Chapter 18

Cave floor grit clings to my knees and palms, and I rock back on my heels. The dim light takes some getting used to, but I manage to record the results of my test. The gates are made of some kind rock, charged with a static-like energy that licks around me, much like the wards around our house.

Dabin's house.

I grunt, irritated, as I write down another failed test. It's been a month, four weeks, at least, though it's not a full month here, apparently, and I'm no closer to figuring out how to get home than I was when I arrived.

Not that there aren't perks.

I glance back at Dabin, who's quietly conversing with some of the guardians who work this cave, killing anything that comes through. According to them, there haven't been any new arrivals since little ole me. Dabin stretches, pulling one muscular arm overhead, then the other. He cracks his neck, then looks over his shoulder at me, smiling like he knows I'm watching.

Maybe he does. I return the grin, my heart doing a little somersault in my chest. Every night since the hotel, we share a bed. Every night, he just holds me. Every night, I want to do more than be held.

I pull my journal closer to my body.

I'm scared. I don't want to hurt him… but it's not just that anymore.

I don't want to hurt me, either.

I glance up at him from between my strands of hair. I'm falling for him. There's no two ways about it. Unlike this stupid piece of magic machinery, which apparently has a million ways about it. I scowl at the thing and go back to writing.

Does not respond to glyph combination 3, 6, 9, 1.

Does not respond to glyph combination 3, 6, 9, 1.

I write several more lines, my mood growing blacker by the minute. The numbers correspond to a series of glyphs that wrap around the base of the black rock, glowing blue symbols I traced over in my journal the first day we came here. Pressing them drains me, my starlight, according to Dabin, and I can only do so many a day before Dabin pulls me away from it, feeding me food. He packs us a picnic every morning, always full of my favorite things, and accompanies me, training with the guardians here and the other caves we've stopped at. I love watching him work with them, his patient voice.

It's not so bad to look at, either.

My heart warms as I think about it, and I sneak another glance up at him. He's deep in conversation with one of the guardians, one of the young ones with tight curling hair, adjusting his stance between training fights. I sigh, a slow smile curving my lips. He's shirtless, as usual, his striking tattoos curling over his forearms and biceps in esoteric patterns. A fine sheen of sweat coats his muscles, and he glimmers in the dull light.

He catches me staring, grinning at me over the younger man's shoulder. I return his smile, my heart speeding up before I drop my attention back to the notebook in my hands.

I double-check my chart of numbers, chewing on the end of the pen that surely will run out of ink before much longer. One more combo today. I can do one more. I rise to my feet, my vision swimming a bit, a sign I need to rest, something Dabin says would go away if we mated. Had sex. Fucked. Ugh. My insides clench as I think about it, and when I look up at him again, he's watching me with that look that clearly says, "Danielle, don't push it." I give him a cheery wave and turn back towards the gate.

I don't even know that I want it to open at this point.

What do I have to go back to? Student loans and colleagues that think I'm a crackpot? No boyfriend, no family, a shitty apartment… Though at this point, my apartment's probably been leased to someone else, all my stuff dropped at goodwill, unless time behaves differently in the two realms. It's something I've thought about a lot, and Dabin has no idea if there are temporal anomalies in addition to the spatial ones.

Regardless, I can't seem to stop. I've never been able to let a research problem go, and even now, when I'm torn up inside about it, I can't put it down. It's why I was laughed out of my program. Too curious, and too stubborn to say I was wrong— which, for the record, I wasn't. I crave the challenge, and I want to solve the riddle of this damn tech.

I also crave Dabin.

I could have a good life here, with him. He's… he's amazing. I'm addicted to his touch, but we're both afraid to go further.

We're both afraid to get hurt.

Not that he's said anything. Not that he's done anything to stop me from leaving, never said how he feels about me. But it's in the way he helps me learn how to ride my horse, Kepler, which he tells me is an odd name and smiles through my attempts to explain human astronomy to him. The way he smiles when he holds me in the morning, the way he always, always, brushes my hair from my face.

Gritting my teeth, I circle the base of the structure. The glyphs glimmer a soft blue in the dim light of the cave, and I hold my notebook out, deciding which combination to press next. I bend over, power zinging down my arm as the structure saps it from me. I press the first number, the glyph's power singing over my hand. Then the second. The third, and finally, a headache blooming behind my eyes, the fourth. It feels different, this time, and excitement rockets through me.

This is going to be it. I get to go home. I wait, holding my breath, watching the glyphs spin.

A moment passes. Another. Nothing happens. So much for things feeling different.

"Motherfucker," I grunt, kicking the base of the structure.

As soon as my boot leaves the rock, light floods the cave. I blink against it, holding a hand over my eyes protectively.

Holy shit, I did it.

I'm going to go home and get the biggest bacon cheeseburger ever, and I'll get one and bring it to Dabin, who will love it, too. The thought stops me in tracks, and I look up, to where Dabin is running for me, for the gate. I frown. He stretches out a hand, screaming my name, except, there's no sound.

Time slows, and my hair floats away from my face. It curls around my head, for a moment, odd in the stillness of the cave. Then wind howls around me, sucking me into the gate, and I scream.

That's when all hell breaks loose.