Читать книгу Divine by Blood - P.C. Cast, P.C. Cast - Страница 19

“Ready?” The guide spoke right to her, his brilliant blue eyes meeting her gaze. Morrigan nodded her head. “Excellent,” he said. “Oh, I forgot to formally introduce myself. My name is Kyle, and I will be your guide today.” Even though he seemed to be speaking just to Morrigan, several people in the group laughed and called, “Hello, Kyle,” while he turned his back to them and used a key to unlock a little metal box and flip a series of switches. Instantly, the cavern was bathed in white lights.

A surge of annoyance made Morrigan forget about the hot guide. The lighting was wrong. It was too harsh—too white—too impersonal. The inside of the earth should be illuminated with softness. With glowing rocks or sweetly licking flame…

“Jeesh, Morgie, quit staring and come on!” Lori grabbed her arm and pulled as she jostled past her.

Morrigan shrugged off Lori’s arm and moved ahead until she was at the front of the group again. The guide stopped not far inside the cave. They’d come to a room that was huge, littered on either side of the iron-railed trail with enormous sections of large, flat rock. Before the guide began to speak, Morrigan knew. “This is the deepest part of the cave.”

“You’re absolutely right!” Kyle smiled at her. Completely taking Morrigan off guard, she smiled nervously back at him. Until then she’d had no idea she’d spoken aloud the thought that had been whispered into her mind. Then she was further surprised to see Mr. Gorgeous Guide blush, like her smile had disarmed him, and turn hastily back to address the rest of the group. “As the young lady said, we are now at the deepest part of the cavern. From floor to ceiling it measures fifty feet, which puts us at about eighty feet under the surface.”

Young lady? Morrigan thought. He doesn’t look much older than me.

Beside her, Lori hugged herself and whispered, “It’s too creepy for words thinking about being eighty feet under the ground. God, talk about a deep grave.”

“No, it’s not like that at all,” Morrigan responded automatically, eyes scanning the magical place. “It’s not creepy. It’s beautiful and perfectly safe.”

Safe? Why had she said that?

Lori turned her attention to Kyle the Hot Guide. “Hey, Kyle. My friend says the cave is perfectly safe. What do you say?”

“Well, it’s not one hundred percent safe.” All the people in the group, except for Morrigan, shifted restlessly at this, so he added hastily, “Oh, you’re safe enough with me today. But the truth is that those huge slabs of gypsum that litter the floor around the entrance, and those there and there—” he pointed to giant clumps of rock off the side of the trail “—they all fell from the ceiling of the cave. The last time we had rock break loose was just this past December. Thankfully, the cave was closed for Christmas.”

“How do you know none of it will fall on us today?” Lori asked.

“We have monitors checking the ceiling daily. If anything is loose, we close that area of the cave. Nothing’s been loose since December.”

One of the middle-aged men in the group, the one with the big gut, snorted. “You’re, what, all of eighteen? Shouldn’t we check with someone else, like your boss, before we go any farther?”

Morrigan thought Kyle would blush and fidget, but was impressed when he turned a steady gaze on the old guy. “Sir, I am the boss, or rather the most senior member of the team here. I’ve been employed at the park for six years. Currently, I’m finishing up the fieldwork for my master’s in geology. Don’t worry, you’re as safe as you can possibly be.”

“Oh, well then…” The fat guy looked embarrassed and the women in the party all looked smug, clearly choosing the gorgeous young geologist over Mr. Fatty.

Morrigan wanted to say I told ya so, but then again Kyle hadn’t agreed with her one hundred percent.

It is always safe for those who have an affinity for the earth…if the rocks speak to you and tell you when and where they will fall…

Uncharacteristically, Morrigan listened to the voice that sloughed through the winds of her mind. Here in the womb of the earth the voice seemed maternal, harmless, even nurturing. And she felt so right here—so like she belonged. Maybe the earth herself was insulating her from the whispers of the dark god. Maybe here she could be sure she was only hearing the sound of her mother’s voice.

“Right around this corner is what we like to call the Encampment Room.” The line had begun to move again and Kyle had flipped on another set of abrasive artificial lights. “It would make sense if people had used this cave as shelter—although we haven’t found any evidence of ancient occupation—that they would probably have camped here. It’s close enough to the entrance to be easily accessible. The floor is flat. You can see the walls have formed in such a way that they’re perfect for shelves. And a stream runs here on the other side of the room, bringing in fresh water.”

“Bleck. Camp here? It’s way too cold.” Lori shivered. “It would make something as gross as camping even grosser.”

“Actually, the temperature inside the cave stays at a fairly consistent sixty degrees. It only fluctuates about five degrees either way, and that only in the middle of winter or summer,” Kyle explained.

“Still means cold and creepy to me,” Lori muttered.

Lori’s complaint made Morrigan realize that everyone else had put on jackets or sweatshirts. Even Kyle wore a khaki-colored jacket with the Alabaster Caverns State Park logo on the pocket. She was still holding her sweatshirt. She hadn’t been cold at all. As usual feeling weirdly out of sync with everyone else, Morrigan hastily tied the unneeded sweatshirt around her shoulders.

