by Alicia Rades
“Will we make it there before him?” Venn asked, sounding worried.
“I don’t see how he would make it ahead of us,” Sondra replied. “Don’t worry. We’re going to get this thing and destroy it. We’ll figure out the rest from there. Any other questions?” Her eyes scanned the table.
Fiona’s hand shot into the air. “Yeah, um… can I have a window seat?”
* * *
The car Genevieve provided was stocked with everything we needed for the plane ride: travel snacks, magazines for entertainment, and our plane tickets. What surprised me, though, was the sight of my I.D. sitting in the folder with the plane tickets.
I gasped and grabbed it, flipping it around in my hands to make sure it was real. How did it get there?
Inside the folder, a yellow sticky note read, I figured you’d need this. The rest of your belongings are at my house for when you return. Genevieve.
Genevieve must’ve gone to my apartment and taken the bag I’d packed before I left. I was relieved to know my stuff was safe, even though it was just my phone, my spell journal, and a few pairs of clothes. At least it meant my sketchy landlord didn’t have his grubby hands on my stuff.
Almost an hour after we arrived at the airport, we boarded a plane to Nashville.
Fiona inhaled a sharp breath when she saw our destination. “Mammoth Caves,” she whispered. “That must be where we’re going.”
She was the first from our group on the plane. She quickly found our row and settled in by the window, staring out it in wonder even though we hadn’t even left the terminal. I sat beside her in the middle seat. Venn placed his bag in the overhead bin before sliding into the seat beside me.
I eyed Fiona curiously. “Have you ever flown before?”
She couldn’t tear her gaze off the window. “No, I haven’t. If Sondra ever has to travel for business, she always takes Ryland with her.”
I glanced to Ryland, who was trying to find enough leg room to rest his feet. He was far too big for the plane and had to spread his legs so his knees didn’t touch the back of the seat in front of him. I could see why Sondra took him along. He was a full security team shoved into one body.
“And you, Venn?” I asked. He threw a nervous glance at the window. “Have you ever flown before?”
“I—I did once,” he said hesitantly. “When I was a kid, my family flew to California for my cousin’s wedding.”
“Me, too,” I told him. “My family took a vacation to Florida when I was eight. I loved it.”
Fiona leaned over and whispered, “Venn hates it.”
My shocked gaze snapped in his direction. “You’re afraid of flying?”
He nodded, and his hands tightened around his armrests as the plane began to roll away from the terminal. I felt bad for him. I couldn’t imagine being afraid of flying. Granted, when I flew it typically wasn’t in an airplane, and I usually had the wind whipping through my feathers to add to the thrill, but still…
“It’s okay, Venn,” I said lightly as I rested a hand on his. “I live for flying. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Thanks.”
When we reached the runway, his hand tightened around mine. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as we picked up speed. I knew when the plane’s wheels left the ground because my stomach flipped in my abdomen. Venn squeezed my fingers so tightly he could’ve crushed bone.
Beside me, Fiona gasped as the earth dropped out from beneath us. “Oh, wow! It’s so pretty from up here. Venn, look!”
Venn didn’t open his eyes. Ryland muttered something under his breath. I didn’t catch it, but I figured it was some sort of insult. Teagan slugged him in the arm. My gaze darted to Sondra across the aisle, wondering what I should do to help Venn.
“There’s no shame in being scared,” Sondra said simply. “Most people see fear as a weakness, but it’s how you use fear that matters.”
This woman was freaking wise. I wanted to be her someday.
“What do you mean?” I asked, intrigued.
She leaned on her armrest and stuck her head into the aisle. “Fear is important to self-preservation. There’s such thing as too much fear, so much that it keeps you from truly living. But if you fear nothing, you will almost certainly get yourself killed. A healthy amount of fear is a good thing. Venn’s learned that and knows how to handle it.”
He nodded, his eyes still closed. “She’s right. I’ll be fine. I just need a minute.”
“I’m scared of things most people aren’t, too,” Fiona chimed in. “Vampires, for one.”
