Chapter 86 Maddy #3
One by one, we all clicked on our dive lights.
When I switched mine on, I nearly screamed as a massive four-foot-long eel slithered out of a stone recess less than three feet away and swam straight toward me.
It was all I could do to keep the regulator in my mouth as I panted and tried to swim out of its way.
The thing seemed wholly uninterested in me and swam by, but not before its slimy tail slid across my shoulder.
I shuddered and tried not to retch. I was not a fan of snakes, and even though in my head I understood that eels were actually fish, it didn’t sit well to have something so long and slithery rubbing against me.
I glanced back at the others and saw Nico holding up the okay sign.
I nodded and swam toward the opening. I was more careful, wary of what other nasty things might be down in the depths with us.
The lights revealed an inclined pathway that led deeper into the cave.
I tugged the rope for them to follow me and swam forward.
Thankfully, the tunnel was more than wide enough.
, I’d already had to deal with my fear of snakes.
I didn’t need claustrophobia to go along with that.
The cave angled up until it was almost vertical.
Then it abruptly opened into a massive chamber, free of water.
My dive light reflected off wet stone and stalactites.
As soon as we surfaced, my wolf started to whine.
The magic in the cave was almost palpable.
Once I swam to the edge, I climbed up onto the big shelf of rock.
Like a whale beaching itself, I rolled out of the water and struggled to my feet.
In moments, our gear was all piled on the ground beside the pool.
Each of us had brought a dry bag with clothes and shoes to change into once we were inside.
The men all turned while I stripped the neoprene suit off and dressed.
I was glad I’d brought jogging pants and a long-sleeved T-shirt since it was cool in the cave.
Goose flesh erupted across my arms, legs, and breasts before I could get dressed.
Ten minutes later, we were dressed, and Nico had handed out flashlights from his own dry bag. “Okay, we don’t want to get lost. As we get deeper, we need to be very careful to remember any turns or corners we take. That way, we can reverse it and get back. Cool?”
We agreed though I was barely able to concentrate on what he was saying. Magic billowed through the cavern. It was similar to what I’d felt when I was near the vault. It terrified me, but it also called to me.
Nico aimed his flashlight toward the only tunnel in the room. “At least we don’t have to figure out where to start. That’s the entrance. We start there and see where it leads.”
“I’ll go first,” I said, surprising myself.
“Are you sure?” Nico asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I… I can feel it, if that makes sense. I’m pretty sure I can lead us right to it.”
“Okay.” Nico glanced at the others. “Let’s go.”
As I walked toward the cave door, I could almost visualize the waves of power coming down the tunnel.
I was three steps into the passageway when the sound of Nico cursing echoed behind me.
I spun around and saw him on his ass, staring at me, panic in his eyes.
Sebastian and Tiago were pressing their palms against…
thin air? The skin of their hands was pressed down and flat, almost like they were pushing their hands against a plate of glass.
I stepped back over and looked at them in confusion.
“Maddy?” Tiago asked.
I reached my hand through the barrier and took Nico’s hand in mine.
When I tried to pull him forward to join me, his knuckles came to rest on an invisible wall of air.
No matter how hard I pulled and he pushed, I couldn’t get his hand through.
Finally, I let go and withdrew my arm. “Should we try something else?” I asked.
He shook his head and gave me a worried look. “This is a magical boundary. It was in the scroll. Only one of Edemas’s descendants can get through. I really hoped it would be closer to the vial, but…” He shrugged helplessly. “I think you’re on your own from here.”
Eyes wide, I looked down the dark tunnel. “By myself?” I asked, swallowing hard even though the answer to that question was obvious.
Nico didn’t look happy. “I’m afraid so. Look at me,” he said, locking his eyes on mine. “If you feel or see anything that looks like trouble, you run your ass back here. You understand?”
I didn’t bother nodding. Instead, I leaned out through the barrier and kissed him, then I turned away and walked into the darkness, the beam of my flashlight bouncing along.
I glanced back once and saw all four men leaning their hands on the magic barrier.
Each one watched me go with a different, worried expression on their face.
The dark tunnel only extended thirty feet before opening into another massive cavern. The thing was huge. I turned back and called to my friends. “Big room here. Looks like no more tunnels.”
“Can you tell where the vial is?” Nico yelled back.
I felt a hard tug, like when you put your hand over the tube of a vacuum, except it was tugging at my entire body.
It pulled me… to the right. When I looked that way, the tug grew stronger.
It was dark, but in my mind, I could see a glowing pillar of fire in the corner of the room.
Was this what it was like for moths—inexplicably pulled toward the flames that would consume and destroy them?
I called over my shoulder, unable to pull my eyes away from the dark corner of the room. “I think so.”
Letting the magic pull me ever onward, I traversed the chamber, making slow work of it as I had to navigate stalagmites, cracks in the floor, and rocks.
The last thing I needed was a broken ankle.
Once I was closer, my flashlight revealed a stone plinth that looked to have been haphazardly chiseled into a stone outcropping.
Once I inched even closer, I saw what sat atop it.
It was a large vase that looked like it was made of clay.
Frowning, I stepped up to the pedestal. The power emanating from it was unbelievable.
The only way I could describe it was that it felt like the searing heat of an open oven flashing against my face.
I was honestly surprised my hair wasn’t billowing back from the power of it.
There was no real power to it, but the force was almost physical in its strength.
Nico called out to me, was calling out to me, asking what was going on, but I couldn’t answer.
All I could do was stare at the vase, transfixed by what I would discover inside it.
My hand moved of its own accord, inching closer to the rim.
Part of me was screaming at myself to stop, to think things through before reaching in.
The other part was almost salivating at the thought of finally wrapping my fingers around what was in there.
The desire was nearly sexual in its pull.
I had the feeling that it would almost cause physical pain not to take the last step.
I blinked, barely able to pull my thoughts back. I called out one last time. “I found a vase. It’s here. I found it.”
Nico and the others shouted something else, but the roar of magic filled my ears, blasting at my eardrums. Unblinking, my wide eyes took in every detail as my fingers slid over the lip of the vase.
My knuckles vanished, then my palm, and finally, my wrist slipped inside.
I gasped when the tips of my fingers brushed across the glass vial.
A jolt of power slammed through my body, and for a fleeting moment, I wondered if I’d been struck by lightning.
Once my fingers fully encircled the bottle, it was like everything stopped.
Something was wrong. I… didn’t feel like I thought I should.
I pulled my hand out, and the … the vial sat in my palm.
After all this time, it was right there.