"Sounds divine," she said, her voice a little wistful. 'I live with my mum in a flat in Crooks Crossing. There isn't much space, so I have to store my favorite books in boxes under the bed. Even so, there are several boxes hidden in the loft.
— Do you live with your mother? So your parents are divorced.
Allora shook her head. My stomach dropped as I realized what that probably meant. Allora looked away, her entire body stiffening. Her hand flew to her wrist, which the silver bracelet still clasped defiantly.
"I have to go," she whispered, the book falling from her hand and skittering to the floor.
- Why? — My disappointment was transparent. I was really enjoying talking to her. I wanted to find out more about what books she liked, about her family, about her studies and what made her want to be an archaeologist.
But for some reason, her father's death—because that was all it had to be—kept her closed off from me. But he didn't have to. I reached out to her, willing to say anything to get her to stay and talk to me.
— Allora. I know how you feel. My father…
"I just…I can't…" She grabbed her coat and got to her feet, running out the trailer door and out into the wet night as fast as her legs could carry her.
I stayed in the trailer for another hour in case Allora came back, but she didn't. I got stuck talking to Ruth and Max about reality TV—an illness I hadn't yet succumbed to. As a park ranger, I didn't get a chance to watch much TV, and when I did, I watched Western movies and Star Trek reruns, not the internal monologues of ten thin models who pose as seductive lampposts in an avant-garde commercial for a lighting company. As I turned off the stupid discussion, I mentally replayed the conversation with Allora, trying to figure out where I went wrong.
Her father. I assumed he was dead, but what if I was wrong? What if I had thought that because that was my situation? What if Allora's father was in prison? What if he was under arrest for something he'd done to her?
If that were true, it was quite heavy. I understood why she wouldn't want to talk about it with a stranger, especially not in the trailer with Frances, Ruth and Max listening. Fuck, I was an insensitive idiot.
Try again tomorrow, I told myself. I wasn't completely screwed. Yet. Even though I didn't want a mate, I was more and more intrigued by Allora SanDiir. Perhaps it was the pain I saw flash across his face… a pain that mirrored my own.
With that decision made, I got up and ran to my tent without wishing the others good night. As I walked through the camp, the moon rose higher through the trees, teasing me with its pale light. In two days it would be completely full. The itch pulsed through my veins, making me feel restless, nervous. I scratched my cheek furiously, out of habit, but nothing could quench the itch of the moon warming my wolf blood.
I was in Daniel's tent, which he left for me after rushing off to deal with the emergency I had invented for him. I was lucky to have a dishonest friend in Liverpool (is there any other kind of friend in Liverpool?) who was willing to break into his flat for me. He didn't steal anything, he just messed the place up enough that Daniel had to spend time cleaning it up as well as filing reports with the police. He took two weeks off, which should have been more than enough time for me to do what I came to do.
Fortunately, Daniel had set up his tent fifty yards from the others, between the camp and the caves. I would at least have some privacy. Most of Daniel's things were still inside. I opened my backpack and took out my bottle of Lycan pills. They weren't the usual ones, but I'd heard good things about Clara — the local witch in DownMoor village — and she assured me they were even more potent. Fortunately, the pills would keep my wolf personality in check while the moon was up. Otherwise, I might do something I later regret, especially with the delicious Allora around.
I took two pills and waited. The itching seemed to subside a little. Good. I had something important to do tonight.
The moon rose higher and the itch throbbed through my entire body. I clenched my teeth and held my hands at my sides, resisting the urge to scratch my skin the way I used to as a kid.
Instead, I counted the minutes on my watch. Eleven-thirty… eleven-forty-three… eleven-fifty-seven… when I was sure everyone was asleep, I grabbed my flashlight, a crowbar, and a notebook from my backpack, and walked quickly and silently from camp. towards the caves. It was better to finish the job. So I could focus my attention on Allora.
