Page 278 of Caelum

From a distance, the entire lot the temple sat on seemed to be covered by white, chalky dust, but as we approached the sacred ruin, it wasn’t white but a yellow-green that came from bleached grass that was springy beneath our feet. I could empathize with the parched flora because I was already chugging from my water bottle and we were five minutes into our fifteen-minute trek.

It was so strange to leave the modernity of Hidalgo and head into this, the ruins of an ancient civilization. Well, Hidalgo wasn’t exactly New York—if I knew what New York was like, that is—but still, it was a huge contrast from a people who had lived thousands of years before Christ.

In the distance, the four soldiers began to grow larger as we approached, and the sight of them had something inside me fluttering to life.

The sensation was beyond bizarre because the only other time I’d felt it was when the guys did something to turn me on. So, yeah, it was definitely strange.

“The mark’s glowing,” Samuel muttered, and he dragged me to a halt.

At his words, the others stopped too and peered at me like I was one of the artifacts on Drekavac’s wall, caged in glass and there only for his entertainment.

But he was right. Beneath my shirt, the amulet on my stomach was truly visible through the thick cotton—I was back in my regular uniform of yoga pants and one of the guys’ shirts. Today’s was Reed’s. Mostly because I loved his scent and he’d worn this yesterday, so it was loaded with his essence. Maybe a day-old shirt was gross to wear, but I really didn’t give a damn.

What was I supposed to wear on a death trip?

High heels and a little black dress?

Nope.

“Think that means we’re on the right track?” Eren mused.

“Has to be.” Frazer released a relieved breath. “Thank God Bartlett wasn’t wrong. That would have been a real pain in the ass.”

“What happens after…?” I whispered. “If the world is brokennow,then how is it going to be when we get rid of another chunk of the Ghouls’ population?”

He shrugged then curved his arm around my shoulder. Bringing me into his side, he said, “We’ll do what we have to. Even if it means grabbing another boat and traveling to where we need to go next.”

I bit my bottom lip. “It could take a long time.”

“We have all the time in the world.”

Did we though?

I wasn’t sure, not after what I’d seen from the humans who’d begun looting in this relatively small town. I hadn’t seen the like in Bucharest, but it was undoubtedly the same the world over.

With news of the apocalypse, people weren’t going to start behaving better, were they?

Wasn’t it strange that I was more scared ofthemthan the Ghouls we were about to kill?

Because my men were focused on this current issue, I decided not to cloud things with ‘what-ifs?’ since there was no guarantee we’d even make itout of here, so fretting about the future couldn’t happen when it was the present.

Frazer hauled me alongside him, and Samuel and Stefan seemed to hustle close like they wanted to be near me.

Were they as scared as me? Maybe not about what was about to go down, but of the future?

I carried on gnawing on my bottom lip as we finally made it to the temple.

It was forged from a gray stone that was weathered by age and the climate. The steps were both soft from being trodden upon frequently and yet remarkably clear-cut, making me wonder how the ancients had forged this kind of temple with their limited tools.

“You don’t think Quetzalcoatl is Raum, do you?” I whispered, the thought slithering through me like the feathered serpent to whom this place was dedicated.

“No. Raum is no god. No creature to be celebrated. He’s just an opportunist,” Samuel replied.

“How can you be so sure?” I asked him.

“Because God pointed us here for a reason. He has a plan, and we have to have faith.”

When the others began nodding, I realized that somehow, along the way, the guys had come to believe where before they’d been definite atheists.

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