Page 88 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

“What?” I whispered but Freya didn’t answer. She didn’t even meet my gaze.

Eventually, the shaking turned into a mere rattling, which died down until everything was eerily still. No one moved.

“Do you think it’s over?” Elle asked.

I sighed. “Only one way to find out.”

Cady’s vines retreated, but Freya’s wind continued to whirl around us. I brushed my hand against hers.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s over.”

“It is,” Freya agreed, but she sounded sad.

As Freya’s wind stilled, we rose from our crouches to find fallen trees all around us.

“Stay back,” I said.

For once, Cady listened, but Freya trailed close to my side.

“Something feels,” Cady mused, “weird. Something in the ground isn’t right.”

As the words left her mouth, the jungle floor buckled. Freya and I tumbled into a pit of darkness. As we fell, blue light flared around us, but we dropped down, down, down too fast to make sense of it.

In breathless whispers, Freya chanted a spell. Her magic mingled with the strange space that swallowed us whole. Air enveloped us and slowed our fall. As I took a breath of relief, we finally hit a hard floor. My shoulder took the brunt of the contact, and I groaned.

“At least,” Freya panted, “we didn’t break our necks.”

“True,” I said. “Nice work.”

I rolled onto my back and took in our surroundings. Total darkness surrounded us, except for the speck of light far above. I reached blindly for Freya. When my hand brushed against her skin, our magic sparked. Energy like static electricity flared between us, and I winced at the zap of pain.

Blue light trickled from where my fingers touched hers and traveled like a river across the floor. Swirling shapes and glyphs took shape.

Our magic, in the shape of dancing blue light, journeyed in rivulets up a tall ceiling and flared anew in looming stalactites. Again and again, our magic separated into different pathways around the room, until we were surrounded by glowing carvings. Magic trailed down from the walls and swirled around the floor, until it traveled up a stone dais. Atop the dais sat a simple, metal bowl.

Freya pushed herself to her feet. In the blue light, she bore no obvious injuries, much to my relief. With magic humming in my ears, I rose.

“We’re in some kind of cave,” Freya said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

She looked nervously up to the hole we had fallen through and shuddered. “We need to get out of here.”

I didn’t disagree, but as I studied the cavern, I couldn’t deny I was curious.

“Why do you think it opened?” I asked.

“Something must have triggered it,” Freya said. She studied the carvings. “Maybe the sirens?”

“That’s what that…” I shivered. “Soundwas?”

Freya nodded and whispered a spell. Her magic swelled, but it only caused the glowing light to burn more brightly. I hissed and closed my eyes against the blinding light. Freya cursed under her breath, and it dimmed back to its gentle glow.

“How are we going to get out if I can’t summon a bit of wind?” she muttered and chewed her lip.

She was uncharacteristically panicked. Remembering how she had been trapped by those ghost-witches, I ran a hand down her arm in comfort.

“It’ll be okay,” I said. “We will get out.”

“We have to,” she pleaded. Fear rounded her eyes. “Wehaveto, Walker. Quickly.”

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