Chapter Thirty-one

 

 

Clyde

 

“Star?” I called out. “Is that you?” I could swear I’d heard a girl’s voice, and I hoped with all my might that it was Star.

“Clyde?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I moved from the little cut-out next to the river where I’d been passed out for a while. I struggled to get to my feet; my legs felt like jelly and remained unsteady. I pushed through the shaking and frantically scanned the area surrounding me. Her head bobbed up out of the stones, and I rushed her way, carefully stepping around the rocks in between us.

“I’m here, Star,” I reassured her. I pulled her into my arms, holding her as tightly as possible. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Clyde,” she sobbed into my shirt. The dirt smeared on her face didn’t make her look any less beautiful. I held her until she pulled back a little to take me in.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“My leg is banged up, but otherwise, I think I’ll live.”

“Have you seen Gideon?”

My heart sank. I knew she would ask about him sooner or later, but it didn’t dull the sting of hearing his name upon her lips.

“No. I haven’t seen him.”

“What if the river took him?” She turned toward the water, staring in horror as the worst of scenarios passed through her mind. “We have to find him.”

She turned toward me as I nodded, agreeing with her.

“Are you hurt, Star?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

She looked at me as though I’d just asked the most absurd thing.

“No. Just banged up with some scratches. My thigh hurts, and my right side feels like I must’ve hit something at some point, but nothing feels broken. I’m just exhausted, and it’s hard to stay warm.”

I nodded. “Yeah, the river is freezing. It’s winter on the surface, and the underground never really warms up. Did you get soaked? Our outer suits are waterproof.”

“It kept the water out, but my feet, head, and hands ache. I was just trying to dry off and fell asleep. Then I heard something that woke me. I guess it was you.”

I looked at her, puzzled. “I fell asleep too. I don’t think I moved from the position I fell asleep in.”

A crunch of gravel made us both jump, and we spun around, staring off into the dark shadows for the source of the sound.

“Did your cuff stay on?” I asked her, tapping on my cuff and yanking out the staff. She nodded, waving to her arm before she produced a dagger I’d failed to notice she’d been holding.

“Who’s there?” she called out.

Another step in the gravel, and I was convinced we were definitely not alone.

“Show yourself!” I called out. Just then, a man stepped out from the shadows as though he’d been made of the inky darkness, but when he emerged, it was very apparent that he was almost as white as a marble statue.

“Who are you?” Star gasped. She stepped back, bumping into my shoulder. I held steady, my hand settling on the small of her back to reassure her.

The figure looked at both of us with a flat expression. The only sign of life was his eyes twinkling in the luminescence of the cavern, which grew as he stepped forward, lighting up wherever he touched. It spread out from him like rays of the sun.

We both took a cautious step backward. I held the staff, ready to fight if I had to.

Star reached up, clasping the crystal pendant hanging from her neck. Its blood red color glimmered with its own light as her eyes widened and glazed over. The sentient creature stopped as he watched her. Curiosity broke the stillness of emotion on his face, and he studied her with focused intent. His interest in Star made my insides grow cold, as though someone had snuffed the sun out, and it would never return to warm me again.

“Star,” I called out to her as she stepped forward. I grabbed her elbow and tugged her back. “Star!”

I was hit with a rush of air which sent me tumbling backward. I landed on my bad leg and moaned in pain, grasping at my knee, which was now flaring up in agony. Breathing through my teeth, I blinked past the tears forming in my eyes and found Star standing in front of the entity.

He had to be an Other. But how was he controlling Star?

“Star!” I shouted, but she didn’t respond. She remained in a trance-like stillness that made me think she wasn’t even breathing. “Star, wake up! Leave her alone!” I yanked a throwing star from my cuff and flung it his way. The entity’s eyes widened. He reached up to touch his cheek, where a small cut had been left from my throwing star. Deep ruby red blood formed on the cut as he wiped it away, his eyes growing angry. The paleness of his skin morphed into a dark gray, and his eyes looked like black glass with pinpoints of white, like there were stars and galaxies in his eyes.