I looked at her in disbelief. “You are not.” I didn’t want to say too much with other passengers around, but Fiona freaking slayed the bastards.
“No, really,” she insisted. “I do what I have to do, but honestly, I’ve just been lucky. Hey, Ryland, remember that time when you threw up and that vamp slipped in it while he was coming after me? If Ryland hadn’t been sick, I don’t know if I’d be here today.”
I briefly wondered why we were talking about vampires out in the open like this. Most people didn’t take kindly to our vampire-slaying hobbies, considering the bloodsuckers still had rights. Then I caught a glimpse of Venn’s face and saw that his expression had relaxed. Fiona was talking to distract him.
“I’m scared of the dumbest things, too,” I joined in.
“Really?” Teagan’s brows shot up from across the aisle. “Rae? Scared? No way.”
“Yes way,” I said with a laugh. “I’m scared of…”
What was I scared of? Certainly not vampires. I was scared of being alone again, of going back to my old life where I had no friends, no family. But this wasn’t the kind of conversation that warranted diving that deep. I was supposed to be making Venn feel better.
“Maggots,” I settled with.
“Maggots?” Teagan laughed.
“They’re gross!” I argued. “I just don’t want them touching me. When I was little, my sister and I found a dead mouse at the park by our house. It was full of maggots. She told me it was the mouse’s insides coming to life and that he was going to become a zombie mouse. I ran home screaming.”
Fiona snickered from beside me. The memory churned my insides. When Venn peeled his eyes open, everything I’d just said was so totally worth it.
He smirked. “And you believed her?”
I shrugged, holding back a laugh. “Of course I did. I was, like, five. Anything’s possible when you’re five.”
“True,” he agreed, relaxing his hands on the armrest. “I used to believe my toys came to life at night.”
“I did, too,” I giggled. “Toy Story was my favorite movie. I thought it was real.”
Venn laughed. “I once apologized to a toy soldier because I stepped on him. For the longest time, I thought he’d died and the other soldiers had buried him, because I couldn’t find him after that. I eventually found him in my brother’s room months later.”
“You guys had it easy,” Fiona teased. “Ryland convinced me my dolls were evil. I couldn’t sleep for weeks until Mom and Dad locked my dolls up in their closet. I only played with puzzles for, like, six months before I got a stuffed bear for my birthday.” Fiona shot Ryland daggers.
Ryland looked up from the game he was playing on the screen in front of him. “Hey, I said I was sorry, like, a million times.”
“Only because Mom and Dad made you,” she shot back with a laugh.
I grinned. “So, what I’m hearing is that Ryland’s always been a jerk.”
Fiona wrinkled her nose. “Mostly. But he can be sweet sometimes.”
“Sometimes?” Ryland repeated. “I’m a freaking jar of strawberry jam. I’m as sweet as they come.”
“Oh, honey.” Teagan patted his leg. “You’re strawberry jam if they forgot to add the sugar.”
Sondra chose that moment to take a swig from her water bottle. She nearly choked as she tried to keep from spraying her water all over the seat in fr
ont of her. She coughed to compose herself. “I’ve never heard anyone speak such truth before.” She screwed the cap back on and high-fived Teagan.
The plane ride wasn’t long, but Venn and I passed the time by tossing peanuts into the air and trying to catch them in our mouths.
I caught the first three, but the forth landed on the side of my cheek and shot out into the middle of the aisle. Venn leaned over and grabbed it. I opened my mouth, and he took aim. It hit me square on the end of the nose.
“Excuse me,” a voice snapped. A steward with a bald patch stopped in the aisle next to our seats. He gazed down at us with judgement in his eyes. “But I’m going to have to ask you to stop.”
Venn and I exchanged a guilty glance.
I cleared my throat. “Yes, sir. We’re sorry.”
I held back my laugh, clearly not meaning it.
The steward nodded and turned from us, his nose held high. I threw a peanut at the back of the guy’s head as he walked away. Fiona and Venn both broke out into a fit of laughter.
