“I am?” She looked down at her arm and saw a small gash. “I must have cut it when I fell.” She didn’t recall hitting her arm, but she remembered it stinging.
“It’s not deep,” Nathan said, examining it. “Just a scratch.” The warmth of his hand on her arm made her realize how cold she was.
“Looks like it was cut with a knife,” Jake said, squatting beside her.
Nathan nodded. They both gave her a thorough inspection, running their flashlights over her, inquiring about scrapes and even old scars she’d had since she was a kid, until she felt like she’d had a physical. She kept glancing over her shoulder.
“What’s that?” Nathan asked, frowning. Her pajamas had a small tear, revealing the ridge of an old scar on her thigh.
She didn’t know how her pajamas had torn. It must have also happened when she fell. “I got that in Egypt when I was a kid. I fell into a tomb.”
She’d been with Adam. Adam. Now she knew it was her fault he had died, her fault her father and Uncle John had died. Marco said breaching the sacred chamber could cause a curse of death. She was the one who had trespassed. Adam had tried to stop her, but she hadn’t listened. He had looked out for her for years, and she had repaid him with a curse.
The events leading up to the childhood incident in the chapel were vivid, but the events afterward were vague. She recalled several men in robes whispering, their voices angry. Then another man leading them to a tunnel… to the railcars. They’d left the castle by the railcars. She remembered being sleepy. Even with all the excitement, it had been hard to stay awake. The events after they left the castle were even cloudier. Adam was there. She remembered him asking for his father, but he hadn’t returned from his trip. Her father had been nervous, afraid. That was all she remembered until she woke at Aunt Edna’s and was told that they were all dead.
She realized Nathan was still staring at the scar, but he didn’t move his hand. “Egypt.” He seemed disturbed by the scar. Was that some kind of sign that he could be Adam? They’d spent a lot of time in Egypt.
“A little to the right and you’ll be at third base,” Jake said.
Nathan jerked his hand back. “Her pajamas look like they’ve been cut as well.”
Now wasn’t the time to solve the mystery about Adam. She needed to get out of here, or she was going to embarrass herself and collapse. “Did you find a way back to the maze?”
Jake shook his head. “We couldn’t find any openings or hidden catches. We figured there must be another way out. We need to get moving in case that shadow thing comes back.”
“Kendall looks pale,” Nathan said. “Maybe we should rest.”
“We’re all pale,” Jake said. “It’s black as Hades in here.”
“I’m fine,” Kendall said. “Let’s go.” She wasn’t fine, but there was something hostile about this place, as if it didn’t want them here. She was happy to oblige.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I don’t like the feel of this place.”
Nathan and Jake each linked an arm through Kendall’s and they started walking, continuing to keep an eye out for that sinister shadow. Her mind felt a little less foggy as she moved away from the place where she had encountered it. “How did you find me?”
“We followed you through the maze,” Jake said. “We must be underneath it. We gotta be getting close to the catacombs. I can hear the statues.”
“I hope they don’t work underground,” Kendall said. “We don’t have the crosses.”
Nathan let go of her arm and reached into his pocket. “Here.” He pulled something out and slipped it over her head. A cross.
“Busted,” Jake said. “We found them in your room.”
Kendall felt the comforting weight against her chest. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to take them without asking. I saw them in your study and picked them up. When I thought you were choking in your bedroom, I shoved them in my pocket and forgot about them.”
Jake made a rumbling noise that could have been either a grunt or his stomach complaining.
“It’s a good thing you brought them,” Nathan said. “I didn’t think about it.”
“You were preoccupied with your guest,” Jake said.
Guest? Kendall would have asked what he meant, but she was too focused on staying awake.
It didn’t take long until Kendall was slowing down and Nathan and Jake were using more of their own strength to drag her. Her head had cleared some, but her body was still weak. “I’m sorry, but I have to stop. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“We’ll carry you,” Jake said. “We can’t stop if that thing is in here.”
They were tired too. Their steps had slowed. “It’s gone now,” she said. “I can feel that it’s not here.”
“You’re sure?” Nathan asked.
“Yes. It was probably just a ghost.”
“Then let’s rest,” Jake said. “You’ve had a hell of a night, and I feel like shit.”
Using her light, she chose the least dirty spot. “How about here?”
“Dry, no bat droppings,” Nathan said. “Looks good to me.”
“Turns out our rich boss has a lot of experience with bat shit,” Jake said. “Says he could write a book on it.”
Nathan might wear suits and have loads of money, but he was no pansy. Still, she hadn’t pictured him crawling around places where there were bats, like Adam had. She sat down while Jake and Nathan inspected the area around them. “How long have you been searching for me?”
“A couple of hours,” Nathan said.
“Are you sure? I left the castle less than an hour ago.”
“You must have blacked out longer than you thought,” Jake said.
“It felt like just a few minutes,” Kendall said. “I went to the graveyard first, then the maze. What time is it?”
Jake looked at his watch and frowned. “It’s not working.”
Nathan held up his wrist. “Neither is mine. That’s bloody strange.”
“Is there anything about this castle that isn’t?” Jake murmured.
“Must be something to do with the statues,” Nathan added.
But that didn’t happen before, Kendall thought with a sense of foreboding.
“Did you sleep at all before you went chasing ghosts?” Jake asked.
“Not much.” Kendall felt awkward thinking about what had happened before Jake left the tower room. If he hadn’t held back, none of them would be here now. She would probably be lying in bed with him instead of lost in a cave. She should have insisted. She was getting sick of secret caves and tunnels.
Nathan started walking back the way they’d come.
“Where you going?” Jake asked.
“Bathroom.”
“I miss the garderobe,” she said.
“I miss food and water.” Jake squatted beside her and turned over her wrist. “We need to get this fixed. Don’t want it getting infected.” His touch was warm, and she thought again how close they’d come to making love. Was it always going to be this dance? One of them darting in, the other pulling back? Nathan was back in moments, distracting her train of thought.
“Do you need to go?” Jake asked Kendall.
Was he going to escort her? “No, I’m fine.”
“My turn then,” he said.
They were babysitting her. As she had so many times in the past week, she felt both grateful and irritated. If she weren’t so tired, she’d remind them that she’d probably had more experience in caves than both of them combined, but she was ready to drop from exhaustion. She wondered if the shadow hovering over her had done something to her mind. It was probably just a vision. Intense visions drained her. But even seeing her mother and father hadn’t made her feel this bad afterward. And Jake and Nathan were also tired. Was the cave itself draining their energy?