Shay didn’t want to believe her eyes as their lights illuminated a dead end. She frowned.
“You sure it was this way?”
Lily nodded and pointed at the wall. “That’s magical.”
The tomb raider hurried over to the wall and looked it over. “Well, it looks like everything else in here. Probably stupid to touch it, but here we go.”
Shay swallowed, reached out, and poked the wall. Her finger went right through.
“What the hell?” Further probing proved her entire hand could go through, as could her arm. She grinned at Lily. “It’s just an illusion. That’s the magic you’re sensing.”
Shay shrugged and stepped through the wall. A cavern larger than any of the tunnels in the cave was on the other side. The target of their quest, an ornate jeweled egg, sat in the center of a small stone platform with a dip in the center. Two large silver pools lay on either side, and there was a smaller pool in the corner.
Lily appeared through the wall. “Great, more melted people. That’s really making me feel good.”
Shay frowned and pointed at the smaller pool. “But why is that there? No one could touch the egg from that far away.”
She headed toward the pool with Lily close behind.
Another tremor rocked the cave and the pools shook, moving a few inches.
“Guess that answers that.” She stared at the egg. “But wait. There were pools at the entrance to the cave. No way they slid all the way back there.”
Lily pulled the protective box out of her backpack. “Why don’t we get the egg and run away, so we don’t have to find out the answers? The platform’s magical, too. It might call the egg back after a while if no one has it.”
“Maybe. I think we’ll go with your grabbing and running idea for now.” Shay stepped toward the egg and stopped about a yard away. “Just have to figure out how to get it in the box.”
The teen removed the lid and moved toward it. “Maybe if I knock it with the lid.”
Shay’s heart rate kicked up. “No,” she snapped. She took a deep breath. “Pretty sure if you’re touching it, even through something else, you’ll end up a pool. I’ve grown attached to you, kid. Don’t melt yourself.”
The cavern shuddered wildly, and the egg fell from the platform and hit the floor.
The tomb raider winced, half-expecting it to explode in a wave of powerful magic, but instead, it rolled along the floor toward the fake wall.
“Get it,” Shay shouted, her heart galloping.
Lily leaped in front of it and slammed the box into its path, her hand still on the bottom. The lid skittered across the dirt, dust, and rocks on the cave floor. The egg rolled straight toward it. A foot, then six inches, then an inch.
“Let go, Lily.”
The girl yelped and released her grip on the box. The egg rolled inside, the force of the collision knocking the box upright.
They both stared down at the box that now contained the deadly artifact, then they exchanged glances.
Shay shrugged. “Sometimes you just get lucky.” She grabbed the lid from the ground and knelt by the box.
Lily hissed and shook her head.
Shay silenced her with a raised palm. “If this is gonna work, I should be able to put this on without melting.”
The girl nodded. “That’s a big if.”
“See anything? A little future insight would be nice about now.”
Lily sighed and shook her head.
Shay swallowed and slowly lowered the lid toward the box, her heart thundering. She was placing a lot of faith in a box she’d only tested against a few types of physical and magical damage. Her hand inched down, and she took a deep breath.
Fuck, James. I chewed you out about your dumbass pay-per-view stunt, but here I am risking melting.
“Fuck it!” Shay screamed and slammed the lid down.
She stared at Lily, and the girl stared back. Neither dared move or breathe. The seconds ticked by until Shay realized something more than a little important. She hadn’t melted. At least she thought she hadn’t.
The tomb raider grabbed the box and lifted it. “Did I melt?”
Lily shook her head. “You don’t look like you melted.”
Shay laughed. She set the box down and then pulled off her backpack so she could put the box in the top of it before zipping it shut.
“Always a good day when you don’t melt.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that’s what I say every night before I go to sleep.”
“Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
The two stepped through the illusionary wall, right into a pack of six large men in parkas.
Shay groaned. “They came into the cave?”
One of the men grinned. “Give us the egg, and there won’t be any trouble.”
Another tremor shook the cave.
None of the men had guns out, which killed Shay’s immediate instinct to gun them all down.
These assholes do a lot of work for the British government, and if I waste them in front of Lily, I might be pushing her down the path I was on. I should try to beat their asses down without killing them, as long as they don’t push me too far.
Shay shook her head. “Not gonna happen, assholes. Don’t make this difficult. No one has to get hurt.”
The man frowned and looked at Lily. “You brought a kid? What the hell?”
“I’m a kid who can kick your ass,” the girl spat back.
When the cave shook again, Shay sprang forward and delivered a quick roundhouse kick to the nearest tomb raider. His head snapped back, and he slammed into the wall.
Two of the other men grabbed for the tomb raider, and she jumped backward and spun to deliver an elbow to the face of one of the men before kicking another man into the wall.
“Bloody hell,” one of three remaining men shouted. He yanked a contact Taser out of a pocket.
Lily slapped it out of his hand, grabbed it with her other hand before it hit the ground, and planted it in his neck. He twitched and jerked
