Page 254 of Gift from the Source
Tease.
Her laugh eventually fades as we start our hunt. The lantern she made me flickers with every step I take, and I find myself trailing my fingers over the walls. It’s mind-blowing to know all of this was made from explosion after explosion from Pyra.
It’s built up so much, it’s like its own little realm, ready for us to explore.
“Damn it,” I hiss and pull my middle finger to my mouth.
The salty tang of my blood bursts across my tongue and I hold the lantern higher to see what the hell that was.
“Shit,” I breathe, dropping my hand. “Come here, I got something.”
“Did you find them?”
I point to show her the red tip that just sliced my poor finger. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Hell yeah, Oak. Good job. Sorry about your finger, though.”
I snort as I hold it back to my mouth to stop the bleeding. My sweet and sexy healer would die if he knew I was doing this.
He’ll just have to take real good care of me later.
“Eww, stop that. I’m trying to focus.”
“Sorry.”
The caress of her earth element glides across me and I lean in real close to watch her every move. She slowly removes the rock around the sharp tip and barely catches it as it, plus the dagger pops free from the stone.
“Fuck yes, that was—”
My cheer is cut off as the entire cave starts trembling. Debris from above starts falling all over the place as more violent shakes wreak havoc. My arms fly out in front of me to catch myself on the wall and Willow latches onto me.
“Gotta get our asses going.”
We take a few unsteady steps before boulder-sized rocks fall and shatter to the ground in front of us. Our screams echo around us for a hot second, then her shadows swarm us and move us through the falling rubble.
She keeps moving us until we’re plenty enough space away and can land our feet on flat ground.
I bend over with my hands on my knees, breathing heavily until a manic laugh falls from my chest and I plop my ass on the ground.
“What did you do?” I ask.
“I didn’t do anything. How was I supposed to know it was going to cave in?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe this little thing called the sight.”
“Yeah, well, we got no warning there. Shit, we’ve got to go.”
Her eyes widen at me when she glances down at her timekeeper, and I already know what that means. I scramble my ass up and transport us back to the academy.
A sigh falls from both of us as we pop into the middle of my lab. “I think we’re good.”
“You’re so fucking far from good, firecracker, you don’t even know it.”
The two of us nearly jump out of our skin as we shriek and spin around. The stern faces on Ry and Tillman would have anyone else at this academy cowering in fear.
“We’re in so much trouble.”
“It’ll still be worth it when you see what these things do.”
