Page 30 of The Heart of Moonlight Falls

The sinkhole was definitely getting bigger.

James stood at the edge of the clearing with Sebastian the next morning, eyeing it. “It has to be twice the size it was before.” James was glad he’d thought to move the fuel cell last time. It might have fallen in otherwise.

Sebastian took a hesitant step forward. “Should we look in? Maybe we can see better than Eli could since it’s bigger now.”

James reluctantly agreed. The rope was still tied to the tree, and after checking the knot was secure, he had Sebastian tie the other end around his waist.

Sebastian gave him slack as he inched forward. The ground felt solid, but he didn’t let that stop him from walking like he was on thin ice.

“It still feels pretty stable,” he called back to Sebastian when he was a foot from the edge. “It’s a sheer break. Doesn’t look like the soil is slowly crumbling in.”

“Sounds unnatural,” Sebastian replied. “But we knew this had to be magical.”

James couldn’t see much in the hole. It seemed unusually dark. Satisfied the ground wouldn’t fall away, he lay on his stomach and inched forward until he could peer over the edge. “There’s nothing to see. It’s completely dark.”

“What if you send a light down?”

That was a good idea. James summoned a small ball of light and let it descend into the hole. It was only about four feet across, but the light didn’t fill the space as it should. It was like its rays weren’t leaving the ball, illuminating nothing around it.

James urged the light farther down. It got smaller as it went, showing him nothing but how deep the hole actually was. Then it disappeared.

“It’s gone.” James stared downward in case he missed the light popping back up. There wasn’t even a flicker. James couldn’t feel the spell anymore and didn’t think it was taking any more of his energy. It was like the light had gone out or the spell had failed, but it didn’t feel the same as when his concentration broke and he lost a spell that way.

“Think you just sent light to Beyond?” Sebastian asked.

It was a freaky thought. “Maybe.” He scooted back and stood. “I wonder if the spell can continue working once it’s left this world. It doesn’t feel like it is.”

James returned to Sebastian, who untied the rope.

“Do you think this makes it easier for things to pass through the gateway?” Sebastian glanced over James’s shoulder at the hole as he spoke. He sucked in a breath and grabbed James’s arm, grip crushing and eyes wide.

“What?” James asked in alarm, whipping around to look. He didn’t see anything.

“I swear a shadowy hand was gripping the edge, right where you just were.”

The clearing was mostly free of shadow and bright sunlight covered the ground where James had been lying. He didn’t see anything else.

James turned back to Sebastian to find fear written all over his face. Sweat broke out on James’s forehead. “It’s daylight. Surely shades can’t come through now.”

Sebastian remained fixated on the hole. “Probably not, luckily for us. That must be why it retreated, or maybe it was banished by the sun.”

It was a marginally comforting thought. The shade must have seen James’s orb of light and come to investigate. Meaning that creatures in Beyond knew they were here, poking around on the other side of the gateway. A chill ran down James’s spine.

Something else occurred to James. “Wouldn’t the sun have banished the shade before it got to the edge of the hole?”

Sebastian hummed in thought. “Maybe, but whatever is in the hole seems to be keeping light out. Otherwise, we’d be able to see inside, so maybe not.”

James liked that logic. It meant the shade Sebastian thought he saw was less likely to be fully sunlight resistant. Completely light-resistant shades were the last thing they needed.

Still, James and Sebastian watched the hole for a long, tense moment, waiting. Nothing happened, which hopefully meant the shade had been banished and hadn’t just retreated, but James didn’t find much comfort in the uncertainty they were left with.

Sebastian threw the rope down at the base of the tree. “There’s not much more we can do here. Let’s get Eli’s data and go.”

They made quick work of gathering the receipts and left the property. James drove them back to Gray Electrical, the ride quiet other than the music Sebastian selected. When they pulled up at the shop, Hazel was outside helping someone fill their car battery.

The customer seemed to stop chatting with Hazel as soon as they caught sight of Sebastian. James pursed his lips as he passed them on his way inside.

He could kill William for turning people against Sebastian, never mind trapping them unnecessarily and putting their lives at risk. James was sure that if most of the people in the auditorium yesterday had heard about the veins from Eleanor instead of William, there wouldn’t be anywhere near as much animosity toward Sebastian.

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