Eventually, I lay my head against Venn’s shoulder and stared out the window at the rising sun. I was enjoying the flight so much that I nearly forgot where we were headed until we landed.
“The car’s this way,” Sondra said with confidence once we stepped off the plane.
We followed her through the airport until we came to a parking garage.
Sondra stopped beside a silver minivan and glanced at her phone. “This is it. Genevieve says the keys are in the glovebox and there are supplies for us in the back.”
Sondra headed to the driver’s side door and opened it. She poked her head inside the van and came out holding a white slip of paper. She smiled and turned the paper to us. “Genevieve says good luck.”
“Should we check out what she left us?” Ryland suggested, popping open the back hatch.
“Ooh. Fancy,” Fiona said when she saw the six backpacks piled up behind the back seat.
Venn reached for the red one on top and unzipped the main pocket. “Looks like Genevieve thought of everything. Water, headlamps, food, first-aid kit, rope… do you think we’ll need rope?”
Sondra shrugged. “We might. I don’t know what to expect. We have to prepare for anything.”
“Hell yes!” Teagan exclaimed, glancing into a black backpack she’d pulled off the top. She looked up with a wide smile on her face. “Genevieve scored me some throwing knives. I’m going to have to rethink my feelings on this lady.”
“You can go through your bags in the car. We should get going,” Sondra suggested. “I don’t want to waste any time.”
“How far is the drive?” I asked.
Sondra glanced down at her phone. “It looks like it’ll take about two hours. I can get us there in one and a half.” She smiled mischievously.
My brows shot up. “I didn’t know you were a speed demon. I like it.”
Teagan let out a light laugh while she climbed into the van. “You say that now.”
Fiona rolled her eyes and opened the passenger-side door. “Because you’re a much better driver.”
“I never claimed that,” Teagan laughed before turning her attention to Ryland. “Hey, babe. You wanna sit in the back by me? We can make out like lovesick teenagers.”
Ryland’s eyes lit up, and he eagerly climbed in and jumped over the seat to sit next to her.
Teagan held up her hands in surrender. “Jeez. I was joking.”
“So, you don’t want to make out with me?” Ryland leaned over her and stuck his tongue out, threatening to lick her with it.
I stifled a laugh while I slid into the middle seat. Venn sat beside me and closed the door behind us.
“Ew!” Teagan complained, placing a hand on Ryland’s chest. “Get that thing away from me.”
I knew now wasn’t the time to be joking around and laughing, but I couldn’t help but enjoy the moment. I’d become so serious over the past few years that I almost forgot there were still things worth laughing over. And things worth loving, I thought as my gaze roamed over Venn.
He didn’t notice my eyes on him as he draped his arm around my shoulder and settled in for the long car ride. For just a few more hours, I would enjoy the warmth of Venn’s embrace and the glorious sound of my new family bickering with each other.
Then it was down into the cold, damp cave, where anything could happen.
14
True to her word, Sondra pulled off a deserted road into a narrow gravel driveway an hour and a half later. The forest was thick around us, and the sun was playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds. Something about the wilderness made me feel free, like I could run for miles or fly high in the sky. Ahead, the trees parted to give way to a clearing where a small cabin sat. It looked old but well taken care of. There were no signs of human life on the property.
“Genevieve said we should park here off the main road,” Sondra explained as she slowed the van to a stop. “Technically, we’re trespassing, but it’s a vacation home that no one’s using right now, so we should be fine.”
“How far away are the caves?” Venn asked.
“If Genevieve’s coordinates are correct, it looks like we have a good three-mile hike ahead of us,” Sondra said. “But she says the entrance isn’t going to be easy to find, so we’re going to have to keep a close eye out for it.”
Sondra parked, and we all piled out of the vehicle and strapped our day packs to our backs.
“How are you doing?” Venn whispered under his breath as we entered lush green forest behind everyone else.
