Page 19 of Shadow's End

“What sort of veil?” Monty asked, a frown I couldn’t see evident in his voice. “I felt a slight … pressure along the magical lines, but it didn’t feel like any sort of spell that I’m aware of.”

“It’s not a spell in the true sense of the word,” Ashworth said. “More of a charm-based deterrent that works in the same manner as a protection circle. It’s designed to discourage anyone walking into a set area. It didn’t apply to us because we’re in the truck.”

“How big an area can these deterrents cover?” Belle asked. “Because it looks to me like the truck’s headlights are on but struggling to make a dent in the gloom.”

“They are, which is why we’re now crawling.” Aiden glanced at me. “Any idea how much farther we have to go?”

I tightened my grip on the silk-bagged ring for a second. Images of death and darkness pressed at the back of my mind, but they had a weirdly distant feel to them this time. Instinct was suggesting there was a good reason for that, but I ignored itand concentrated instead on the irregular pulse. Right now, our priority had to be rescuing Roger. I could work on the deeper puzzle inherent in this connection later.

“Hard to say,” I said eventually. “I guess we just stop and walk once the truck can’t go any further.”

He nodded and kept following my directions. But the deeper we drove into the forest, the harder it became to see the ground ahead and the trees around us. Eventually, we had no choice but to stop.

I grabbed my backpack and climbed out. A hint of woodsmoke ran underneath the scent of eucalyptus in the air, which suggested there might be a fire nearby. I hoped it was someone who’d just lit a campfire, rather than the beginnings of a bushfire.Thatwas the very last thing we needed right now.

Aiden got a couple of flashlights from the back of his truck, but they did little more than flare weakly across the gloom surrounding us. The light orb Monty cast into the air had a little more luck in folding back the veil, but even then visibility remained down to only a few yards.

It was going to make spotting the cave or even mine shafts difficult. Which, I guess, might have been the whole point of the veil in the first place.

I swung my backpack on, and with Aiden by my side, headed left into the trees, following the rising ridge of red rock up the mound-strewn hillside. It was surprisingly hard to walk—the veil wasn’t only keeping it artificially dark, but it also seemed to be thickening the air, making every step more of an effort. Sweat trickled down my spine, and I tugged a hairband from the backpack’s side pocket and pulled my hair into a ponytail to get it off my neck.

The ridge continued to grow in height. Dotted along its length were various shafts, their entrances barely visible in the golden glow of Monty’s light orb, their caverns hiding a darknesseven deeper than the veil. None of them were guarded by trees, let alone wattles.

The scent of smoke continued to strengthen, and I glanced worriedly at Aiden. “Is that anything to be concerned about?”

“Don’t know.” He eyed the bush ahead for a second. “But there’re no burn-offs planned in the area that I’m aware.”

“So, it’s not just a campfire?”

“Afraid not.”

“Isn’t it a bit early for bushfires?” Monty asked.

“Sadly, no. Especially not with the heat we’ve been getting lately.” Aiden half shrugged. “I haven’t received an alert on my phone, and I would have if there was a fire in the area.”

Because the rangers were always called in on fires, if only to keep onlookers at bay so the brigade could do their jobs.

The shadowed string guiding me did another sharp turn, this time to the right. I swung the flashlight that way. Directly ahead was a towering rock face, in the middle of which was a blot of blackness. Either side of this stood the two wattles I’d seen in the vision.

The string went straight into the mouth of that blackness and disappeared.

We’d found the cavern.

And every inch of my being screamed we couldn’t—shouldn’t—go inside.

That if we did, we would die.

The scents drifting from the cavern’s mouth backed up that insight, because that air wasn’t only filled with death, but also the thick, acidic scent of demon.

That cave might be a charnel hellhole, but it was also a trap.

Chapter

Four

“Roger’s in that cave,” I said quietly.

“And that cave is filled with somethingotherthan bodies and magic.” Ashworth’s voice was grave. Despite the early hour of the day and the fact he was probably fitter than anyone here aside from Aiden, he was sweating profusely. The veil wasn’t taking it easy on anyone, it seemed. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t feel right.”

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