Page 26 of Explorer’s Revenge

TWENTY-FIVE

AIYARET

I t’s silent for a moment before we scramble to the hole, but she’s gone.

“Carter!”

“Maeve!”

We all yell into the chasm, but there’s no answer. Wilder looks at something over the edge and pales, grabbing and pulling us.

“Get away from there.” Wilder yanks us back so we are farther away.

“What the hell was that?” Rick yells, sounding panicked.

Way is wide-eyed and shocked, and Logan is searching around as if Carter will appear.

“Wilder!” Rick yells.

“I don’t know!” Wilder roars. “She’s gone.”

That’s when the shocked bubble seems to burst.

“We have to go down there.”

“We don’t know how far it is or what happened.”

“So, what? We leave her to die?”

“We need to call for help.”

“No, they will take too long to get here. She’ll be dead.”

“If she isn’t already.”

“What if she fell?”

“You saw what we did. She didn’t fall.”

The voices all blend together as I stare at the hole. She was there one second and gone the next. I don’t know what I saw. I don’t feel like I can trust my eyes. All I know is that she’s in there, hurt, alone, and probably terrified.

She was nice to me. Nobody deserves this, but especially not her. We have to help her. That’s what it boils down to.

“Her camera is still recording,” Way says calmly, but I sense the shock in his tone.

“Then let’s look.” They rush over to her camera, but I leave them to it.

It won’t change the truth. She’s down there, and she needs help.

However she got down there doesn’t matter.

Not right now. They are right—assistance will take too long.

It would take at least seven days to even get to us. She’d be dead.

I have to believe she’s alive. If anyone could survive a fall into that abyss, it would be Carter, but we can’t leave her there.

We have to help her. She would help us.

Scooting to the edge, I peer in once more.

“Aiy, get away from there!” Way snaps, and I glance back to see him glaring at me, so I step away. He nods before focusing on the camera again.

I know I need to do something. Wilder will argue until he’s blue in the face, wasting time.

We can’t do that. Slipping on my bag, I uncoil the ropes we prepared to venture in, slam the hook into a rock, and secure myself into the harness, then I take a running jump into the hole, turning as I do so I repel backwards.

Their yells chase me into the blackness when they realize what I’ve done.

Way’s terrified voice reaches me, making me hesitate before I keep going.

They would do the same if it were me.

My flashlight on my chest turns on as I repel lower, slowing down since I can’t see much. Reaching into my bag, I pull out glow sticks and crack them, dropping them below me.

They spin, throwing a red glow across the rock. The cavern is wide, and I’m just dangling in the blackness. They keep going until they finally hit bottom. The red glow is tiny from here, but it isn’t endless.

I repel down, speeding toward the red light, and it grows brighter as the rock opens up into a huge cavern.

I run my eyes over it, searching for her, but I don’t see any signs of her—no body or lumps.

That doesn’t mean she isn’t here though.

When my feet touch the rocky ground, I unhook my rope, pull my flashlight from my shoulder, and shine it around.

“Maeve?” I call, but there’s no response. Heading away from my rope, I kick the glow sticks, spreading them out until I can see more. The cavern is massive, and there are different layers of rock, so I circle slowly, searching until I find what I’m looking for.

Drag marks cut along the floor, wide enough for a person.

Did she drag herself away?

That’s good. It means she’s awake.

It means she’s alive.

There’s a metallic twang and a snap, and I spin, my flashlight shining across the cavern in time to see my rope crash down, hitting the rock I was standing on. Hurrying over, I coil it up and search for any problem, when I reach the end to find it jagged and torn—like it has been ripped in two.

Glancing up into the dark hole, I see the sunlight above and something moving in the shadows.

Something that bit through my rope, trapping me down here and standing between my team and me.

Our eyes weren’t wrong.

She didn’t fall.

She was yanked.

“Don’t come down here!” I yell, cupping my mouth to warn them, but I know they won’t listen. “Don’t come down here—” My words cut off when there’s a feminine scream. I spin rapidly, trying to pinpoint its location.

“Maeve? Carter? Maeve? Can you hear me?”

It comes again, and then nothing.

“Maeve?” I call, my yell tapering off as the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. “Maeve?” I whisper as I slowly turn, my eyes widening as something huge emerges from the shadows and charges me.

I turn to run at the last second, but I know it’s too late.

WAY

“Aiyaret!” I shout as I rush to the edge.

My heart stopped the moment he went over.

I can see his rope, but I can’t see him. “Aiyaret!” I bellow as Wilder grabs me, stopping me from falling. He yanks me back and turns me to him. “Wilder, Aiy!” I yell, struggling in his arms.

“I know, I know, brother.” Wilder grips my face. “We’ll get him back.”

I panic as I stare at him. “I can’t—I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t. Come on, get our gear ready now!” Wilder roars.

“You saw what we did, Wild. Something took her,” Logan whispers.

“So we leave him?” I shout as I grab the bag he’s holding and rush to the edge. “Fine. You stay; I’ll go.”

“I’m not saying that,” Logan replies. “I’m just saying we need to be prepared. Something is down there, and it’s dangerous. We can’t go in blind.”

He isn’t wrong. What I saw on that footage before I realized Aiy was going over still haunts me, and knowing he’s going down there with that . . . thing?

Terror claws at my chest until I can barely breathe. He’s all I have. He might be their family, but he’s always been more to me. He’s my everything. I didn’t understand it until this moment, but I can’t live without Aiyaret.

“We are wasting time,” Wilder snaps. “Each second that passes is another that both Aiy and Carter are in trouble. Anchor our ropes here, send out the SOS, and let’s get down there. Logan, Rick, you stay here.”

“Not a chance in hell,” they snap in unison.

“If help comes, we need you up here,” Wilder protests.

“No, you’re trying to protect us. That’s our family down there too.

We are going. We’ll send the SOS and leave proof here, but we’ll go down.

They won’t be here for days, and you need our help.

Maeve will be hurt. You can’t get her up by yourself.

Let’s go,” Logan says, sounding more serious than I’ve ever heard him.

I’m in love with Aiyaret, and if something happens to him . . . No. That realization haunts me, distracting me from their arguments as I look at the hole.

Grabbing my bag, I hook in and plummet over the side after him. My heart rips apart with every second I’m separated from him. Their yells follow me down, but I won’t waste another second.

I’m coming, Aiy, just hold on. I’m coming.