Soul-Bonded to the Alien(21)

“You fail.”

Turning around she walked the perimeter of the circle looking for a way to descend safely. There was no way. She dropped to the ground and started digging, looking for a hidden lever. It was taking too long, she got up and began to stomp hoping to find a spot that sounded hollow. Nothing. She meticulously covered the space of several yards around the pit.

She bent over the pit to see Cal on his knees, the glass ceiling lowered to the point where he could no longer stand. It was also much closer to the orange band. She couldn’t let him die, he didn’t deserve that.

Having no other choice she expanded her search looking for anything, an invisible door, a key, at this point she would take a leprechaun if he could get the job done. There was nothing, no way to stop his fate.

Knowing she had been gone too long, she ran to get back to him.

“You never run for anyone,” her snarky inner voice said.

“He’s worth running for.”

Now I’m talking to myself and answering myself. Maybe she was delusional and didn’t know it. She knelt at the edge of the pit looking down. Cal was now lying flat on the ground, the edge of the glass was touching the very top of the orange band. She sat down and put her head on her knees as she rocked back and forth. She lost, Cal would die.

Stiffening her spine she went to stand in front of Voyager.

“Tell me what to do to save his life,” her voice came out in a deadly rasp.

“I don’t know what you should do, Girly. I suggest you give up, at least that way you will get to leave alive. But I do have a question for you. Why are you looking for a physical answer when you’re in a spiritual place?”

“But…” She sputtered, then closed her mouth. “I don’t have any talents.”

“Don’t worry it will be over soon and then you won’t have to try anymore.”

Paige walked back over to the pit. She didn’t want Cal to suffer death by blades, no she wanted to wring his neck for being foolish enough to get trapped by vines! What was he thinking?

She looked up at the blades. If she could, she would build a cage, a Plexiglass cage around them to keep them from falling. Then she would slide that glass into an invisible track in the pit. Next she would place a ladder there for Cal to climb out.

She stopped, her head bent with silent tears flowing down her cheeks, he died because he put his faith in her.

Warm arms slid around her picking her up before his lips met her in a blazing kiss. She opened her wet eyes to find him alive and whole. She held onto him tightly, the tears of pain turning into tears of joy. She ran her hands down his arms and across his back, the miracle of life making her laugh in joy.

“You’re alive!” She planted kisses on his brows, cheeks any place she could reach. A lightness she never felt before almost losing him reminded her just how special he was. She kissed him again.

“Are the two of you going to stand around kissing all day or make a plan for your next step?”

“How did you manage to escape?” she asked, ignoring Voyager.

“You did it.”

“Did what?”

“Look up.”

Above their heads the knives were hanging having dropped several feet before being caught in a rough looking material. It wasn’t the smooth clear Plexiglass she wanted, but it was doing the job. She looked into the pit to find a ladder, if she could call it that, leaning against the side. She grimaced when she saw it before looking back at Cal.

“Don’t worry, Sunshine, I’ve climbed things a lot worse than that.”

“I’m not sure I did this.”

“You did it, you were the only one capable of doing it.”

“But I don’t know how I did it.” Was she whining? She hated whiners.

“One step at a time, Paige. You found a way to tap into your talents, right now we celebrate that and keep moving.”

She nodded her head before throwing a glare at Voyager who was standing on unsteady legs.

“You look tired, Voyager, maybe you should go home, get dinner.” She added a smile to take the sting out of the comment. The tension of the last minutes and then the relief were making her unbalanced.

“Are you telling me eating is more important than watching to see how you do in your trials? I’m disappointed in you, Girly.”

“I’m really not that interesting,” she mumbled.

He gave a rusty laugh, “Where to now?”

“Cal?” Paige turned to look at him.

“Pick a direction, Paige. I don’t really think it matters what direction we go in.”

“I say straight ahead then, at least we will be able to back track if we need to.”

They moved on with Paige staying close to Cal. The landscape became bleaker.