Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?”
“Arming you with my rifle. It’s the deadliest one we own, designed to kill large, dangerous game.”
“You’re overreacting.”
I don’t feel comfortable taking his gun, but he shoots me a look that makes me wither.
“Three rounds, love. If you aim true, you’ll only need one.” He adjusts my goggles, clearing the lenses. “It has a mean kick when you fire. Be ready for it.”
“Okay.”
“It’ll knock you on your ass.”
“I’ll be ready.”
“There’s a sharp drop just beyond the entrance of the cave. Watch your footing. Stay alert. Don’t leave that cave until I return. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
He stares for an unnerving second, his face stark behind the goggles. “When I tell you I love you, it isn’t out of habit or because I think you need to hear it. I say it to remind the world that you’re irreplaceable, and it will suffer my eternal goddamn wrath if anything happens to you.”
“Savage.” My stomach swoops.
“That’s how I love you.”
“With eternal goddamn wrath.” I grin.
“Forever.”
“I know.”
“I’ll hurry.” Another kiss, quick and unhappy, and he steps back.
Before he can change his mind, I race to the cave and skid into the entrance, still in his sight. He hasn’t moved, watching through the flurry, ensuring I made it.
My fierce protector in this brutal land.
“Be safe,” I shout over the wind and enter the mouth of the cave.
Whoa, that’s a sharp descent. I slide all the way down, wheeling my arms and somehow staying upright as the sudden plunge into darkness swallows me whole.
I remove my goggles, grab the small lantern, and light the wick, its glow a feeble defense against the pressing gloom.
The first thing that strikes me is the bottomless silence, broken only by the sorrowful drip of meltwater and the distant echo of the river behind me. The air, so crisp and cold, carries a purity found only in pristine environments, untouched by human presence.
My breath forms clouds, drifting upward, mingling with the cave’s frigid exhale.
The walls, ceiling, and floor are sheathed in ice, varying in color from the purest white to the deepest shades of blue. The hues shift and change with the cave’s curvature and the light’s angle, generating a multifaceted spectacle.
Icicles hang from above like crystalline chandeliers. Stalagmites and stalactites of ice rise and descend in frozen mimicry of their limestone counterparts.
Despite the beauty, a chilling sense of danger trickles from every shadowed crevice.
Am I alone? Bears, wolves—they’re out there, or in here, masters of a domain where I’m the intruder.
The rifle slung over my shoulder is a cold comfort, its weight a reminder that, without Leo, a bullet may be the only thing standing between life and death.
If bears hibernate in this cave, he would’ve told me, right?
I push deeper, lantern held high, casting long, wandering shadows. The ground, layered in permafrost and accumulated snow, crunches softly underfoot. In some areas, transparent ice reveals the depths below, offering a glimpse into the deep, frozen tiers of history encapsulated within.
The cave narrows, forcing me to squeeze through gaps that scrape at my coat and tug at my hair. My heart races, pounding against my ribs like it wants out. Every rustle, every shift of ice sets it fluttering like a caged butterfly desperate for the sky.
Beneath its wings lies the answers you seek in a cage of ice and echoes.
The words play over in my mind as I creep deeper, no longer able to hear the river.
“Beneath its wings…” I scan the glacial walls, searching for…what? A literal cage? A chamber of echoes? Something encased in ice? Maybe the lost ark? Or the deathly hallows? My thoughts run rampant with possibilities, each more fantastical than the last.
A fully charged satellite phone would be life-changing. Or a treasure trove of canned food.
Knowing Denver, it’s probably a frozen corpse trapped in a coffin of ice. Hopefully not his elusive unnamed brother.
The walls stand silent, guardians of the answers I seek, their surfaces glinting like blue and white jewels.
The lantern’s glow, dim and faltering, becomes my sole lifeline through the cavern’s depths. As the light filters through cracks and openings, it scatters, creating an ethereal glow that illuminates the surroundings with a soft, diffuse luminosity, revealing intricate patterns from air bubbles trapped eons ago to delicate frostwork that adorns the surfaces.
Despite the thick gloves, my hands are achingly numb as I probe crevices and underhangs, tearing at the frozen veil that separates me from the answers.
Distanced from time and weather, I don’t know what’s happening outside or how long I’ve been gone. I keep moving, combing through the maze, my steps echoing off the ice. The symbolism isn’t lost on me.
The cold bites at my flesh. Shadows twist around me, specters conjured by my flickering light, their forms melding with the ice, playing tricks on my eyes.
Frustration mounts with each passing moment, each dead end. The riddle that once seemed within reach now feels like it’s slipping through my frozen fingers.