“Looks can be deceiving,” she says as she grips the edges of the rock and slides it away.

Cami and I both suck in sharp breaths as Arryn proceeds to drop onto her stomach and worm her way into the crawl space. It’s so narrow that my hands turn clammy just from watching, but when Arryn’s legs have disappeared entirely, we hear her call after us to hurry up.

Sweat breaks out on my forehead. “Can’t I just, I don’t know, vanish this cave-in or something?” I call back, no part of me wanting to follow in Arryn’s wake.

“Sure,” her voice carries back. “If you want to bring the entire tunnel down on our heads, go for it.”

And I thought I couldn’t feel any worse about this.

I exchange a sober look with Cami, neither of us declaring the obvious—that I should avoid testing my power right now. Since I’m holding the flashlight, I gesture helplessly to my friend and say, “After you.”

It’s a delay tactic, since I could easily summon my own light and leave her the torch. But she doesn’t call me on it. Instead, her throat bobs and she nods, lowering herself to the ground and wriggling through the tight passage.

“Your turn, Lyss,” comes Arryn’s voice. It’s the first time I’ve heard her shorten my name. “Toss the flashlight through first so you can use both hands.”

I move to my knees and then onto my stomach, rolling the flashlight forward with as much force as I can, unsure of how far it needs to travel. But now that I’m in line with the rocky opening, I can see that it’s only about the length of two people. The relatively small distance is all that keeps me from panicking about the tons and tons of rock over my head—and how one small jostle in the wrong spot could send it all cascading down on me.

Nervous sweat continues to bead on my brow as I slide forward. I use my hands and feet as much as I can to propel my way through the narrow space, until I’m finally out the other side, covered in dust and grime, but otherwise unhurt.

Cami gives me a relieved smile, her face smeared with dirt, but Arryn just swoops by me and crawls back into the passage. I wipe my forehead and frown as I watch her disappear, wondering yet again if she’s just been messing with us. But when she returns, wriggling backward until she’s free from the confined space, I realize that she must have gone back for the rock, sliding it into place to keep the exit sealed and secret should anyone happen upon the cave-in during our absence.

“Right,” she says, standing to her feet and dusting off her hands. “Let’s do this.”

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT