Gobble flew in front of my face. “I like them just fine. Tasty,” he squeaked.
“Right.” That didn’t surprise me in the least.
One of the branches off this mineshaft exited to a secret valley between the mountains, but I had no idea which part or how we were supposed to find the right path. The map didn’t show anything about the inside of the mine. My only lead was magic. The mages’ auras had stuck to the map. If they’d used the mine to access their temple, then it stood to reason that there would be more traces of pure white to follow. I just had to find them.
We moved past a line of five rickety mine carts. The metal bits were rusted and the wood looked like it might disintegrate if we breathed too hard.
“Hop in,” Lucas said when he reached the last one.
I stared from him to the cart and back again. “In that?”
“Yes.” When I didn’t move, he continued. “It’ll be faster. You just tell me when you see the aura you’re looking for, and we’ll head that way.”
I knocked my fist against the side of the car. It didn’t collapse, but I still wasn’t convinced. “Is this safe?”
Lucas blew out a breath. “Honestly, I’m not sure.” He placed the backpacks in the cart before hopping in with one graceful move.
Yeah. I wasn’t going to be able to get in it without making a fool of myself.
“There are miles of tunnels down here. We’ve got to narrow it down or it could take days.”
I closed my eyes and thought of Raphael. Every time I did, he felt father away. Our twindar used to bind us tight. If he was hurt or feeling something strongly, I could feel it, too. That had faded over the past few days and I didn’t think it was because of the distance. Now, my sense of him was almost gone. Thinking about what could happen to him made stabbing pain shoot through my chest.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s get this over with.”
Lucas leaned down to grasp me around the waist, and then easily lifted me into the cart. It shouldn’t have been a surprise or anything to overreact to, but it made me feel safe. Protected. Even in this rickety thing.
Gobble flitted over to sit on my shoulder, but this time I didn’t stiffen. I was too worried about what was going to happen as Lucas started pumping the lever on the car. Slowly, we all rolled forward.
“Let me know as soon as you want to stop or if we need to take a turn.” Ahead of us, the tunnel split in three directions. “Like now. Which way?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, Claudia. Which way?”
“I don’t know. Gobble? Do you know?”
“You want Gobble’s help?” He flitted in front of me to grin with those sharp teeth and I suddenly felt hesitant. From what Cosette said, I shouldn’t make a deal with him. Not unless I really, really, really needed it. I wasn’t that desperate. Not yet, at least.
“You can do this, Claudia. Trust yourself.”
But I didn’t. I couldn’t see any auras at all. It was all darkness ahead.
I moved the flashlight around, trying to see anything else, and then I realized I was an idiot. I couldn’t see anything past the beam of light.
I clicked it off. Once the glare was gone, I could see a faint glow somewhere ahead. “To the right.” I clicked the flashlight back on, and Lucas hit the lever for the right tunnel.
“Good work.”
I breathed out a sigh. “Thanks.”
The next hour was more of the same. We moved from tunnel to tunnel, taking twists and turns. Then our cart started picking up speed as we went down a hill.
We hit a bump and gained some air. My feet landed on the cart floor with a jarring thud. “Slow it down. You’re going too fast.”
“I know,” Lucas said.
A dip was coming up ahead of us—at least I hoped it was a dip. The closer we got, it looked like it was more drop-off than dip. I couldn’t see any tracks beyond it.