The trail of basalt rock ran through the forest for miles, and I knew that a huge network of caves ran through it, hollowed out by the movement of the earth and the paths carved by the water that flowed ever downwards. People had inhabited the caves since the Neolithic period, but few people knew how long they had been occupied.
I had to keep it that way.
It took me a few minutes to find the cave entrance in the dark. I sniffed the air again, but it was hard to make out the smells. Everything out here was tainted by Allora's heady scent. I could smell her footsteps as clearly as if she'd wandered into a tub of butter.
I slipped through the small hole, my boots splashing in the water. Now that the rain had finally stopped, the pool around my feet wasn't as deep as it had been, although it was still slippery. I lit my torch and made my way carefully over the rocks and through the room.
The archaeologists were using string lines to create a grid of twelve squares (or quadrants, as Allora called them) across the floor of the room, and they were systematically cleaning up the stratigraphic layers of each square, recording all artifacts and features, and mapping notable objects with the theodolite to create a three-dimensional spatial map. So far, it doesn't look like they've ventured into the cave. That was a good sign.
Even as cancer destroyed his mind and body, my dad remembered the layout of the cave as if he'd been there yesterday. I knew from his description that the cave paintings were located in a tunnel leading down from a secondary cave located through a small fissure at the end of the living room. I needed to find them before Frances and her team did, and destroy them if there was anything left. Nearly a hundred years have passed since they were last seen. Nature could have taken care of things for me.
I made my way carefully along the wooden planks placed between the quadrants and scanned the back wall with my flashlight. It only took a few moments to find what I was looking for, a small opening in the back wall of the cave, waist high. I steadied the flashlight first, resting it on an overhanging rock so that it pointed back at me. I squeezed my shoulders forward and wriggled my body into the small hole, using the wall behind me to start with my feet.
It was tight, but after a few moments of sweating, writhing limbs, and grunting, I managed to slide my arms in. I used the rock in front of me to pull my torso into the darkness. I got up, dusting myself off, and held the flashlight around me. I was standing in a long fissure between the rocks, the roof of the cavern at least ten feet above my head. I maneuvered my way between the two sloping walls. At the end of the fissure, the room opened into a large cavern. In the opposite corner, a pool of water reflected my flashlight back at me. Dark openings led left and right.
Dad said it was the left tunnel.
I jumped onto the next boulder and headed toward the opening, the crowbar on my back slamming against the rock as I turned.
Back here, the rocks were dry, the ground beneath me was crumbling. At the entrance, I ran my flashlight through the tunnel, reflecting light off the walls, looking for the colorful designs that marked the paintings. I couldn't see anything.
“It needs to be here,” I muttered, bending over to check the tunnel ceiling. It was exactly where he said it would be. So why couldn't I see?
“What the hell are you doing? a sultry voice demanded from behind me.
Shit. I got caught.
allora
Josh spun around, the light from his flashlight temporarily blinding me.
“Allora, you scared me.
“I can say the same thing,” I said, suddenly nervous. Not twenty minutes ago, I was snuggled in bed, trying to forget the way Josh smiled at me when I told him how much I love Heinlein's books. I was asleep, imagining what it would be like to kiss his soft lips… but then I realized I didn't have my book with me. Did I leave it in the trailer when I ran away from Josh, or did I leave it somewhere outside on the way to my tent?
Damn it. That was the only book I brought to read. Without it, I would have to resort to talking to people. And, between Ruth's gross and disgusting thinking, Frances' inattentiveness, and Max's general weirdness, I wasn't too keen on that idea.
I sighed and sat down to pull on my socks and boots. I was wide awake now, and the thought of the book soaking in a puddle outside was more than I could bear. It was just like I'd told Josh: my books were precious, even secondhand copies. I put on my jacket and went out into the freezing night. I retraced my steps across the camp to the trailer, but I couldn't see it on the ground anywhere. Looking out the window, I noticed the book on the edge of a chair. I reached in and grabbed it, relief seeping through my body as I tucked it under my arm. I was heading back to my tent when I saw Josh crawling towards the caves.
