Steady Ground | ✔

Blooper Chapter

(This was the old Chapter 8, before I decided to change Ashe's purpose in the story!)

Ashe noticed immediately when Arrone and Atlas never came back.

She sat cross-legged in the back of the SUV with her model brought up on her laptop, but couldn't focus on it. She spun it in circles absently, glancing up every once in a while.

The crevice sat just at the edge of her vision. Stems of dead grass peaked up where the snow melted and massive shards of rock protruded from its surface. The low sun sent sharp shadows along the rock faces, ones that were easy to see even from her distance.

There was something wrong about the feeling in her chest. She never said what she had wanted to when Atlas had led their manager down there. Even if she had, she would've been brushed to the side, she knew.

She sighed, setting the laptop to the side.

At the very least, she could peek over the edge. If anyone asked, she'd tell them that she was just stretching her legs—why bother spreading her anxiety? It's not like any of them knew what had gone on in the first place, anyways.

Her feet crunched in the snow. The cold of the night had frozen the top layer of snow, and the weather never bothered to warm up again that day.

She did enjoy the serenity of the snowy chill in the air. It had been her favorite part of the trip so far. Although getting to see her model built before her eyes had been pretty exciting, too.

But she wasn't smiling about it now.

She licked her lips before she called out into the crevice. "Arrone?" She wasn't sure if she said it loud enough, but it didn't matter since she didn't see either of them yet anyway.

Ashe glanced behind her. No one had yet bothered to look her way. Honestly, she didn't really know why she didn't tell anyone when she started to climb once more.

The crevice was an odd thing. On the top, there were sharp edges and piled snow, but on the bottom, there were flat floors and ankle-deep water. Just like before, the oddity had been more of the reason to go down. She could've just kept calling from above with less risk. Afterall, aftershocks were still a possibility.

But she wanted to see the layers in the rocks, feel them get finer and wetter as she dragged her fingers along the bottom of the hole. She wanted to guess at its mysterious quality. The air grew warm against her skin, like she was standing back home in Asheville rather than in the middle of Alaska. The sweet, sweet scent of hydrangeas, like the ones beside her grandma's patio that she always thought were fake, led her forward, enticing and soothing in the air.

No.

She shook her head. The scent faded as she regained focus.

Walking with more urgency now, she hurried toward the end of the tunnel, her boots splashing in the melted snow.

Soon, she saw the rock. It was a bare, dull brown-orange color. She didn't see a single ray of light reflecting off of its surface, and even worse she hadn't caught a glimpse of her coworkers or heard their voices.

She tried once more. "Arrone? Atlas?"

Had they disappeared?

Ashe found herself staring at the rock, surrounded on all sides by an eerie silence and a bad feeling.

When she touched it the day before, she felt as if she could have kept walking, that she could have stepped out onto her parents' yard back home, the one she grew up in. Could she have? Is that what happened to them?