Dangerous Creatures (Book 3, Pure Series) (39 page)

              "We'll make it all right," I murmured.

              I felt my eyelids growing heavy, and I drifted off to sleep once more.

              I was awakened suddenly when the plane gave a violent lurch, and if not for the seat belt I had on, I would have been thrown to the floor.

              I settled back into my seat and looked around. "What's going on?"

              As if in answer, the plane gave another violent lurch.

              William took off his seat belt and stood up. "I don't know what that was. But I'm going to find out."

              As he walked toward the pilot's cabin, holding on to the seats on either side of the aisle for support, the plane was suddenly rocked by an explosion. I saw William go flying up against the door to the pilot's cabin, and then the nose of the plane tilted downward, and we began to descend at a terrifying speed. I was thrown back against my seat, unable to move.

              A shrill, persistent whine began somewhere in the plane, and I heard a loud popping sound, followed by a sound like splintering glass.

              "Katie!" I heard William shout over all the clamor.

              Then there was another explosion, and everything went dark.

Chapter 28.

I woke briefly in spells. I was aware of darkness and motion, and then finally of stillness and silence.

              I awoke for a very long period to find that I was lying on a hard, cold surface, and that my head hurt so fiercely that I couldn't see through the haze of pain.

              A hand helped me sit up then, and a cup with a cool, slightly sweet liquid was pressed to my lips. I drank all of the liquid and then lay back down again.

              A hand, cold and heavy, yet somehow gentle, brushed my hair away from my forehead. Then I sank into sleep again.

              When I finally awoke completely, I found that the pain in my head was gone. I also found that I couldn't move.

              I tried to sit up, but heavy ropes across my shoulders and stomach prevented me from doing so. I tried to move my feet, but my legs seemed to be similarly bound.

              I glanced down at my hands. They were tied at the wrists.

              I could hear the tranquil lap of water somewhere close by, and the air was cool but not unpleasantly so. Directly above me was a ceiling of rock, and cut into the rock was a square, man-made shaft that appeared to lead all the way up into daylight, giving me enough light to see by.

              Though most of the chamber was shrouded in shadow, I could tell I was in a cave.

              I looked to my right and was startled to see a pair of blue eyes staring at me. A beautiful girl with golden brown hair lay on her side, with one slender, white arm stretched above her head and one delicate forefinger extended, pointing outward. She was lying on a slab of stone, and the white dress she wore draped across the stone as if she had only just lain down was about to move.

              "Where are we?" I said to the girl. "What's going on?"

              The wide, beautiful eyes continued to stare at me, and though my voice echoed in the cave chamber, the girl remained completely motionless, as if she hadn't heard me.

              I noticed then that a large wound bloomed on the girl's white neck. There was also a faint glow that surrounded her—something hazy and indistinct but definitely present. There was a slight hum of power in the air, and it seemed to be coming from the glow.

              I realized with a start that I had seen a glow like that before.

              I looked again at the fall of white cloth across the stone, and I realized that I had seen something like that before, too.

              I was looking at the Hunter's wife—I had woken up in my dream. But this time there would be no dragonfly to lead me home.

              As my eyes adjusted to the light, I became aware of another presence—a figure sitting just beyond the girl. In the gloom of the cave I could see a man with broad shoulders and a thick chest. His arms were resting on his knees, and his head was bowed. His light brown hair had fallen forward, obscuring his face. But I knew who he was.

              I was looking at the Hunter.

              I tried again to free my arms and legs, but I was tightly and effectively bound. I let my head fall back against the stone on which I lay.

              I was trapped.

              If the Hunter knew that I was awake, he gave no sign of it. Both he and the girl were completely still, and the only sound I could hear was the steady lap of water nearby.

              "I know who you are," I said at last.

              The Hunter made no reply.

              "I know who you are, and I know who she is," I said.

              The Hunter's wife continued to stare at me with unseeing eyes, and I went on.

              "I know why you brought me here. I know you want to bring your wife back, and in order to do that you have to have a soul to take her place. I also know that you want to get revenge on your brother for what he did. You want to deprive him of his war by depriving him of me. But you can't do this. You have no right to take my soul."

              I glanced over at the Hunter, but he gave no indication that he had heard me.

              "What you plan to do to me is just as wrong as what your brother did to your wife. He stole her life away, and now you're stealing mine. Your wife was innocent, and so am I."

              The echo of my voice died away, and once again I was left with the sound of lapping water.

              "What was her name?" I asked.

              The Hunter did not reply.

              I lay my head back against the stone again and tried to think. As I tried frantically to come up with a way to escape, the accident that had brought me to this place came flooding back to me. I remembered the plane, the explosions, William calling out my name. I remembered falling through the sky.

              "William," I said. "Where is William?"

              Silence reigned, and I went on.

              "There was a plane crash," I said. "You must have rescued me from it. There were two others on that flight. One was the pilot. The other was a young man named William. What happened to them? Where are they?"

              The Hunter didn't answer, and I felt panic rising in me.

              "You have to tell me what happened to them. You have to tell me if they survived. I love William. And he loves me. Surely that's something you can understand. You have to tell me if he's still alive."

              The Hunter did not move.

              I tried to shut out the tears, but they came to me anyway. The sound of my sobs mingled with the lapping of the water and echoed in the cave chamber.

              Time passed, and eventually my tears were spent. My breathing grew calm again, and with calmness came clarity.

              "That was no accident, was it?" I said. "You knew I was on that plane, and you caused it to crash."

              The Hunter did not reply, but no reply was necessary.

              Time went by in horrible stillness, and I was left alone with my memories of the crash. I watched the light from the shaft overhead slowly dying, and by the gradual reddening of the light, I could tell that sunset was upon us.

