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“ C an you see anything?” Chloe called out, before mentally kicking herself.

He’s a pegasus, you fool. He can’t reply.

Still, the pegasus shook its head and made a sound that was clearly an indication to the negative.

Chloe kept her eyes peeled, looking down into the gorge as they swept over it.

It really was quite spectacular, and any other day she would have been fully engaged in how thrilling it all was, to be flying through the air on a winged horse while an enormous chasm plunged to the earth’s depths beneath her…

but right now, she was focused on finding this locket.

As hard as she looked, though, all she could see was dirt and darkness.

While the gorge widened farther down, the section near where Eula had lost the locket was dark and narrow – too narrow for the pegasus’s mighty wingspan.

So they were stuck flying over the top, Chloe watching the gorge intently for the tiniest flicker of silver while not holding out any actual hope that she’d be successful.

It was possible that the pegasus would have better luck, but she didn’t think its chances were great. The probability of the locket even being on the surface after all these years was shockingly low.

Chloe was doing her best to stay positive, but she had to admit that she wasn’t having much luck. It had all seemed so hopeful before they set out, but as soon as Curtis had disappeared, it had all fallen apart.

Not that the trip had been a waste, of course – finding out that she was Ethan’s soulmate had been a definite highlight, and something that she was sure she’d have to think about in more detail later, once she wasn’t worrying about falling to her death in the middle of the wilderness.

Right now, she was content with the happy buzz that ran through her at the thought of being Ethan’s mate.

And here she’d thought that yesterday had given her more surprises than she could possibly handle – today was certainly giving it a run for its money!

No wonder Kira had gotten so weird when she’d accidentally spilled the beans. It wasn’t the kind of news that you could just casually drop on someone.

She and Ethan were a team. They shared an unbreakable bond.

Then surely – after all the impossible things that have happened to me over the past few days – we should be able to do something as seemingly impossible as finding this locket!

Feeling a little buoyed, she resumed her scan of the chasm below. They would find the locket somehow. They had to. Curtis was counting on them.

Holding on tight to the pegasus’s mane, she leaned over slightly so that she could get a little closer. Not that a few inches were likely to make any difference, but, well, every little bit counted.

Seeming to understand what she was doing, Ethan brought them down a little lower again, so that his wingtips were practically skimming the ground.

Even though she completely trusted him to know what he was doing, it was a little hair-raising!

The slightest miscalculation, and he could catch a wing and be sent tumbling.

Determined not to waste his effort, Chloe squinted into the gloom, doing her best to focus her eyes. She paid close attention to everything on their right, while Ethan, apparently reading her mind again, scanned everything on the left.

The gorge rushed by beneath her, rocks and scraggly plants flashing past, coming and going before she could even get a chance to fully look at each one.

Come on. You can do this.

And then –

It took a moment for her brain to catch up with her eyes, but then she registered it – a dull, silvery glint, barely there for even a split second.

No. It can’t be.

Surely not?

“There!” she called excitedly, pointing – and then the pegasus was wheeling in the air, coming back for another pass.

Chloe looked again, eyes zeroing in on the ledge where she thought she’d seen it. It was a long way down – at least twenty feet, if not more – and shrouded in shadows.

It’s not there, she thought despairingly, her stomach twisting. I imagined it.

The pegasus slowed and turned once more, coming in to land near the edge of the gorge. Chloe slid to the ground, despondent.

… And then found herself almost knocked off her feet as Ethan, now in human form, practically barreled into her, engulfing her in a giant bear hug.

“Huh?” she said, even as she enjoyed the feeling of his arms around her.

He pulled back a little, hands around her upper arms, and smiled at her. Not just smiled – but smiled . It was radiant.

Wow, she thought, dazed, her upset momentarily forgotten. That’s a good look for him.

“We did it!” he exclaimed. “Chloe, we saw it. You saw it.”

“Wait, what?” she said, confused. “No I didn’t. I thought I did, but it wasn’t there.”

Now it was Ethan’s turn to look confused. “Yes you did. It was harder for you to see the second time around because the sun had gone back behind the clouds, but because I knew where to look, the pegasus was able to spot it.”

“No way.” A lightness began to pass through Chloe’s body.

