Page 122 of Changeling
Iain’s face flashed with indignation and he opened his mouth to protest.
“You’ll just slow us down,” Alex said before he could. “If we’re going to do this then our best chance is for it to be just us, withyour dad’s equipment if you’ll let us use it. Please understand,” she added with sincere, dark eyes.
For a moment it wasn’t clear what Iain’s choice would be, his face still hard and unreadable, his eyes vibrant with indecision. Finally, after a breath, he nodded and looked to each of them like he was putting every ounce of faith he had in the world in them. “Okay. But you better come back. If whatever’s happened…if you can’t save Mom then…I won’t blame you for that. But you better come back.”
Later,afterthey’dgatheredthe caving equipment, Nathan managed to pull Iain aside to talk to him alone only for the distressed young man to push a small guidebook into his hands that looked at least fifty years old.
“It has a map of the caves and the mine. Not that it will help you much with all the cave-ins since but,” Iain shrugged, his eyes a little shy and downcast again.
“Thanks,” Nathan said, taking the guidebook. “And, look, ya know, about our…miscommunication before…”
Iain just laughed, maybe a little emptier than usual, and gave Nathan’s shoulder a nudge. “Hey, don’t even think about it. Probably just me being a wishful thinker. Not every day some hot guy saunters up with a smirk and a swagger and asks for a book in the basement.” He laughed again and then flushed like he was embarrassed over what he had just said. “Shit, I crack myself up. Anyway, just…be careful. I won’t follow you guys, I promise, but I doubt I’m gonna sleep tonight.”
Nathan nodded solemnly. “I don’t know what we’re gonna find out there, man. You gotta be prepared…that you’re mom’s already gone.”
Even though Iain nodded, Nathan could see how his lip trembled a little trying to maintain a smile. “I know. But giving up hope before you know the truth…that’s worse than if I was the reason she got taken. I don’t really get what’s going on. All these ghost stories I used to love suddenly feel real and here you guys are going off to fight it like mythical warriors or something. I mean, fuck, this is messed up.”
Nathan gave the guy’s shoulder a firm squeeze, knowing it wasn’t enough, before he said, “Get to the motel on the other side of town like we planned. We’ll call as soon as we know something,” and walked away.
He spotted Jim just outside looking deeply troubled and bouncing on the balls of his feet. Nathan was about to go out onto the porch and see what was wrong when he noticed that Alex was already out there. They were talking, and Nathan could tell by the way Jim smiled out of the corner of his mouth that she was reassuring him as best she could.
“Nathan?” came Sasha’s voice, shaky and uncertain. When Nathan turned, he saw the incubus standing inside the door between the living room and entryway. He was bouncing much as Jim was. “Are we ready to go? We need to go. It’s really getting to me. I don’t think I can stand another minute. It’s like….like—”
“Hey,” Nathan was across the small space between them and at Sasha’s side in an instant. “Baby, come on. What is this place doing to you guys? We’re still a couple miles away. I figured it was going to be me and Alex we’d have to worry about. You and Jim gotta be sharp, make sure nothing starts luring us in. We don’t have any reason to think there’s purpose behind who gets chosen.”
“I know,” Sasha nodded, sinking into the touch of Nathan’s hand on his cheek, “it’s just…under my skin or something. Like before, with that barn full of sidhe and all that…power. Only it’s worse. Jim can’t even tell what it is.”
Which was one of the reasons Nathan still hated the idea of going in, but for now it was still light, so if they were quick about things, they still might have a chance to take care of whatever was going on and get back before sundown.
If they were quick—and very lucky.
Chapter 47
“Downthetrench?”Alexsaid, gesturing at the opening to the mine.
A few DO NOT ENTER signs had fallen down or maybe been pulled off to get them out of the way, because there was a clear path into the dark of the mine shaft, welcoming them in. The hill above the mine and cave system was covered in grass and wildflowers, almost pretty despite the entrance being in disrepair.
Alex and Jim opened up their duffle bags and everyone took out one of the hardhats and an extra flashlight, even though the hats had lights on them as well. The flashlights were for backup, but they didn’t want to have to go searching for anything in the dark, so everyone took one in hand. The food and water was only for emergency.
Jim went in first as their resident sidhe detector, and Sasha took the rear. Nathan stayed up front behind Jim with Alex behind him. It was almost like going into a cheap haunted houseat first, dark and damp and winding, but not really scary since they were traveling in a group. They were also armed.
A few minutes in, Alex whispered from the middle of the train. “So, since we didn’t find any signs of anyone outside, we can assume all the missing people came in here, right?”
“I don’t think it’s fair to assume anything yet,” Jim whispered from the front. They all had their hardhat lights on but, because the shaft was narrow, all any of them could see was the person in front of them, leaving only Jim to see what lay ahead.
“Well, if theydidcome in here,” Alex pushed on, “what are we thinking happened to them? Because at this point stumbling upon a bunch of bones and bodies would be more comforting than finding nothing.”
In some morbid way Nathan had to agree. An explanation they could see, hunt, and kill was always better than ‘and then they went poof’.
No one said anything for several minutes. Nathan had the pheromone detector out instead of a gun, scanning the cave walls for readings as they went. It didn’t even blip. He put it away.
“What if we hit a dead end from a cave-in?” Sasha called faintly from the back. “Are we just going to call it quits?”
Suddenly, Jim stopped, which meant Nathan almost ran right into him and the pattern continued all the way to the back of the line. “What gives?” Nathan hissed.
“Fork,” Jim said loud enough to be sure all of them heard him. “Right or left?”
“We should keep a consistent pattern,” Alex said. “Always one or the other, so we know how to get back. Hopefully there’ll be an opening soon.”
