Traveled: A Valkyrie Saga Book 4

Chapter 4 - Cave Conversations

Elijah's news of Ray was both energizing and terrifying. It was a relief to know what happened to her and that she is still alive, but knowing how close she came to dying and what kind of danger she is in now is making it hard to think of anything else. We can not lose Ray. The idea is too inconceivable to even think about. The supernatural world needed Ray. More than that, I ached for her.

Currently, we were driving in the dead of night to Las Vegas because we didn't want to tip off any of the remaining royals that we were leaving. Ransom and Noland from the Blade Clan were still watching our house, but they agreed to turn a blind eye when we explained that we were trying to find a way to help Ray. Elijah, Derik, and I were in the SUV with Pala while the twins followed in Blake's truck and Sean and Mathis drove their rental car. I would have gone with the twins but both of them had been incredibly hard to be around since Ray left. Connor wasn't even speaking and Blake would swing from happy and hopeful to angry and rude on a dime. In fact, we were all unpleasant to be around right now because we were all too worried about Ray to eat right or get some decent sleep. Something that I would guess would be changing now that we knew that we could visit Ray in our dreams.

If only I could turn off my brain long enough to sleep. But every time I closed my eyes I envisioned Ray cold and hungry in an abandoned cave on an uninhabited world, making sleep impossible.

But Ray was going to pull through this. I just knew it. Because the alternative was just not something I could cope with. Ray was going to make it home and I was going to help. All we had to do was convince someone we had never met before to take us through an unknown number of alternate universes. What could possibly go wrong?

–Max Nilsen

We caused an avalanche. That was something that I never thought I would be able to say. Nahuel's newly reignited fires must have melted any ice that had reformed during his sleep. The structurally unsound and melting lower layers of snow gave way in a terrifying creak and then the upper layers started to slide down the mountainside as they collapsed the layers below them. After the initial creak, there was this loud whump sound, and then Nahuel and I watched as a massive amount of snow slid past the cave opening. Seconds later a roaring thunder sound grew in intensity as the ground beneath us shook.

I was rather proud of myself for not reacting because being nearly naked in a cave under a freshly triggered avalanche was not something that I knew how to cope with. But other than when I jumped when it sounded like the cave might split in two, I think I handled this situation like a boss. I wasn't nearly as stoic as Nahuel, but at least I wasn't hysterically screaming or hyperventilating.

I am going to label this one as a win.

After the inhumanly loud thundering stopped it was eerily silent and I tore my gaze away from the cave opening to look at Nahuel. He mirrored my movements and we had a moment where we just stared at each other and thought did that actually just happen? Or at least that was what I was thinking. And then I decided that I had to see past the cave opening, this was just too unique of a situation not to. However, when I tried to gain my feet I found that my limbs were completely uncooperative and I ended up falling over into Nahuel's lap.

Nahuel's very naked lap.

He was quick to catch me and help me sit up while my brain was on exhausted overload. I didn't even know how to react right now. Thankfully, Nahuel didn't make the awkward situation any worse and stood up before practically lifting me to my feet. My legs didn't want to straighten and I had that pins and needles sensation but turned up to eleven. I did my best to suppress my whimper as Nahuel continued to support most of my weight.

"Go slow. Your muscles have been shocked by the extreme cold," Nahuel cautioned and I hoped that he was right. The other possibility was that I had severe frostbite and had done permanent damage to my muscles. I was no stranger to pain, but I had always been a physically fit person. I knew how to push through pain, I didn't know how to cope with weakness.