Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(47)
“How,” she asked, her head shaking slowly. “How can you just accept this? Give in and keep going like… I can’t believe you’re willing to give—”
“It is what it is. Do you think I wanted to leave you?” I gripped the sides of her face. “Rick told me that you were my North Star. He said it when I was a kid, and he said it the night I left Harlow. That no matter where I ended up in the world, I’d always find my way back to you somehow because you were home. And he was right. If I had a choice, Sammy, I would marry you. I would spend the rest of my days making sure you knew exactly how f*cking amazing you are. My only goal in life would be to see you happy.” I let my hands fall away. “But there’s no choice here. The hand’s been dealt, and no one is going to reshuffle the deck. But I’ll be damned if I leave this world with your fate hanging in the air.”
…
As it turned out, we were lucky. Though with Heckle involved, it probably had nothing to do with luck. We’d landed only four blocks from the Dandus Preserve. The Bastard of Balance had sent us here for a reason—I’d bet my dick it wasn’t for our benefit. I was beginning to see why both heaven and hell alike hated Heckle. He was a selfish shit with an agenda all his own.
Sam had been quiet on the walk over. We’d met right after her parents died, and I’d never forget seeing her emotions as bleak as they were then. I could barely make her out through the swirling blue cloud. For months she was overcome by it. There was sadness now, but it was different somehow. Resigned and determined. She was either handling this amazingly well—or she was in denial.
We managed to get past the gate at Dandus just as they were locking up. The place was quiet, probably due to being off-season, so it’d been easy to slip by unseen. “Van said the stone was in a cave.”
“An underwater cave,” Sam corrected. She sighed and pointed to the trail map a few yards down the path. She picked up a pamphlet and shook it open. “First things first. Need to find the water. She made it seem like it was part of Dandus, so there has to be some mention of it in here.”
As she skimmed the paper, I scanned the area. So far so good. The last of the cars had left the lot, and there didn’t appear to be night security of any kind. Since we weren’t technically breaking and entering, I figured we should be safe.
“Here’s something.” Sam held the paper up to the fading light. “The Quartz Grotto is located at the edge of the property. ‘A long forgotten grotto with walls of white quartz…is said to have purification powers. The only known one of its kind, the grotto boasts an expansive series of tunnels leading in from a small entrance beneath the water.’”
“Looks like we’re going for a swim.”
…
Sam stood at the water’s edge and waited while I pulled off my boots. Another spasm rolled through me, and I was thankful she wasn’t looking. I wouldn’t have been able to hide this one.
It won’t be long now…
I know.
To Sam, I said, “You ready for this?”
She dipped her toe into the water, and a shiver that I knew had nothing to do with the temperature racked her body. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
I held out my hand. “You can. I won’t let go.”
She didn’t take it. “I don’t mean the water.” She sighed. “I mean, I do, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“I know.” It was all I had. Fucking weak and useless. “But I need you to do this. For me. I need to leave knowing that we finished this.”
She hesitated, then nodded her head. Just once. Without another word, she sucked in a breath and jumped over the edge. I followed her and dove into the icy waters. My eyes adjusted quickly, a perk of the demon’s presence. I grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled us deeper beneath the surface.
The cave wasn’t that far down. The opening was small—I almost missed it—but large enough for us to both fit through at the same time. My head broke the surface as Sam’s did. She gasped and sucked in a greedy lungful of air as we splashed toward solid ground. The water was frigid, but we managed to drag ourselves from the icy drink.
She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. “We’re how many feet below the surface, cut off from natural light. Is it just me, or is the fact that this place is lit like a Christmas tree creepy?”
“Yeah,” I said. I pulled off my shirt and twisted it, squeezing out as much water as I could before pulling it back on. “You okay?”
“You mean besides being a human icicle?” She worked to wring the water from her own shirt by pulling sections and twisting. “Sure. Great. Fan-freaking-tastic. If we screw up and Chase gets here first, I don’t have to worry. The cold will kill me long before he ever gets the chance.”
Without another word, we started into the tunnels. Like the brochure advertised, the cave was something to see. Quartz lined the walls, so thick in some places that you couldn’t see the rock beneath it. The cave floor was covered in super fine white sand. It oozed through my toes with each step—steps that were becoming more and more difficult to take.
A burst of pain hit me, unlike anything I’d felt from the demon, and I stumbled, dropping to my knees.
“Jax?” Sam fell beside me, and the red cloud around her shifted predominantly to gray. Normally it would have incited some kind of reaction from the demon. A spark, a twinge of hunger. Now it stayed dormant, leaving me to deal with the emotion on my own.