Without further explanation, she takes off down the dark, mysterious middle fork, leaving Cami and me little choice but to follow.

After only a short distance, we’re far enough away from the dim torches lighting the rest of the underground system that there’s only pitch-black surrounding us. My heart thumps in my chest as I stumble gracelessly over bumps in the path, hissing softly with every jostle to my wounded leg. I trail my hands along the sides of the passage to help keep me from walking straight into one of the limestone walls, the tips of my fingers becoming grazed from the sandpapery surface. If not for Arryn’s order, I would have summoned a globe of light for us, but instead we’re as blind as bats down here.

I hear the scraping sound of someone tripping and catching their balance again, before Cami grumbles, “We’re going to break our necks.” But her voice is hushed, as if she, too, realizes that what we’re doing must be some kind of secret.

“Just keep moving in a straight line,” Arryn encourages. “We can’t risk a light yet. And please, be quiet so I can concentrate.”

Her use of “please” again worries me, since in our short acquaintance, she’s never shown such a level of civility toward us. But more than that, I’m struck silent by the glow that is now breaking into the darkness, a glow that seems to be coming from Arryn. It’s only slight, just enough to reveal that she’s come to a stop and her eyes are closed, her lips moving almost soundlessly.

Cami and I both pause before her, waiting, wondering.

Finally, Arryn’s lips stop moving as she opens her eyes again, and all goes dark around us once more.

“Okay, we’re good,” she says into the blackness.

“Good for what?” Cami asks, exasperated. “What are we doing here? I tried to explore this tunnel a few days ago, but I was told it’s a dead end, that it’s caved in and goes nowhere.”

“It is caved in,” Arryn says.

In the darkness, I can’t see her face, so there’s no way to read her expression and see if she’s just messing with us, if she’s been messing with us all along.

I have to shield my face when a flashlight is switched on, the beam so bright that it hurts my eyes. After a few blinks, I can see why we’ve stopped here: the path is indeed blocked by heavy boulders and rocky debris.

“How is this our exit?” I say, staring at the mess in front of us.

“First things first,” Arryn says, not answering me. With her free hand, she touches Cami’s bare forearm, before swiveling toward me and laying her fingers against my cheek.

Startled, I instinctively pull back, but she’s fast enough to stay with me as she quickly says just one word: “Heal.”

Light flashes around us and I feel a trickle of warmth flow through my body. All my aches fade, last night’s cuts and scratches vanishing in seconds. I don’t have to test my leg to know that it, too, has been completely healed, the wound sealed and throbbing no more.