“I’m fine. Why?” It sounded like a lie, even to my ears, though I didn’t know why. I hadn’t realized I was lying.
“Because your sister is still out there,” Venn answered. “I can see it in your eyes every now and then that you worry about her.”
“I do,” I agreed as I stepped around a thick tree and over underbrush. I slowed my pace to put distance between us and the rest of the group. I lowered my voice so only Venn could hear. “I should’ve gone after her years ago, but I didn’t know where to start. I was hopeless. I think that’s part of why I started killing vampires—because it gave me hope that the world might be a better place without them.”
Venn cocked his head like he agreed with me.
“I miss her so much,” I whispered.
“I know,” Venn said. “As soon as we’re done here, we’re going after her. I promise.”
I shot him a light smile. “I really appreciate that.”
The longer we walked in silence, the more I thought about Jenna. My gut twisted as guilt assaulted me.
She can hold out another day, I told myself, but I wasn’t an easy person to convince.
The fact was, thinking about Jenna was sending my anxiety into overdrive. There was nothing I could do right now for her out in the wilderness, and I knew I might need to access magic for whatever lay ahead. So, despite the guilt tearing through me, I pushed her from my mind. Temporarily, I told myself.
I took a deep breath and released the tension in my fists on the exhale. I focused on the calming sound of the wind rushing through the trees… until the wind began to pick up. A chill traveled down my spine. The sky began to darken, and the temperature seemed to drop a few degrees within a matter of minutes. Something in the air tasted different, but I couldn’t pinpoint what. I hadn’t even realized the air normally had a taste. I just knew something wasn’t quite right.
“It looks like it might rain,” Ryland said, glancing up at the sky. “How close are we?”
Sondra stepped around a tree. “Not far. Keep an eye out.”
Fiona scanned the landscape. A short hill rose ahead of us, but other than that, the forest was fairly flat. “I don’t see how we’re going to find a cave around here.”
“It could look like anything,” Sondra said. “It might just be a hole in the ground.”
Fiona’s eyes darted to her feet in horror, as if wondering whether or not we were going to fall straight into a cavern.
>
A familiar tingle spread across my skin, raising the hairs on my arms. I might’ve written it off as static electricity in the air from the incoming storm if I hadn’t been acutely tuned to my magical sense.
“I feel something,” I announced.
“I do, too,” Sondra agreed. “There’s magic up ahead. We’re getting close.”
As we crested the hill, the energy sizzling across my skin intensified. The hill stopped abruptly at a rocky wall at least ten feet high. We stood at the top of it, overlooking the rest of the forest.
“It’s here,” I said confidently, though I couldn’t tell exactly how I knew. Somehow, I could just feel an enchantment in the air.
“What are we waiting for?” Teagan asked. “Let’s check it out.”
Ryland walked to the edge of the short cliff and jumped straight down. Fiona inhaled a sharp breath, but he landed just fine at the bottom.
Show off.
“You okay?” Sondra called to him.
He better be, considering the guy was big enough to practically reach up his arms and touch our toes.
“Fine,” Ryland said. “Are you coming or what?”
Teagan backed away from the edge. “I’ll take the easy way down. I don’t plan on breaking any bones today.”
“Oh, come on, babe.” Ryland held his arms out. “I’ll catch you.”
Teagan shot him the stink eye, like she didn’t believe him.
“Catch me!” Fiona said quickly.
She bent her knees, and a look of horror crossed Ryland’s face. She gave a small hop into the air but only came off the ground a few inches.
“You’re so gullible,” Fiona said with a laugh. She turned away from Ryland and followed Sondra down the side of the hill. “You should’ve seen your face.”
The rest of us took the gentle slope down the lowest corner of the rock wall and climbed down easily. As soon as we reached level ground, I spotted an opening in the rock. It wasn’t very big, only about the size of the window back in my apartment. But it sloped downward and stretched so far back into the hillside that all I saw was pitch-black darkness. The magical energy I’d felt earlier was stronger than ever.
