Rooming with the Wicked

29 | invisible what?

The musty cave smell was gradually replaced with the welcome scent of pine and fresh air. Of course, either smell paled in comparison to Haze's, but that little detail was entirely irrelevant. Every time I'd more or less suggested he set me down, he'd replied with a blunt no. Eventually, time was but a concept, but when the distinct opening of the cavern finally came into view, I couldn't believe my eyes.

The sun was gone. Vanished. Two brightly glowing adjacent spheres, one orange and one eggshell, lit up the night sky instead.

"Haze..." Of course, my voice had to break now while I was still in his arms, pressed against his warm but firm chest. "Just how long were we in here?"

He shrugged, his grip never slipping. "Couple hours maybe."

This dude had carried me for multiple hours without rest?

"The sun sets earlier here," he added, studying my likely very confused expression.

That made sense.

When we were almost to the triangular exit, I cleared my throat and mumbled, "You can, uh, set me down now."

"As you wish...Cupcake." He made no effort to hide that amused grin of his as he gently placed me on one of the smooth, moss-free boulders that made up the cave floor.

My legs were more than a little wobbly and I almost wanted to curse myself right then and there when I reflexively grabbed onto his sleeve to steady myself. Judging by that little chuckle of his, he most definitely enjoyed the situation way more than he should.

Get a grip, Ariel.

Once my feet felt like my own again, I scrambled up the rest of the way—and froze. The cave happened to end right in the side of a mountain—quite possibly the same mountain we'd climbed hours ago, only now we'd be on the other side. Hopefully.

The same dark vegetation stretched on for miles and miles below me and there weren't any significant landmarks that I could see apart from more mountains in the distance, which, considering this was Ardua, meant absolutely nothing. Still...the peaks in the distance looked taller. Some were even covered in snow.

"You coming?" Haze asked.

I blinked. Somehow he'd sneaked past me while I'd been busy admiring the view. For a sloth, he sure was fast. "Do you happen to know where we're going?" I asked.

"Do you?"

"No," I admitted.

"Huh." His index finger stroked that defined jawline of his. "That doesn't leave you with very many options, does it?"

"Could you try to be a little less smug, please?"

He turned around and started down the mountainside. "Nah."

Once a jerk, always a jerk. At least he wasn't treating me any differently after the whole cave situation.

We hadn't been walking very long when a strange purple-bluish glow illuminated the trees in front of us. Was that...a flag? Could we be that lucky? Or...unlucky depending on who happened to be guarding it. With Syn, Jaydis, and Kenas—and my backpack—off who knew where I wasn't exactly overly confident Haze and I would be able to handle any other teams by ourselves. He didn't even have a weapon and even if I hit my targets with the two vials I still had, that left a possible three enemies to take us out.

He'd put up a decent fight against the wolves, mainly dodging but—

The unsteady light moved.

I stopped dead in my tracks.