with concerned stares.
“Sorry,” Gemma said at last.
“It’s cool,” Hawk replied first. “That place gave me the plucks too.”
“It’s better we didn’t waste any more time in there anyway. Lugar perigoso,” Colton said.
Christian cast a concerned glance at Gemma before scanning the horizon. It was midday again, and the heat was even more brutal than the day before. Had they really been inside that cavern for an entire twenty-four hours?
In front of them lay many ancient, domed dwellings that looked as if they had been abandoned for a long time. Centuries, even. Walls and roofs were crumbling. Some had actual massive holes in their sides. Were these where the aliens lived?
“Where are we?” Imara asked.
Christian touched his comm as best he could with a broken arm. His gaze shifted back and forth. “We’re actually not as far from our target as I thought we’d be. Somehow, that place was a shortcut . . .” His brows furrowed.
“Well, you did fall through a mountain,” Colton reminded him.
And yet, somehow Christian ended up mostly unscathed. There was definitely something unnatural about that entire place.
“We should wait until sundown,” Gemma said. “After Christian’s fall—”
“We’re not waiting any longer.” Christian winced as he adjusted his broken arm in its sling.
Gemma ground her teeth. “You need to keep your heart rate and blood pressure down.”
“I know what concussions feel like. Trust me; I’m fine.” He looked at her with those handsome eyes, begging her to understand without saying it aloud. He’d been hunted by the Falaichte members so many times. He had been through much worse and survived.
He had trusted her to share if she showed symptoms. She needed to treat him the same.
Gemma sighed. “Fine. Just promise me you’ll tell me if your head starts to hurt, or if you feel nauseated, or—”
Christian grazed her arm. “I promise.”
Satisfied with the decision to leave now, the team rearranged supplies until the weight was evenly distributed. They put on their helmets and followed Christian’s lead across much easier terrain to where they’d—finally—get their answers.