Page 53 of Asher

Huddled against the cave wall beside the entrance, with Garrett licking the tears from his face.

“Puppy?” he asks, his little voice trembling, and then he looks in my direction, squinting. I point the torch up.

“Hey, Isaac. Did you get lost?”

His eyes widen as he takes me in. “Asher?” And he promptly bursts into tears.

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

Garrett

We all watch anxiouslyas Zac, the only one of us with medic training, checks over Isaac, who’s clinging to his father like a limpet. He said he hurt his ankle, but from his and Zac’s reactions as he turns it this way and that, I’m guessing it’s not more than a minor sprain.

Thank fuck.

He’s also cold, tired, and hungry, but since he so sensibly put on all his winter gear before leaving home, and with this cave offering such good shelter, he doesn’t have any symptoms of frostbite. This is absolutely the best outcome we could have had, and I blink back tears of relief as I lean against Asher.

“I bet you’re ready to get home,” Zac says finally, smiling at his little cousin. “In just a few minutes, your mom will be giving you cuddles.”

Oooh, yes. A benefit to being with demons—we don’t have to walk home but can teleport. In just a few minutes,Ican be making a cup of tea and having a hot shower. Bliss.

Isaac sniffles. “Okay, but you gotta bring me back tomorrow. It was too dark for me to see all the treasure before.”

“There’s no treasure,” Asher’s uncle says gently. “That was only a story. There’s just an empty cave.”

The little face sets stubbornly. “No, there’s treasure. I want to come back tomorrow.”

“Isaac—”

Asher nudges me away and half turns toward the rest of the cave. “It’s fine, Uncle Hal. Let’s just shine our torches around so he can see there’s— Fuck my life!”

“Asher!” several voices chide, followed by gasps and choked exclamations.

Because the cave isn’t empty like we all assumed.

Near one wall, there’s a line of wooden crates stacked five high. That’s weird enough, but they’re not the most interesting thing I’m seeing.

No, that would be the adjacent wall. The one that’s a motherfucking cornucopia of gears and bolts and sliders, from the rocky floor all the way up twenty feet to the rocky ceiling.

How did we not notice how big this cave is?

And what the fuck is that wall?

“Um…” someone says. “What is that?”

“It’s treasure!” Isaac pipes up. “Ed the dragon’s treasure. He’ll probably be back soon. I bet he’s traveling with Billy the snow leopard.”

Okay, I may not know what the wacky wall is, or those crates, but this, I can do something about. I go to kneel beside Isaac.

“Honey,” I start softly, “I’m so sorry, but that was just a story. Ed the dragon doesn’t exist. I made him up. I thought you knew that.”

His eyes widen and his lower lip trembles. “There’s no Ed?” he whispers, and I shake my head.

“No. I’m sorry.”

“But… what about this treasure?”

“I don’t know what this is”—or how huge a coincidence it is that he happened to stumble uponthiscave—“but I know for absolute sure that I made up the story I told you.”

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