Page 46 of Shadow Bonds

I force a wince and shake the bag, quickly coming up with a lie. “I took the wrong bag.”

“Don’t worry, we have plenty here and will divide this between us,” Robin says.

Arabella huffs. “So, the rest of us get less because she can’t follow basic instructions?”

I wave them off. “It’s fine. I had a big meal. I’m not hungry, and I have some water.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Robin says to me before glaring at Arabella. “There’s plenty to go around. It’s less than two days now. We’ll be fine.”

I shake my head telling her its fine again and then glance around looking for a change of subject when I spot the grooves in a large rock a couple of feet from me.

Heading over to it, I manage to get a footing and start climbing up.

“Sena. What are you doing?” Robin asks.

“Trying to get a better vantage point to see if there’s something we can use for shelter.” I glance around and then spot it. What looks like a small cave not too far from here.

But the only problem is the wide-open space in between us and there. There could be another worm waiting underground. There could be more than one. Or something much worse.

“Well?” Arabella says.

I bite my tongue and give her a fake ass smile as I get down before ignoring her completely and looking at the others. “There’s a cave not too far from here, but to get there, we’ll have to pass through a wide-open space. I don’t know if there’s any more of these worm creatures beneath the sand though.”

Callie frowns. “So, we can either wait it out to see if the sun gets worse or chance our luck?”

I nod. “Looks that way.”

“I say we stay here and wait it out,” Arabella says.

“I think we should make a run for it,” Robin says. “I can already feel the sun getting hotter.” She touches her shoulder and winces. “I’m definitely burning.”

Arabella rolls her eyes. “It’s just a little sun. We’ll be fine. Beside that worm thing can’t reach us here. Staying near the sharp rocks is a smart idea.”

“But also one that could get us killed,” I mumble, and everyone looks at me.

I point at the small rodent on the ground. “That looks like it’s melted.Completely.”

The girls move closer and cringe in disgust.

“I think Robin’s right. It’s only going to get hotter. We need shade,” I glance up at the sky and beating sun that looks to be growing bigger, “and by the looks of it, fast.”

Robin raises her hand, “I vote we go.” Callie, Skye, Lily and Cora all raise their hands too.

“Majority wins,” Robin says before glancing over at Arabella. “Or you could just stay here and take your chances,” she shrugs, not bothered either way, and then gathers her stuff and starts moving through the rocks.

Arabella glares at me as I grab my bag and water bottle and follow Robin and the rest of the girls.

“Let’s keep our eyes peeled,” I tell them. “Any movement and we run.”

They nod, agreeing, and we get walking, trying to be as quick and silent as we can.

Lily hisses, “Fuck, that’s hot.” She places her hands on her shoulders and pats them as she moves.

I glance up at the growing sun and then across at the open area to the cave. It’s much farther than I originally thought.

A low growl stops me in my tracks, and I freeze and glance around. But there’s nothing there.

Maybe the heat is messing with me. I shake it off and get moving when Lily speaks up.

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