Page 47 of Katya and the Young God

His jaw set, he walks across, fully under the crystals, until he reaches the other side, without a whisper of air moving in the giant room.

Even the two remaining cavers watch him, eyes wide, as if expecting the same thing, and when he gets to the exit tunnel he turns around, spreading his arms wide in a clear theatrical move.

If it wasn’t so goddamn scary, Katya would roll her eyes at the drama of it. Demigods. Always with the dramatics.

He strides back, the hint of a smug look on his face, like he bested the trap, but Katya’s heart doesn’t leave her throat until he’s all the way back.

“So we can get across,” he says, gesturing the two humans over, who do not move. Do not give him anything besides openly distrustful looks. “Just need one of us to sketch this on your skin.”

Without even breaking a beat, the Magician starts sketching it out on Rory’s skin, then on Feketer, but if he deals with Golems on a regular basis, runes are second nature to him.

Pieter sits back down next to Katya, and it takes her a moment to realize that he’s holding his hand out, clearly waiting for her to give him her arm, a small courtesy she hadn’t anticipated.

It takes her a moment, but she extends her arm towards him, and he sketches out the rune on her inner wrist, the sharpie whisper light against her skin. And whatever has changed with them in the cave, it didn’t change her enough to not double check that it’s the same one on his arm.

He notices, because of course he notices, but he just shakes his head instead of commenting on that. “I’d still rather we all go over one at a time,” he says, and it’s like it’s just for her. “And I don’t know how we’re going to disguise the power getting back out, but.”

“But it’s a start,” she says, pulling back her wrist to examine the rune. “My friend got protection runes tattooed to her hip. This should have been an idea much earlier.”

He gives her a withering look, one that must be designed to scare lesser people, but it’s not nearly as chilling as when he’s putting on a show, putting on the pretense of being in control. “Iakov’s not talented enough at runes to put enough power into a tattoo,” he spits.

“I have more friends than just them,” she says mildly, and she can see the anger leech out of him at her tone. “I doubt you know these people, I’m certain they’re below your level.”

He blinks at her, once, before he looks out to the room. “I wasn’t the one well connected in LA.”

It’s as much of a concession as anything, so she drops it, watching as the two remaining cavers let the Magician sketch out the runes on their arms, skirting around Pieter with a wide margin.

He keeps his eyes on the room, unfocused, before turning back to her. “If you have such powerful friends, why’d they let you come here?”

That’s not where she expected his thoughts to go, but she does her best not to let that on her face. “They had other things to worry about.”

He scowls at her, at the deflection, but the Magician is capping his sharpie before she can contemplate what his words mean.

The cave is messing with her, messing with her head and sense of motives, messing with his as well. There’s no way the man that had nearly threatened her over his dog days ago would be so concerned.

But she knows, and the army knows, that trauma and intense situations like the cave would bond any people, and it’s the last thing she wants.

Without saying anything else, the Magician crosses the room with his pack, and the room doesn’t move.

The two cavers cross after, with no change or difference, and Katya soon after, and the room is as calm as it can be. She doesn’t feel a stirring of magic, a stirring of any coolness against her skin, nothing.

The rest cross as if the room is just a normal room, and despite her paranoia that it is far too easy, they continue on.

They have to rig up a sort of rope ladder to help with some steep places, but besides that, it’s suspiciously easy walking. Like the death of one paved the way for them to get as far deep into the cave as possible.

It sets off all of Katya’s internal responses, all of her senses that everything is rigged, that this place won’t last, that their footsteps deeper in are drawing them deeper into a death trap, but…

But nothing else seems to change.

* * *

They takea break a few hours later, to eat their tasteless protein bars and to rest, and Katya’s been working for the Organization long enough to know when magical creatures are lagging, and every one of them is dragging their feet.

She makes a conscious decision to sit away from the group, to let the cavers be by themselves and the others to sequester themselves, to do what they need to do for their energy.

She doesn’t miss, however, a small argument Feketer and Pieter have, their heads bent together, lips barely moving, their faces animated and angry. Somewhere, Feketer got rid of his fear of the Demigod, and it’s replaced by simple anger, somehow.

She doesn’t pretend to know what happened, but if Katya does anything, she observes.

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