“Brajon, hold on to me tight. I have an idea.”
As her cousin braced himself, Silver swayed to the left, then to the right, then harder and faster. Finally, she had enough momentum to fling her right arm up to Brajon. He caught it and, with one movement, yanked her onto the ledge.
“Thank you,” Silver said, then paused to catch her breath.
Brajon’s face was a touch pale. “That wouldn’t have been a pretty drop.”
“Next time, we ride Hiyyan,” she said. “I don’t care what you say.”
Silver worked her way across the ledge, her back to the lake and her eyes trained on the ground, calculating each step before she took it.
On the other side, Hiyyan was there to meet them, his skin glistening with water. When he saw Silver, his grin was massive. Waves of relief passed through both of them.
Silver laughed and jumped on his back to be lowered gently to the ground. Brajon hesitated, still on the ledge.
“You can let Hiyyan help you, or you can leap yourself,” Silver said. “But try not to break all your bones when you land. Then you’ll definitely be riding Hiyyan the whole way to Calidia.”
Brajon grumbled but let the Aquinder help gingerly lower him to the cave floor.
On that side of the oasis, the caves were narrower and much darker. No cavern opening wide enough to let blue light in. Brajon paused to strike his flint and light a lantern. He reached for Silver’s lantern, too, but she held it away from him.
“Don’t. I don’t want to run out of oil before we reach Calidia.”
“We can get more.”
Silver snorted. “Where? The great underground traders’ bazaar? Don’t be a beetlebrain.”
Brajon looked at Hiyyan. “I bet there’s loads of blubber under his skin.”
Hiyyan growled.
“Don’t even think about it,” Silver said. “If you hurt Hiyyan, you hurt me.”
“Relax,” Brajon said, “I was just joking.”
Silver was learning the strength of the emotions she felt when Hiyyan was upset or happy, and how they affected her own moods. Every time she thought about Kirja, for example, sorrow flowed through her, and Sersha’s face swam in her vision. How could she make Brajon know what it was like when there was nothing to compare the experience to? Her cousin had never even had a pet.
Brajon shook his head. “If I can’t make you laugh, then Sagittaria Wonder has won. That old racer could never drag my cousin down.”
That got a small smile from Silver. “Never mind. Let’s keep walking.”
The flowing of the river and the dripping of condensation kept Silver and Brajon company for some time. The way was easy and clear, but Silver shivered when she thought too much about the never-ending darkness around them. Never stopping. Never seeing the light again. The ceilings drip-drip-dripping nonstop and water filling her ears in a rush.
How long had they been walking? A few hours? Not the whole night, surely. The back of her neck prickled, as though something were watching them. Silver shook her head. The caves were already getting to her.
Her ears perked, and she froze.
“Did you hear that?” she whispered.
Brajon looked back over his shoulder. “Just the river and the dripping. And you tripping all over the place.” He marched ahead, delighted to be in his element. Underground was a second home to him.
“Hilarious.”
Silver turned in a slow circle, examining the walls and as much of the shadowy places as she could see into. There was nothing. Listening hard revealed nothing, either. But there had been something a moment ago. She was sure of it.
“Can we stop and rest?” Silver looked at the ceiling nervously. She longed for the skies. Or maybe she was feeling Hiyyan’s longing. Probably, it was both of them.
“How long’s it been?” Brajon asked.
“I don’t know. I’ve lost track of time.”
“I guess sleeping whenever we’re tired makes sense, then,” Brajon said.
They unrolled their mats, and Silver picked through the selection of dried food her cousin had taken from the kitchens. “I’m too tired to make a fire,” she said.
She wondered how Nebekker could stand living in the caverns for so long. Silver popped a few nuts in her mouth and chewed them slowly. It wasn’t just worry over the fuel supply that made her want to avoid a fire. Her neck prickled, and her breathing was shallow. She had heard something in the caverns. A far-off rattling.
Silver caught Hiyyan’s eye, and something passed between them, but her mind felt too fuzzy to figure out exactly what. It was as though Hiyyan wanted to tell her something but didn’t know how.
Or she was so tired and hungry she was imagining things. Silver grabbed a handful of golden apricots and sugary dates. She couldn’t recall, later, if she’d actually eaten any of them. Her exhausted body hit her mat and immediately fell into slumber.
EIGHTEEN
Silver woke up to a pair of eyes watching her. Not Hiyyan’s expressive black eyes, because he was still sleeping. Nor Brajon’s; he was still sleeping, too. But across the cave, two tiny silver specks shone in the dying light of the lantern.
Silver held as still as possible until her foot began to fall asleep. Slowly, a headache began to thump, thump, thump in her head from the awkward way her head was propped against the rocky cave wall. Or maybe it was from the drip, drip, drip of cave water on her upper back. Had she slept like that the whole time? The ache in her shoulders told her she had.
The silver eyes blinked. They were watching her steadily. And then, to the left, another pair of glimmering eyes appeared.
Silver tried to silently alert Hiyyan, sending waves of fear toward the water dragon. He stubbornly snored on. Clearly, their communication needed work.
Wake up! she thought harder. Hiyyan shifted slightly.
One pair of eyes disappeared. Silver felt choked by panic. Where did the eyes go? Was the creature coming closer? Had it decided she and Brajon would make a good breakfast? She realized one of her toes was peeking out from the end of her blanket. Silver quickly yanked her knees to her chest.
“Brajon!” she hissed.
Her cousin jerked upright. Hiyyan snorted awake and gave a low growl of warning. The Aquinder began moving closer to Silver, but Brajon put a hand up to stop him.
“Don’t move,” he whispered. “Something’s dripping on you.”
“It’s just cave water,” Silver whispered, swiping at her neck. Then she saw the panic in Brajon’s eyes. “Isn’t it?”
“Don’t move,” he repeated.
Silver froze. Every part of her except for her eyes. She saw something dropping slowly from the ceiling over Brajon’s head. A pale, iridescent string of something that was reaching down until it was about to touch his neck.
“Um … cousin…”
That’s when Silver realized it wasn’t one string. There were hundreds, all descending from the ceiling of the cave toward them.
“Brajon,” Silver screamed. She jumped to her feet and flung her hands all over her neck, her face, her back. Her feet brushed against something squishy, and pricks of pain shot from her soles up into her ankles.
Silver grabbed at her ankles with a cry, and her hands came away with blood. The things—the stretching, wormlike things—were above them and below them and they had teeth. They were sucking her blood from the back of her neck and attaching to the bottom of her feet. Brajon frantically danced next to her, trying to yank the slimy things off.
“They’re down my tunic!” he yelped. He flung his top off and clawed at his skin.