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“Ekinar, what was the description of the temple again?”

They were inside the shuttle, and Nosku was looking for any traces of his nephew.

“The fissure in a cavern wall, a place only the Shadow Folk can enter. Why?”

Ekinar was watching Nosku’s attempt to start the shuttle, so he could check the records.

“This ship is dead. Unless you chop it into pieces and haul it out manually, this isn’t going anywhere.”

Teyha was barely able to stay upright. Using her talent for an extended time was more exhausting than hiking in the dark.

“There has to be some trace of them here.”

Nosku’s voice broke.

“There is. They are exactly where you said they would be. In the fissure, in the cliff, in a place only the Shadow Folk can go.”

Teyha sighed, “But based on my early translations, it isn’t the temple, it is the prison.”

Nosku froze. “The pit?”

“Not so much a pit as a crevice with a warning around the door. Your folk were not here the last time I came, so I had to guess at the meaning.”

Ekinar put his hand on Nosku’s arm to calm him. “Where is it?”

“Come with me.”

She left the shuttle and made her way carefully to the doorway in the cliff face. In the dark, the glyphs were surprisingly clear to her. They were bright and seemed to glow from within.

“Where are you looking, Teyha?”

It was the first time that Ekinar had called her by name, and she had to throttle down the pleased surge of emotion that occurred when he wrapped his lips around her syllables.

“The glyphs around the doorway. Don’t you see them?”

She pointed, and when he still frowned and squinted in the direction she was pointing, she took his hand and pressed it to the stone.

Nosku grabbed her shoulder. “Where are they?”

“They are in the cave. Three heartbeats, all stable.”

Teyha compared the beats to the men in front of her. “Maybe the heartbeats are a little fast.”

Nosku pushed past her and into the cave.

“No, don’t go in there.”

She spoke to his back, and when he passed the threshold that lined the chasm, he was trapped. “Damn it.”

“I can’t see him. Where is he?”

Ekinar was frowning. His hands were still on the wall, tracing the carvings one by one.

“He is in the Prison of Shadows if these glyphs are any indication. Can you read them?”

He jerked toward the opening. “We have to get them out.”

“We will, but we need to know what we are going into. I can’t read the glyphs properly until it is light out, so we either get you to translate by touch or you blunder into the cave and get stuck like the others.”

Teyha leaned against the wall and gave into the urge to use it for support.

“You do not look well.”

“I don’t usually use my talent for stretches that are this long.”

He took her arm and helped her sit. “Relax. If you need light, we will wait for light.”

She nodded and got out some water. Sighing as she sipped and let the rehydration sooth her body. “Well, Nosku has rations and water, so the kids should be fine for a night.”

“You are right. How is it that you can see us as we are?”

Teyha chuckled. “I see a version of you. My talent is primarily a version of echolocation. I can feel heartbeats and sense shifts in topography. It does no good in the city, but thanks to my parents, I got plenty of practice out in the canyons and abandoned settlements.”

“You have been to other cities?”

She chuckled. “Until the Nine locked into position above us, a few of us were still busy learning everything we could about Gaia. Once the Tokkel attacked, we all concentrated on recovering from those first devastating days. It is amazing that so few deaths could make such a huge impact.”

Teyha knew she was rambling, but she was just so tired. She used her pack as a cushion and relaxed against it, breathing evenly until she was able to slip into a light sleep.

Ekinar sensed her shift into sleep. He couldn’t feel any of his folk around him, and if he hadn’t known about the barrier she had mentioned, he would have followed Nosku into the chasm.

The small Gaian was a curious creature, but she was making every effort to allow him his privacy. It was something that he appreciated, but once he had touched her, he knew something she didn’t. Teyha was going to be his.

Ekinar Rossing had searched for a suitable female for ten years. In a few hours, this woman had not only seen through the mask that he and the rest of his folk wore, but she had been unmoved by it.

It was a slight prick to his ego that she had not fallen under the spell of his physical perfection, but since she was on the clock, he supposed that he could put his ego aside and simply enjoy her nearness.

There were formalities to go through. He needed to give her a piece of his shadow to sync her body to his and let him know her moods, but that would wait. He didn’t want to chance the dark energy disrupting what he had just read.

And so, when they have displeased their folk, the Shadows shall be pressed into the cavern until such time as their sentence has been accrued. Once that time has gone, they will only leave with the touch of the light and drawn through the barrier that marked their imprisonment.

It was formally worded, but Ekinar was hopeful that Teyha qualified as the light and that she could bring the children and Nosku back through.

Teyha woke with a jolt as light started to caress her. She sat up, groaned and looked to Ekinar.

He was seated in the same position she had just been in, and he stirred when she dropped her pack and stood up.

“Nature calls. I will be right back.”

Teyha moved and stretched her stiff limbs as she located a suitably hidden outcropping.

After she was suited back up, she returned to the chasm, staring at the now-visible glyphs while she washed her hands in some of her drinking water before grabbing a ration pack out of her bag.

“What did you learn from the archway?”

Teyha munched quietly.

Ekinar stretched, and she watched his shadows flex and twist around him. He was back to being hidden, and she couldn’t stifle a sigh. He was so pretty when her senses were on high alert.

“You may be able to bring them out. It says that the touch of the light will bring them out. You are definitely not shadow, so you might qualify.”

She grimaced. “If I can’t get out, there is a flare gun in my pack. Just after dusk tonight, fire the blue flare. Help will come and to hell with the kids’ job future, we will get them out alive.”

“I hope it does not come to that. Try and see if you can get in and out.”

Ekinar’s tone was encouraging.

Teyha looked into the darkness of the prison and sighed. “Fine. Don’t forget. Blue flare, straight up.”

“Blue flare, straight up. Good luck.”

He touched her arm, and she felt part of his shadow touch her cheek. When she looked at him, it was gone, but there was no doubt that something had just happened.

Teyha breathed in deep, striding forward. For better or worse, she was walking right into the mouth of hell.