It was curiosity that drove me to follow him. But now that I was here, confronting him wearing only my pajamas, thermal pants, boots and jacket, I realized how dangerous this situation could be. I barely knew Josh. Just because he was gorgeous didn't mean he didn't have a nefarious purpose. As far as I knew, this guy could be unstable. And I was alone with him, without my helmet, in the dark, in an unexplored section of the cave. No one else knew I was here. If he killed me now, they would never find my body.
I had just made all the mistakes I promised myself I would never make.
“I asked you a question,” I said, trying to keep my voice from wavering. Josh looked at me with wide eyes. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. I liked it. I actually left him speechless. “Josh? I prodded, being careful to keep my voice stern. There was no point in letting him feel my fear.
“I'm just…checking out some details of your dig. Josh nodded firmly. “Frances's notes weren't very extensive. I thought I'd come here and try to understand things in loco.
“This area of the cave has not been explored,” I said, my voice shrinking in the cavernous space. — That fact was in the notes you received. It's dangerous to come here alone, especially at night, especially if no one knows where you are.
“You know where I am,” he snarled, those fierce green eyes flickering over my body. With a flush, I remembered that I was wearing my awful pink thermals under my Snoopy pajama bottoms. Could this day get any worse? "We shouldn't stay in the caves at night," I repeated nervously. “I believe a certain park ranger told me it's against the rules.
"Have you ever done anything against the rules?" he asked, closing the space between us in the blink of an eye. He still hadn't touched me, but my body flooded with hot, pulsing energy. How could he make me feel this way? Especially when I caught him red-handed doing something he shouldn't.
“I… um…
“I thought so.” Josh walked over. — Allora. I can explain.
I…
— Argh! I screamed as something swooped down from the darkness and slammed into my face. I dropped my flashlight as I raised my hands to shield my eyes from the screeching onslaught. My stomach lurched as the furry body of a bat slipped between my fingers and ruffled my hair, its wings quivering as it curled deeper.
The flashlight boomed off the rocks below, bouncing down the steps and plunging into the pool. The light went out.
“Fuck,” Josh cursed. "Hold still!"
“I can't sit still. There's a bat in my hair! I yelled, waving my hands around my head. I turned to run back through the fissure, but instead I collided with Josh, sending his flashlight flying out of his hands. It hit the rocks with a crash, and the light flickered, plunging us into complete darkness.
Tears welled up in my eyes. The bat's feet clawed at my head, pulling my hair so hard that the entire side of my scalp felt like it was being ripped off. Josh's hands struggled in my hair. He cursed again as the disputes intensified. Finally, the bat let go of me and I heard its wings flapping in the darkness.
- There. I touched the side of my head. My scalp was soft. But at least it was still there. Luckily, I've already taken the tetanus shot.
— Allora. Are you okay?
I nodded, biting my lip. After a moment of silence, I realized how stupid this was.
“I'm fine,” I said, my voice cracking.
- I guess. Here, hold me,” Josh ordered.
I reached out, seeking his elbow, but my fingers brushed against the fabric of his jeans. I felt the button on his pants. Shit. I went right on…
“If you wanted an excuse to grope me, all you had to do was ask.” He chuckled.
"Shut up," I replied, heat burning my cheeks. I was lucky it was so dark he wouldn't be able to see how red I must have been. I reached out, tightening my hand around his forearm. The hot sensation raced through my fingers, down my entire arm, lighting all my senses on fire.
Wow. The heat was intense. It wasn't just my raging hormones. Heat penetrated every layer of my body, spreading through my limbs and circling my head. My chest swelled with intense emotion. I swallowed hard, wanting to… I'm not sure if I wanted to cry or laugh or kiss Josh, push him away or beg him to marry me. The intense sensation swirled around my head, and in the darkness, it was even more disorienting. I squeezed Josh's arm tighter, reassuring myself that he was there and that I was getting to my feet.