“Aunt Milaye, are you okay?” Haime yells.
No! No, I’m not okay! Bugs are never okay. My stomach churns. “Yes,” I say though. Just wait until I tell your mother. Aida will make her clean all the fish in the village for years for this. I daydream of swimming in the springs and scrubbing my skin clean, and the thought keeps me moving forward.
Luckily the rock walls don’t get any tighter, though I doubt the ease of passage is a good sign. It means something travels through here a lot, and I hope it’s nothing more than the naga. But I don’t hear any hissing. That assures me there are no traps, at least for now. Then the path diverges, coming to a fork, and I frown.
“Haime?”
“Milaye?” Her voice came from the right-hand path. It sounds clearer than ever, and I know she’s near.
Eyeing the left path, I tug my satchel forward and root out my bag of clamshells. I don’t want to spend the time searching it—leaving Haime alone any longer—but I don’t like having the trail at my back. Something could be lurking within. Instead, I sprinkle the clamshells on the ground. The thin shells aren’t common, but this is not a waste; they make a great alarm if stepped on. Placing them around a campsite at night can be what saves you from a predator sneaking up while resting. The sound startles them, and you.
Moments later, I’m heading toward Haime, and the tightness in my chest eases when I hear her breathing.
“Watch out, there’s a ledge,” she says just as the tight walls enveloping me vanish and my torch illuminates a drop-off. Haime emerges below, blinking several times from the torchlight. The edge is steep and smooth, as if at one point, it’d been eroded by water.
Getting on my knees, I place the torch and dagger on the stone beside me.
“Are you okay?” I ask, reaching down.
“I think so…” Haime grasps my hand but lowers her head. “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“Look at me,” I order, waiting until she does. There’s shame etched across her face, but I refuse to let it get to me. My lips flatten as I try to haul her up. She’s resisting. “We’ll talk about this once we’re outside. An apology wouldn’t have saved you if you’d been attacked, or if I hadn’t found the hole.” I try to lift her again. “Why aren’t you helping me?”
Haime blinks at me. There’s a sheen in her pupils. “The naga boy is down here.”
I stiffen, and my free hand finds my dagger. Peering out into the darkness, I see nothing even with the halo of torchlight. I hear nothing but Haime. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something there though. “Where?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I lost him. I was able to see until I came in here, and then something happened…”
“What happened?” I grip her harder. “Wait. Let’s get out of here, then we’ll talk.” I don’t like this. Haime can see well in the dark, but if she’s as blind as I am right now… that’s frightening. The dragon blood in her veins makes her different than any human. Despite her appearance, which makes her differences obvious, Haime is stronger, keener, and has sharper senses than any child I know.
I try to pull her up, but she resists me again. “Haime,” I say her name in warning, edging closer to her. My hip bone bumps precariously against the ledge
“I can see again now there’s light. I can’t leave him.”
“We have to go.”
“But he’s alone and hungry.”
“You don’t know that for sure. Come, the torch won’t last forever, and it’ll be harder to get out of here without it. Trekking through the jungle at night is far more dangerous, and we’re running out of daylight.”
“No!” She rips her hand from mine, pulling with such force I fall forward. “We can’t leave him!”
A cry tears from my throat as I land, full frontal, on the cave floor below, partially on Haime herself. She’s beneath me, crawling out from under me, crying, as shocked tears fill my eyes. With my arms shielding my face, I groan as Haime flips me over and climbs over me.
“Milaye? Milaye! I’m so sorry!” She shakes me ferociously, her childish voice heightened with fear. “Milly! Please get up.”
My hands fall off my face and I moan, feeling the pain pulse through my arms, my knees.
“Milaye? We need to find the boy.”
I moan again, trying to sit up. I press my palms to my brow, hard. “Nooo,” I croak. She shuffles back from me. I slowly drop my hands down.
“We have too!”
“Haime…” My vision wavers.
I reach out for her, weakly, but she scoots back. Everything turns to a blur.
“Smells strange in here. It smells like hurt—pain. He’s in pain,” she whimpers.
“Haime. Don’t,” I beg weakly as I try to grab her, but she’s no longer there. “Haime!” I shout as I hear her scurry off into the darkness. I nearly fall over but catch myself before I do. Worry careens through me. It was always there, even after I found her, but with the fall, I’m disoriented.
If something should attack, I’d be an easy target. Get up.
She’s an easier target.
Get up!
I call Haime’s name again as I rise to my feet. My toes curl with the effort, and I brace my palm against the rocky ledge to keep me from falling. Thank the waters for the torchlight above, it keeps me balanced.
When I’m certain nothing is broken, only bruised, I reach up, grabbing at the ledge until I find my dagger. With it back in my hand, I’m a little less scared.
Scared?
I can’t believe it, but there’s fear. I’m in a situation I’m not prepared for, and Haime’s run off again. I wrench my eyes closed and shake my head before opening them, peering into the dark. Swallowing, I know I have to venture further into it.
Haime said she couldn’t see without the light.
