Then a creak echoed through the tunnel. It started off soft and slowly built louder.

I reached out, needing something to hold on to as I waited for the exit to appear, and Lucas grabbed my hand tight.

Oh my God. My heart raced. I found it. I actually found it.

Slowly, a crack formed between the crystals. It wasn’t a straight line. Instead, it followed the curvature of each individual crystal. Finally, the outline became visible.

This was it.

The door opened barely an inch, and then all was quiet.

I let go of Lucas’ hand, and pushed.

This time it swung open like it weighed nothing.

A breeze felt cool along my skin. There was a long staircase, but I could already see the pinks and oranges of the setting sun. I grinned. “We did it.”

“You did it,” Lucas said as he put his arm around my shoulder. His dark eyes sparkled in the light. “You did it.”

“I did, huh?”

“The tasty is no fun. No fun at all,” Gobble said before flying up into the sunlight. He wasn’t getting his deal from me. Not yet. And if all continued to go well, maybe not ever.

“Go on.” Lucas gave me a little push forward.

I started up the stairs. Excitement that we’d finally made it this far made my achy muscles a little bit more bearable. We hadn’t stopped much, but Lucas had occasionally handed me a bar to eat, some jerky, or a bit of dried fruit. I’d taken it and kept going. The urgency to help Raphael had never died down. Even with the exhaustion, I’d been so focused on finding the way that I hadn’t realized how much time had passed. “I can’t believe it’s been a full day.”

Lucas shook his head. “For a bit, I thought we might be sleeping in there.”

That was a terrifying thought. I never thought of myself as claustrophobic, but being deep in those tunnels had tested me nearly past my endurance. I wiped my sweaty forehead off on my damp T-shirt. “Well, it’s a good thing we don’t have to.”

When we finally stepped out and onto the grass, I was beyond tired. My thigh muscles quivered from the strain.

“We should set up camp and take a look at the map. See if we can figure out which way the temple is from here, and we’ll get started at first light.”

I knew we had to wait, but that didn’t help the pressure bearing down on me. I couldn’t feel Raphael at all anymore. He was beyond our twindar and I had no cell reception to check on him. “Let’s get set up then.”

“I know you want to keep going, but wandering around in the dark isn’t a good idea.”