“Inutile. You dare oppose an Intrepid? For bringing me a replenishing consort, I will spare your life. I beseech you, do not attempt to find her, or you will be annihilated.” He reached out to touch Star, who remained fixed in the same spot, and with that touch, they were both wrapped in shadows, disappearing before my eyes.

“No!” My eyes widened. I hobbled toward the spot where Star had last stood, but there was nothing. She was gone, as though she hadn’t ever been there at all. “Star!” I called out, hoping she was still near enough to hear me. “Star!”

The cavern grew darker, as though the shadows had moved. They seemed to be whispering in unintelligible voices. I swallowed the growing fear in my chest as I struggled to breathe. The pain in my leg lessened to a dull throb, but I could barely stand anymore. I couldn’t take chase after them; I had no idea where to go and was in no condition to fight. Leaning on the staff, I listened in horror as the whispers and shadows moved across the cavern walls until they were seemingly sucked into a large crack, seeping away like liquid and leaving behind nothing but the sound of the river.

No, no, no. The Other had taken Star. Why? She was female. She was supposed to be able to walk the deeper tunnels untouched. Unless….

I rubbed my face on my sleeve. The dirt streaked on my face was getting into my eyes and blurring my vision. I wanted to scream and holler, run after the shadows, but I couldn’t. Why was it that when it came to Star, I never could reach her, let alone save her? There was always something pulling her away from me, and I could do nothing but watch it happen.

“Dammit!” I cursed, hopping to the nearest boulder and sitting down on it, heaving from the effort of balancing on one leg. I looked down at my pants, which were ripped at the knee. I could see blood seeping through the material, drenching my clothes. Ripping it off the rest of the way, I assessed my injury, noting a deep gash at the lower edge of my thigh, above my knee. It was severe enough that blood was steadily dripping out of it.

I gritted my teeth. Of all things, a stupid gash had taken me down. I really had to give myself more credit. Surviving near-drowning in the underground was not something easy to do. I hated to think that we could have died in those freezing waters.

Like Gideon.

I tried not to think of my brother dying in that river as I dug through my pack for the antiseptic. I poured it onto the wound and hissed as it burned; it made my eyes tear up all over again. The wound, now clean, was bleeding even more. I dabbed at it with gauze as I pulled out the suture kit. I’d sutured wounds before, but never my own. I rummaged through the pack and found a small canister. Popping the top off, I took two tiny, dissolving pills. They were strong painkillers meant to work almost immediately, but I wasn’t waiting to make sure. I disinfected my dirty hands and got the supplies ready.

Breathing in and out as I approximated the edges of the gash, I held my breath as I hooked the needle through my skin and began to suture it together. The pain was unbearable for the first couple sutures, but the pills began performing their magic, numbing me up as I worked hurriedly. I didn’t want to be too loopy to finish the job. Usually, someone else would work on me as I enjoyed the bliss of medication.

My hands shook as I finished the last suture. Never before had I craved a drink of alcohol badly enough to knock me out. I lay back for a moment, exhausted from my efforts. Resting helped, but I still had work to do. I sat back up and pulled out clear suture glue and a waterproof bandage to keep the wound clean. Dripping the glue to the wound made me suck in a breath again as it burned at the exposed parts of my cut. It dried quickly and didn’t hurt anymore as I slapped the bandage on, securing the ends of it in case I had to submerge myself in the river again.

I sure hoped not.

I stuffed the supplies back into the pack, pulled it over my shoulders, and got to my feet, using the staff to pull myself up. The wound repair would have to do. It helped with the pain now that the skin and flesh wasn’t moving around and bleeding, but I hoped I didn’t reopen it. I could always cauterize it with fire, but I didn’t want to do that yet.

I needed to find Star and Gideon. Especially Star, because I was afraid Gideon was already dead. I pressed my lips together as I slowly stepped forward, inching my way toward the crack in the cavern wall where the shadows had fled. Wherever they’d gone, I had to follow. I’d do anything to save my Star, even if it meant I’d be joining Gideon on the other side. I may not have liked Gideon, but he was still my brother, regardless of how fate had decided to throw us together.

Inhaling deeply, I continued on.