Eight of Hearts: The Vision - Book 2

Chapter 28

Shyla watched as Flora hurried out of sight. Her display of magic had been impressive, but something about her stubborn insistence to not abandon Bryce was even more so. Even with the fatigue that weighed her down, and the fear that made her legs tremble, she had a hidden fortitude that Shyla couldn't help but admire.

Why had she been so jealous of Flora? Until just a few minutes ago, she had been just a girl--more of a child than an adult. But despite that, she had stuck with them every step of the way. She had overcome her own weakness several times already, and had so much more room to grow. And more than that, she had a conviction that Shyla knew she could never emulate. Not as long as she was torn between her two opposing memories.

Behind her, Rocky cursed. "Come on, we have to go," he shouted at her.

Shyla shook her head to clear her thoughts, then turned to face Rocky. "Okay, how do we get out of here?"

Rocky shuffled stiffly over to the far corner of the room, where a large locker lay on it's side. "There's a hidden passage behind here that Peter installed in case the main passage was compromised," he said, smacking the locker with his hand. "It should lead to the lower levels--provided Kaya didn't destroy it. I should warn you though, it's going to be a tight squeeze."

In moments, the Lost had the locker moved aside, revealing a passageway six feet wide, but only two feet tall. Right, Shyla thought, this whole place is on its side. A cold sweat dripped down her back at the sight, and she began trembling all over at the thought of crawling through the small gap.

She didn't recognize the emotion at first. After all, she had gone through many tunnel exploration exercises during her training, just for situations like this. But as the panic welled inside her, she realized what was causing it: her other life bore an intense claustrophobia. Her mind was overloaded with visions of the low ceiling slowly descending to...

Shyla shivered. "Oh...you ah...you go on ahead." She tried to act casual, but she couldn't keep the tension from her voice completely. "I'll...go last. You know, just in case."

"Suit yourself, miss," Rocky said as he began shepherding the others one by one through the small crevice.

The room emptied out quickly, until only she and Rocky remained. Cecil must have gone through while she wasn't looking because she didn't see him around. That was probably for the best, because she didn't want anyone she knew to see her like this.

"Last chance," Rocky said, gesturing to the crevice. "I'm going to be much slower, so you should probably go first."

"That's even more of a reason for you to go ahead," Shyla said with a forced smile.

"Alright, fine," Rocky said. "Let's just get this over with." He lay on his stomach before the opening, his injured arm resting loosely by his side. Then he began to painfully drag himself through with his good arm.

Shyla waited until he was out of sight, then she quickly grabbed hold of the heavy locker and scooted it over the opening. She sank to her knees as the tension drained from her body. She felt exhausted just from holding up the façade of bravery in front of the others. Now she trembled, weak and fatigued.

"I'm sorry," She muttered aloud, though she knew nobody could hear her. "I'd rather face a hundred beasts than go through there."

She was being irrational, she knew; her face burned with shame at the thought of her fellow HDSF agents seeing her turn away from something so minor. But she knew her heart might very well stop if she had tried.

The only problem was, now what should she do? She turned to look back at the tunnel that Flora had gone through, and she remembered her final words: "I won't let him die alone."