Without the slope to aid us, we didn’t advance as quickly. I kept the flashlight trained on the passage ahead of us, and it gradually curved to the right. That was it for variations in the scenery. The tunnel otherwise remained the same perfect circle. I guessed Eleriss and Jakatra had run into some particularly hard stone or a terrain feature they’d had to go around.
It was still chilly down here—even if they’d burned through the rock to make the tunnels, the walls had since cooled—but traveling horizontally took more effort, and I had to pause a few times to wipe sweat out of my eyes. It occurred to me that with the only exit guarded, we were stuck down here until the riders left with their sword, and the monster took off after them. If something happened to them, and they didn’t—or couldn’t—leave, how long would that creature wait out there? We had no chance of outrunning it on foot, or in kayaks, not when it could cover ground as rapidly as our van.
I wiped my eyes again. I needed to stop thinking about this stuff.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked to distract myself—and because it’d grown apparent that the tunnel would go on for a while.
“Yes,” Temi said.
“Why didn’t you ever email or write home after you left?”
Out of all the things I could have brought up, I don’t know why I chose that. Maybe it was one of those things, like putting one’s will in order. I wanted it resolved... just in case. Besides, I’d keep feeling awkward when I was alone with her until I knew what she thought about back then.
After a long moment, Temi said, “My parting with my parents was so... uncomfortable that it soured me on everything back home. I didn’t keep in touch with anyone.”
So because her parents had been jerks about her dreams, she’d decided to ignore her best friend for the next ten years? It sounded like a half-truth. Maybe I should have let it go, but I wanted to clear the air. Somehow it seemed easier here, where I didn’t have to look her in the eye because I was busy crawling down a tunnel. I wondered if that made me strange.
“If it was at all because of me,” I said, “I want to say I’m sorry for that last night. It was kind of... impulsive. It didn’t really mean... I don’t know. I was just a dumb kid, you know?”
The silence that followed my fumbled words made me wince. I shouldn’t have brought this up. Bad timing.
“What are you talking about?” Temi finally asked.
Now I was the one who didn’t speak for a moment. She couldn’t possibly not know what I was talking about, could she? “That last night we hung out before you left, and we went walking out to the canyon in the moonlight.”
“Yea...”
“Well, I kissed you, right?” I said in a rush. “That’s what I’m talking about. I thought it might have offended you or made you think I was nuts and not want to talk to me again because you were afraid I’d... I mean, I wouldn’t. It was like I said, an impulse. I, uhm, date guys now.” We could have been crawling through a volcano tube full of molten lava and my cheeks wouldn’t have been any hotter. I resolved to stop talking before I made myself more uncomfortable, if that was possible.
“Oh,” Temi said, the single syllable doing nothing to relieve the awkwardness cloaking me.
I told myself not to say anything else. I’d uttered what I’d needed to. Time to drop it and pay attention to what we were doing. The sound of trickling water had grown louder. I hoped that meant we’d reach our destination soon, whatever that destination might be.
“I’m not sure how to say this in a way that won’t be insulting,” Temi said, “but...”
I cringed, certain the answer would slay me.
“I don’t remember that,” Temi finished.#p#分页标题#e#
For the first time, I stopped and turned to face her. “You don’t remember it?”
Temi spread a hand. “I mean, I guess I do, but I didn’t really think anything of it at the time, and I’d forgotten about it until now. Mainly what I remember from that night was going over and over in my head whether to run away from home. I appreciate that you were there... but I was so focused on myself that I don’t remember anything you said. Or much of what you did, I guess.”
I managed to wait until my back was to her again to roll my eyes. All this time, I’d wondered if I’d irrevocably offended her, and she didn’t remember it. Unbelievable. I continued down the tunnel. Well, as clear as the air was now, I ought to be able to shoot straight bull’s-eyes with my bow.
“I’m sorry I never wrote,” Temi said. “I meant to, but I was really busy and then it seemed like it’d been so long that I thought... I don’t know. I thought you’d think the way my parents did. That I was wasting my life smacking a little ball around a court. Yaiyai made a point of writing and telling me your SAT scores when you took them and that you were on your way to college. I had the distinct impression she wished you were her adopted granddaughter.”