“Okay, that rock is really pretty,” Gena said. “It almost makes me forget that bats live down here.”

Morrigan followed Gena’s pointing finger to see a huge roundish stone onto which a pink spotlight was shining. The boulder glittered in the gaudy light. Morrigan thought it looked like something that should be decorating Dollywood.

“That is the largest freestanding boulder in the cave made completely of selenite.”

“It’s not supposed to be pink,” Morrigan heard herself say, and then she pressed her lips together. She was probably annoying the hell out of the cute guide.

Kyle gave her a surprised look that lacked any hint of irritation. “You’re right, selenite isn’t pink. That’s just our creative lighting. If you get closer to it, or look around at the rear side, you’ll see that selenite is a clear crystal, like glass. Actually, it’s so clear and easy to cut that settlers used sheets of it as windows in their homesteads.”

Without waiting for permission, Morrigan stepped off the well-marked pathway to look at the unlighted side of the boulder. She could easily see the clear brilliance of the glasslike stone. She touched it. The rock was soft and cool. Morrigan laid her palm flat against the surface. “You really are beautiful. You don’t need that stupid pink light,” she whispered.

The surface of the rock quivered like the skin of an animal.

Welcome, Light Bringer…

The words weren’t in the wind around her, as were the familiar voices she’d been hearing as long as she could remember. The words somehow traveled through her palm, through her skin, soaking into her body. Morrigan let out a little yelp and stepped back so quickly that her foot slid over the damp floor and she had to windmill her arms to keep from falling on her butt.

A strong hand caught her arm, steadying her. “Careful, it’s slick in here, especially if you move off the pathway.”

Thoroughly shaken, Morrigan did little more than nod and mutter a belated thanks as Kyle pulled her back on the path, smiled shyly at her and then motioned for the group to follow him forward.

“Okay, that Kyle cutie is tall and blond and delicious. Excellent job of getting him to notice you by playing damsel in distress,” Gena whispered to her.

Morrigan’s body followed Gena but her mind was buzzing with disbelief. What was going on? She couldn’t have really felt the rock move. The voice couldn’t have been anything except what she’d been hearing since she was a kid. Or had she finally let all the weirdness get to her and gone totally, one hundred percent nuts? Which meant she should be packing for Laureate psycho hospital instead of OSU.

By the time Morrigan caught up with the front of the group Kyle had stopped them in a place where the cave widened out again. He waited until everyone was looking expectantly at him.

The dome…

The words flitted through Morrigan’s mind just before Kyle pointed his flashlight up.

“This is the first of several domes in the cave. Notice that it is easy to see from the grooves and patterns left on the rock that the domes were created by whirlpools. At one time this cave was filled with water. Over the years it carved out the unique shape of the cave. Of course today all that is left of the once raging river is a shallow, glassy lake you’ll see later in the tour and this little stream that trickles parallel to our path.”

Morrigan thought the dome looked as if it had been shaped by a giant ice-cream scoop digging into the selenite-embedded alabaster ceiling. It was beautiful and mysterious, but somehow familiar. How could that be? It was like she’d known it would be there before Kyle had drawn their attention to it. But she’d never been in this cave—any cave—before now.

Staring up, Morrigan wandered to the edge of the pathway where the smooth wall was peppered with selenite crystals. She wanted to run her hand over the glistening surface. Actually, she felt compelled to touch it. But she hesitated, afraid and eager at the same time.

Discover the truth.

Morrigan was immeasurably relieved when she heard the whisper in the air around her; though she did appreciate the irony in feeling relief about something that had haunted her since she was a child. To her it still seemed the voice in the wind was more clearly maternal than usual. And she was relieved that it was in the air and not traveling through the skin of the cave. Or was she? There had been something infinitely compelling about that “other” voice—the one that had come from the selenite rock.

“This is my favorite part of the tour.” The humor in Kyle’s voice tugged at Morrigan’s attention. She turned so that she could see him standing with the rest of the group near one of the metal light-switch boxes. “We are going to experience complete dark. It’ll only last for sixty seconds, but it will be a long minute. The eye needs light to function properly. If you were to live in the dark for six weeks, you would go blind. Let’s get a little taste of that now!” With a click, Kyle flipped off the lights.

The darkness was utter and impenetrable.

Little squeals of semi-pretended fear came from the group. Morrigan definitely recognized Gena’s shriek. And there was the furtive rustling of people grabbing onto whoever stood beside them. Slowly, like she was moving through water, Morrigan turned blindly to the wall.

She felt no fear. In the complete dark her senses seemed to expand. Her body felt liquid, and she imagined she could be absorbed into the cave and merge with the glasslike crystals.

Morrigan realized the thought should have scared her, but it didn’t. Not at all.

She reached out her hand and pressed it against the cool surface of the cave wall. She could feel the crystal selenite where it mixed with the smoother, softer alabaster, and was amazed that even though she could see absolutely nothing she could tell which rock was which. Then against her palm she felt a stirring, the same type of movement she had felt when she’d touched the crystal boulder.