Had they really done it? Had they located the locket that Eula had been looking for for so long?

“Well… first things first. Let’s check it out properly.

It could just be some other piece of metal that found its way down there.

Let’s not get our hopes up too high just yet. ”

“Sensible,” Ethan agreed.

Hitting upon an idea, Chloe edged closer to the edge of the gorge and pulled out her phone. She noticed that there was no signal – Kira had been correct about it being a dead zone, of course.

Looking over her shoulder nervously, she bit her lip.

“You won’t let me fall, right?”

Ethan pretended to consider, stroking his chin. “Well, I was planning on it, but since you asked so nicely…”

“Jerk,” Chloe muttered affectionately, before getting down on her hands and knees, and then lying flat on her stomach. Even knowing that Ethan would catch her if she fell, standing at the edge of the gorge made her knees wobbly! She was quite happy to lie down and look a bit silly instead.

Opening her phone’s camera, she focused on the ledge, before zooming the camera in further… and then further… and further again.

And…

Her breath caught in her throat.

A-ha!

Showing on her phone’s screen, half obscured amongst some small rocks, was the slightly blurry image of a chain with what looked like a small silver circle attached to it. It was dirty and tarnished, but it was definitely a necklace.

Chloe supposed that it could be some other missing piece of jewelry, given that the original photo wasn’t exactly in high resolution, but really, what were the odds of that? They had to assume that it was the correct one.

She scooted back a little, looking up to see Ethan standing at the edge of the gorge and looking down like he didn’t have a care in the world. She supposed it was easy to be confident when you could fly, but still – the gorge was too narrow for him to fly in!

Getting to her feet, she dusted herself off and started thinking about what they could do next.

“Let’s see what else is in that bag,” she said, and Ethan opened it up.

Besides the food and water, it turned out to mostly be basic survival gear – a flashlight, a compass, that kind of thing.

There were, however, also several ropes and some large metal clips. Chloe shivered as she looked at them.

Rappelling down sheer rock faces was not her idea of a good time! Pretty much the opposite, in fact!

But suddenly, she found that she wanted to try.

Her whole life had been tied up in vet work. And she didn’t regret that, not for one second. But it had led to a pretty regimented way of living. She’d never taken any risks, at least not until she’d decided to start her own business – and that had been a very different kind of risk, anyway.

And besides, she thought, taking that risk turned out pretty well for me! So risks do sometimes pay off.

She found that she wanted to take this risk as well. With Ethan at her side, she felt safe.

Apparently reading her mind – or at least the way she was staring at the ropes with great intensity – Ethan spoke up, concern in his voice.

“You don’t have to go down there if you don’t want to. I’m happy to go by myself.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I want to do this. It would mean a lot to me – we’re in this together, aren’t we?”

We’re mates, after all, Chloe thought, the cold shiver that had been running through her suddenly turning to a warm fizzle of excitement.

Ethan looked at her for a long moment, before nodding. “If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“It is,” she said, grateful that he wasn’t trying to talk her out of it.

“I’ll be right beneath you,” he said. “If you fall, I’ll catch you.” His eyes locked with hers, his gaze intense. “But you won’t fall.”

His belief in her touched her in ways she had never thought possible, opening new reserves of confidence she’d never realized she had.

He’s right. I won’t fall.

But, she thought with a smile, I’m still glad he’ll be there, though!

Ethan got to work looping one of the ropes around a sturdy-looking tree, and Chloe tried very hard not to think about how this area had been subject to a landslide that could have disturbed the tree’s roots.

The pegasus seemed to have a sixth sense about these things – she could only hope that it would know whether or not it was safe.

“Okay,” Chloe said with a shaky exhale. Now that it was actually happening, the nerves were hitting her full force.

Peering carefully over the edge, she could see that the drop wasn’t quite so sheer as she’d thought – at this point it was more like a steep slope leading down to the ledge, rather than a cliff face. Steep slopes, she could do.

Just don’t think about how it drops off below there. You’re not going down to the bottom, so it doesn’t matter.

“Okay,” she said again, but this time with a bit more confidence. She could do this!

Ethan came up to her with a rope in his hands, looking awkward.