Page 45 of Heir of Illusion

Remy hands me one of the sunstones, and I tie it around my neck. Bracing myself for whatever comes next, I crawl into the hole and pray I come out again.

Here,in this suffocating darkness, I begin to regret every decision I’ve ever made. Each one of them somehow led me to this tunnel. The dim light of the sunstone is barely enough to see my own hands in front of me. Everything past that is a mystery. Minutes feel like hours as dust clogs my throat, and the sharp rocks cut into my knees and palms.

My only comfort is knowing that everyone else’s suffering must be far greater. If this tunnel is tight for me, I can only imagine how hard it is for of them. Thorne grunts behind me as he claws his way through the enclosed space.

“How’s it going up there?” Remy calls from behind him.

“Fine,” I croak, choking on the little bits of dirt that hang in the air.

“Wonderful,” Thorne grumbles.

My neck aches as I lift my head again, searching for any sort of progress marker in this never-ending shaft. Instead, what I find has me coming to a complete stop.

“What’s wrong?” Thorne asks, a hint of exertion in his voice.

“Up ahead.” I swallow, desperately wishing we’d thought to bring water. “It’s going to get narrower.”

“How bad?” Remy shouts.

I stare at tapered tunnel before me, trying to judge if we can squeeze through. “We’ll have to lie flat on our stomachs, and even then, it’s going to be tight.”

“Do you need to turn back?” Remy asks, worry filling his tone.

Yes.

“No,” I say instead. “But everyone needs to stay put for now. Once I’m on the other side, I’ll call back, and the rest of you can make your way one by one. We can’t risk anyone getting stuck.”

“I don’t like this,” Remy says.

“Me either,” I whisper as I lie flat on my stomach.

The light disappears completely. From this angle, there’s no way to prevent the sunstone necklace from getting trapped under my body. Tears leak from my eyes as I use my forearms to pull myself into the narrow section. My fingers dig into the stones, trying to find purchase. Each breath comes out ragged as my heart rate rises. Even for me, a person who exercises my body every day, this is a vigorous work out.

My chest tightens as I tell myself the only way out is forward, through the dark abyss. A fearful voice in the back of my mind whispers that I’m trapped. Buried underground aga?—

No.

I’m not going there.

I stow my fear, tucking it into that mental prison deep within my subconscious. But I’m sure it will soon find its way out, probably by slipping through the cracks and filtering into my dreams. I learned long ago that the horrors we hide within our minds are never destroyed—we merely save them for later. They always find their way to surface.

“You alright?” Thorne calls.

“I’m—” My voice cuts off as the dust gets caught in my throat again. It likely doesn’t help that my trachea already took a beating this morning. Breathing in these particles is only further aggravating my poor throat.

“Iverson!” he calls out again, but this time, panic creeps into his tone.

“Here!” I force the words out. “I’m almost through.”

As I push further, a strange noise begins to drown out their voices.

“I can hear something,” I tell them as I move into a slanted section, the new angle putting me at a downward incline. “I think I’m?—”

The words cut off as I slide forward, my body scraping over the rocks until I tumble through a dark hole. I hit the ground hard, landing on my back as the impact knocks the air out of me.

I guess I reached the end of the tunnel,I think to myself.

A damp smell hangs in the air, filling my nostrils with each ragged breath. Thankfully, my sunstone survived the fall. With it no longer trapped under my body, I survey my new surroundings. My neck aches as I turn my head, finding what appears to be an underground river about ten feet to my right. I must have landed on its rocky banks.

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