Light Bringer…

The name shivered through the selenite crystals, passing into her body like a current of sound. This time she didn’t pull away. Curiosity held her captive. Morrigan’s hand began to feel warm, and as the lights snapped back on she was staring at her hand where it rested against the cave wall.

The selenite crystals under her palm had begun to glow.

Morrigan pulled her hand from the wall and stuffed it into the front pocket of her jeans. The crystal flickered then went dark again.

“I told you this place was creepy,” Lori said, rushing up to Morrigan. “No freaking way would I ever want to get stuck down here. I cannot believe you didn’t scream your brains out when he shut off the lights and you were standing over here all by yourself.”

Morrigan moved her shoulders. “No big deal. I mean, he said it was only going to last for sixty seconds.” Trying to sound normal, she said, “My bikini wax last week lasted longer and was scarier.”

Lori laughed and Morrigan tried to relax. Gena and Jaime joined them and the four girls followed the group continuing down the path.

“I swear to God I was sure a bat was going to fly into my hair when he turned off the lights,” Gena was saying breathlessly.

“I’m cold,” Jaime said. “I wonder how long this thing is.”

“The path is about a quarter of a mile,” Morrigan said absently, and then wondered how the hell she knew that. Thankfully, everyone else was used to her knowing stuff about the outdoors, so no one noticed her extrasensory knowledge.

“Good. Then we won’t be down here too much longer,” Lori said.

“Was that a bat?” Gena was squinting up at another dome formation in the ceiling. “I think I just saw a bat.”

Morrigan tuned out their chatter. As often as she could she let her fingertips trail over the smooth, damp side of the cave. Whenever her skin touched selenite she felt a zap of heat. She absolutely, definitely felt something within the rock that she could only describe as sentience. The cave was alive and by some amazing miracle it recognized her. It called her Light Bringer. As she walked the rest of the path, slowly bringing up the rear, she felt as if she had left Oklahoma and entered another world—and this time it was a world in which she belonged.

But how could that be? How could she feel at home in an f-ing cave? It didn’t make any sense, but then neither did hearing voices or making fire sprout from her hand. Morrigan realized it was getting warmer. They must be coming to the exit from the cave. Reluctantly, she moved up with the rest of the group where they had stopped beside Kyle.

“The modern exit from the cave is there.” He pointed to where the cave path turned gently to the left. “But that’s a man-made exit. Before that was built, the exit was through there.” Kyle aimed his flashlight down a small tunnel that branched off from the main pathway. “To exit the old way, people had to duck and squeeze through there. They went most of the way on their hands and knees, and sometimes they even had to crawl.”

“Eew,” Gena said. “Talk about claustrophobia. I’d rather turn around and go out the in than do that.”

Kyle chuckled. “Thanks to modern engineering, you don’t have to do either.”

“Can we take the old exit if we want?” This time Morrigan meant to speak aloud. Everyone turned and stared at her. The looks on her three friends’ faces were predictably horrified. She didn’t bother with them, though. She kept her gaze steady on Kyle’s blue eyes.

“Don’t you think it would be claustrophobic and tomblike in there?” He shined his flashlight down the narrow tunnel again.

“No,” Morrigan said firmly. “I think it’s perfect the way nature made it and I’d like to use the original exit.” A quick thought made her rummage through her purse for the flashlight. “And I have this.”

Kyle smiled. “Sure, go ahead. I usually take that exit when I’m not leading a group. You’re small enough that you shouldn’t even have to crawl—hands and knees should do it for you.” He glanced at the rest of the group. “Anyone want to join Miss Adventurous?”

There were muffled laughs and lots of heads shaking. Lori started to open her mouth to protest, but Morrigan ignored her, flipping on her flashlight and striding past her gawking friends.

“Just keep your flashlight on and keep moving forward. It’s really not very far. You’ll meet us about twenty-five feet from here just before the rear opening.” He grinned, which made him look like a really cute but mischievous twelve-year-old. “Have fun.”

“Thanks, I will.” Morrigan smiled back at him, wondering how old he was. At first he’d seemed way young, but he’d told the potbellied guy that he was finishing his master’s. That made him twenty-something, didn’t it? She hoped he was older. Young guys gave her a headache. The last guy she’d dated had been nineteen—of course, he’d acted like he was thirteen, but that had been no big surprise. If she felt years older than her girlfriends, she felt centuries older than the guys they hung out with.

“Are you changing your mind? It’s okay, you know.”

Morrigan jumped, realizing she’d been standing there holding her flashlight, staring into the tunnel and daydreaming about guys. No wonder she hadn’t had a date in months. She was truly a dork. And an overly mature dork at that.

“Oh, no! No. I’m not changing my mind. I was just waiting for you to tell me I could go ahead.”

“Oh.” He blushed again, and Morrigan thought his pink cheeks made him look adorable. “You can go ahead.”

“Good. Okay. See you on the other side.” Morrigan got on her hands and knees and, flipping the flashlight on, crawled into the tunnel and away from the group’s curious stares.