“Liam,” I said, starting toward him. Once again, Ethan’s hands gripped my arm, holding me in place. “What are you doing? We have to help him.”
He nodded toward the avalanche spreading down to the passageway. A fissure cracked straight through the center and Liam’s eyes widened in panic.
I screamed in horror as the stone gave way under his fingers, plunging him into the depths of the canyon below.
Liam would catch something to break his fall. He had to. Because no one could survive a fall like that. No amount of magic could undo those injuries.
I looked back at Ethan and the expression in his eyes shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. “No. No, no, no,” I said.
He swallowed, and the pity I saw in his expression undid me. “We have to go back, he’ll make it.”
“We need to get out of here, Al. You know that. Come on,” he said, holding out a hand for me.
I ignored it, but started moving forward. Away from the still crumbling passage. My whole body was going numb. If I could just get out of this cave, I could collapse and just let my emotions pull me under.
The sounds of destruction grew louder and we ran faster. The ground was quaking and shifting under our feet. I didn’t know what direction we were heading, but I just kept pushing forward blindly.
“Up there,” Ethan said, pointing to a spot of light at the end of the tunnel, high above the ground. Rocks were piled on top of one another, forming a hill.
We started climbing up, but the rocks were unstable and we slid down faster than we could climb. My foot caught on a wobbly stone, sending me tumbling back toward the cave. The rocks sliced into my skin where I crashed into them, until I finally rolled to a stop, landing so that my ankle was bent backward. Pain flared up my leg and I cried out. Ethan came sliding down the rocks until he was at my side.
His eyes scanned over my body, taking in my injuries. He froze when he saw how I held my ankle. “Is it broken?” he asked.
I sucked in a harsh breath. “I’m not sure. But we have to keep going.”
“Hold on to me,” he said and I grabbed his bicep as he helped me to my knees. The pain spasmed through me when I tried to put pressure on my right foot. I climbed on, favoring my left side while Ethan helped pull me up.
Once we made it to the top of the hill, I could see the blue sky of Tír na n’Óg through the opening. We climbed out, Ethan half carrying me, and stopped on the ridge to rest.
He pulled off my shoe and sock to examine my ankle, and let out a string of curses. I looked down. My foot had already turned a sickening blackish blue all the way to my pinky toe and was grotesquely swollen.
I closed my eyes and called out to Samantha in my mind. She didn’t answer. I just sat there, cold and stunned.
Ethan moved up to sit by my side and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I buried my face into his side, breathing in his familiar scent and letting it surround me.
“I don’t know what to do,” he whispered into my hair.
I shook my head and sighed. “It was all a sham. Saoirse knew what Aoife was up to. She even helped her. How could I have been so stupid?”
Ethan’s hand tightened on my shoulder. “You weren’t stupid. They had us both fooled.”
“I wonder if they all knew, even Niamh. And were all laughing at the stupid humans trying to go up against their kind.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, kissing my head.
“My mother,” I said with a sob. “If Liam’s gone, what’s going to happen to my mother?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Al. I just don’t know.”
I sucked in a sharp breath and pulled back, searching his eyes. Tears built in mine and I squeezed them shut. “Oh God. She’ll die of a broken heart. I’ll lose them both,” I said, a sob tearing through me.
“Shh,” he said, pulling my head down and cradling me to his chest.
Once I’d cried myself out, I lifted my head and sniffed. “We need to get away from here,” I said, wiping tears away.
Below the cave’s entrance, the gravel made way to a grassy hill. Ethan stood and helped me up. He draped my right arm over his shoulder and supported my weight as we walked down, away from the cave.
Two figures appeared in front of us. They moved so fast, all I could see was a blur. I was lifted off my good foot and when I blinked I was looking up into Aodhan’s concerned face.
“What’s happened?” he asked, eyes wide.
I turned my head and Ethan was staring at where I had been just a second ago. Niamh came to a stop beside where Aodhan held me in a cradle hold.
“How are you here?” I said to Niamh.
“My mother came and told us about a vision she’d had. She said we needed to come right away,” Niamh said and looked back up to Aodhan.