Page 38 of In Death's Hands
A touch on my shoulder makes me jump, and I put a hand on my heart as I see Nathan looking at me with amusement.
“Have we already bored you to death, princess?” asks Atys, who suddenly appears next to us.
I shake my head and nod at the red bundle of threads and wait for their reaction.
“Are you okay?” asks Nathan, concern written all over his gorgeous face.
“What?” Frowning, I point at the shiny red ball. “Is that common for you guys?” Both men look emptily at the alcove in front of them.
“Liv,” says Nathan. “There is nothing there.”
“Of course there is!” I grow annoyed at the way he’s looking at me, like I’m finally losing my marbles after everything. The worst thing is the compassion in his eyes, the absolute conviction that my poor human mind is losing it and finally breaking down as he was expecting. “You can’t see it? The red threads?”
Nathan’s frown turns to shock. Complete, utter shock as he looks around without focusing on anything because he doesn’t see what I see.
Atys looks at me strangely but thankfully doesn’t say anything. I feel Thalnus join our little circle but focus on the strange ball that keeps getting brighter. It feels warm and inviting. I take a step towards it and the light shimmers with joy.I take my first full breath since I stepped into this cave and a smile touches my lips.
“Liv, don’t,” says Nathan urgently, but he’s too slow. I reach for the ball that seems to be calling me, and as my hand gets closer, one thread detaches itself from the mass. It wraps itself around my pointer finger and I suddenly can’t breathe. I gasp around nothing, clawing at my throat with my other hand as my right hand is still locked in the hold of that one tiny thread.
I hear shouts around me but all I see is the shining red thread. My body stops moving, stops fighting, and I hear one word that makes it past my panic.Breathe, a voice says.
I want to scream that I can’t, that it won’t let me.Breathe, it says again. And I do. I gulp down air that’s finally available and breathe and breathe and breathe until I feel like throwing up. Until my heart slows down and I realise with a start that the airtastesdifferent. Fuller. Brighter. More. The thread still holding my finger grows warmer. It tightens briefly before loosening slightly, as if to say, “Well done.” I feel hands on my shoulders and an arm wrap around my middle to pull me away, but I don’t move. A tug in my heart has me folding my finger to lock the thread firmly in my hand.
Another tug tells me to pull, to free that one thread from the shining mass.
And so I pull.
And the three men beside me fall to the ground, unconscious.
I stare at their bodies open-mouthed for a few frantic heartbeats. What happened? I look at my right hand and startle when I see that the red thread is gone. So is the glowing ball.
I don’t understand.
I-I… I come to my senses and rush to them. I check Nathan first and relief hits me when I see his chest rise slowly. Atys and Thalnus are the same, breathing steadily, almost peacefully. For a change, I don’t know what to do. Looking around while on my knees, I worry that the sun is going to set soon and I’ll be left in a dark cave with three unconscious bodies. The light is already too faint as it is, slowly giving the shadows their kingdom back.
With nothing to do but wait, I check the alcove again, going over everything I saw. Everything I felt. I don’t know what that red thread was, and I can’t explain the pull I felt to it, but I can easily believe it’s some sort of magic linked to them. There is nothing but dust and remnants of a spider-web now in the space carved in the rocky wall. Not a clue left to explain anything.
I spin around when I hear a muffled groan, and rush to Atys’ side when I see him moving.
“Hey, sweet pea, how’s it hanging?”
I laugh, relief coursing through my system as I offer him a hand up. He frowns at the dust now covering his skin and spends a few seconds trying to clean himself up.
“Are you okay?” I ask, suddenly scared they’ll think I did something to hurt them.
“Uh-huh.” He nods noncommittally while observing the others.
“Hey!” I protest loudly when he gives a small kick to Nathan’s side. He does it again, and I’m about to kickhimwhen Nathan’s hand, fast as lightning, catches Atys’ foot and pushes, sending the half-naked man scrambling away.
“Liv.” Nathan ignores Atys’ colourful curses as he jumps to his feet and frantically checks every inch of me. “Are you okay?”
I nod with a frown. “Areyou?”
He doesn’t answer. When he seems satisfied that nothing’s happened to me, he takes a step back and finally looks at Atys. Only, it’s not the look of reproach I was expecting. No, both men stare at each other like they see and recognise something in one another. I don’t know what that means.
Thalnus finally stirs and frowns at finding himself on the ground but quickly gathers himself up. When he turns to me, it isn’t with accusation in his eyes but… wonder.
I take a step back and look to Nathan for help, only to find the same exact expression on both him and Atys. “What happened to you guys?”