              The Hunter seemed to sense the change in the light, too, and he rose to his feet, a tall, imposing figure. As he walked toward me, I could see an emerald stone hanging around his neck, and I knew what that stone was for—it could create the reflection of a soul, and it could also steal one away.

              I had no idea how long I'd been unconscious, and I didn't know how long it had taken me to get to this place—for all I knew, twenty-four hours could have passed, and it could be Walpurgis Night already. For all I knew, the Hunter was about to use the stone on me. As he moved closer, I felt my heart hammering in my chest.

              But the Hunter continued on past me, and I watched him as he moved to the far end of the cave.

              "Where are you going?" I called after him.

              The Hunter did not answer and walked on into a spot of solid darkness before disappearing from my sight—I had a feeling that he'd left the cave by a tunnel.

              I immediately began to work on the ropes that tied my wrists.

              The Hunter, I knew, had been an actual hunter in his human life. And I figured that he was good at tying knots. But I also figured that the Hunter had been accustomed to tying up animals. He had bound creatures that had hooves or wings—he hadn't bound creatures with fingers or with smooth skin. It seemed to me that if I had enough time, I just might be able to work my hands free.

              While the Hunter's wife watched me with unseeing eyes, I slowly worked my hands back and forth, trying to move the ropes and create some space. The rough cording of the ropes rasped at my skin, and progress was agonizingly slow. But little by little, I began to get some movement, and eventually, I was able to wriggle the ropes halfway up on one of my hands. More wriggling brought the ropes to my knuckles, and once I had the ropes over them, I was able to slide my hand free.

              I shook my other hand free of the ropes, and I flexed both of my wrists in relief.

              I was bound very tightly to the slab of rock I was lying on, but now that my hands were free, I could push on the ropes that ran across my shoulders. While I pushed, I slowly wriggled my body down until I'd slid the ropes up to my chin. Then I turned my face to the side, and inch by inch I worked the ropes up over my head.

              Once my head was finally free, I could sit up part of the way on my elbows, and I looked down at my waist and feet. I figured that my waist would be the really tricky part, so I went to work on my feet next. Now that my upper body was largely free, I had a little more room to maneuver. I turned my feet to the side and slowly worked them out from under the ropes, all the while listening for any signs of movement in the cave.

              I didn't know how far the Hunter had gone, and I didn't know how soon he would be back.

              Once my feet were finally free, I drew my legs up toward me—it was a relief to be able to bend my knees.

              I looked down at my waist then, and I wished that I had a knife—or anything with an edge that could possibly be used as a cutting tool. But my pockets were empty, and as I looked around me, I couldn't see any rocks or other debris that were close enough for me to reach.

              So I pulled in my stomach as tightly as I could—and bracing my hands and feet on the stone beneath me—I began to push myself along, wriggling from side to side to slide the ropes down to my hips. Once the ropes reached my hips, I got to work with my hands, trying to push the ropes over my hipbones.

              The work was slow and painstaking, but eventually, through a combination of pushing and wriggling, I managed to get the ropes over the widest part of my hips. Once that was done, I braced my hands against the stone and slid the rest of the way out.

              I sat up then and swung my legs over the side of the stone slab.

              I was finally free.

              I jumped down to the ground, and as I slid off the stone slab, my jacket caught on the rock, forcing me to stop short. As I worked to free myself, I saw that my jacket had somehow gotten wedged into a deep groove that cut across the slab—it looked as if the rock itself had suffered a deep crack and then had been patched and repaired.

              I pulled the cloth of the jacket back and forth for several agonizing moments until it finally came free. Then I glanced around quickly.

              The cave was getting steadily darker, and as it did so, the glow that surrounded the Hunter's wife was growing brighter. By the light of the glow, I could see that I was standing on a small stone island that was surrounded on all sides by a dark pool of water. The cave chamber itself was very large, and its sand-colored walls extended back into deep shadow. I was surprised to see a diamond-shaped mirror set into the wall opposite me, and I was even more surprised to see that the wall itself was covered with intricate carvings—they appeared to be stylized renderings of human figures. As I glanced around the cave, I could see that the entire chamber seemed to be covered in similar carvings—the effect was strangely elegant for a tomb.

              But no matter what the tomb looked like, I still had to escape from it, and luckily, the pool that surrounded me looked narrow enough for me to jump across it. I hurried to the edge of the island.

              I threw one last look over my shoulder, and I was unnerved to see that the Hunter's wife continued to stare straight at me—as if she were watching me make my escape. Her rosy lips still had the flush of life on them, and they looked as though they were perfectly capable of parting and shouting for her missing husband—to warn him that I was leaving and taking with me her own means of escape.

              But the rosebud lips remained silent, and I leaped across the pool and hurried toward the dark spot that I had seen the Hunter disappear into.

              The space was indeed a tunnel, and I moved into it cautiously, wishing I had more light. I felt along the hard, cold walls with my hands, and very soon, the tunnel took a sharp turn to the right.

              When I turned into it, I left behind the little light that I had.

              Practicality told me to move slowly—I had absolutely no idea what lay ahead of me in the dark—and it was entirely possible that I could run into the Hunter himself as he returned along the tunnel. But I was desperate to get out of the cave, and so I broke into a run, trailing one hand along the cave wall.

              All I could do was hope that I didn't run into anything horrible in the darkness.

              As I ran, the floor dipped suddenly, and I stumbled. But I found the wall again, and I was able to get up and keep going.

              Soon after that, the cave floor began to climb steeply upward, and I felt a flash of hope. With any luck, I was now headed toward the surface.

              But just as I began to believe that I might actually make it out, I saw a light appear suddenly in front of me, just a few yards away. I flattened myself quickly against the wall and prayed without much hope that whoever it was hadn't seen me.