The Crossing (Book 1)

Chapter 6

     Parting the curtain of dangling branches with his hands, Brae closed his eyes and said a silent plea that when he opened them, he would be able to walk into a secret passage that would lead him to the girl in his dream. Opening his eyes, Brae's face fell and his whole body felt as if he had been punched repeatedly in the gut as he stood feeling complete disappointment. Nothing but the cave wall was in front of him. Brae's heart sank to the pit of his stomach before he remembered what Crina had said Aunt Trill told her. He repeated what she said out loud, "'Go and then bring what you find to me' has to mean that it's here, that she's here." Brae looked around and let the branches fall back into place. Turning his back on the branches he closed his eyes and thought back to his dream. Brae had been looking at the girl when he walked backward into the passage. Looking all around Brae moved to the spot where he had been standing in his dream. He closed his eyes again and walked backward, feeling the branches and leaves softly slide over his shoulders. A few more steps and he stopped, not moving as he remembered the girl's hand peeking through the branches.

     Brae smiled at the memory of her, opened his eyes and then looked around, gently laughing when he saw that he was standing in the entrance of the passage. Even looking straight at it he couldn't see it and now that he was standing in it, he was still dumbstruck that there was really a hidden passage. Brae turned in every direction but trying to see inside the passage was next to impossible without light.

     "Flame."

     Brae held his hand up in front of him and slowly a flame began to rise from his palm, lighting the passage he had been hoping was real and revealing all the paintings that he had studied with the girl in his dream. Walking as quickly as he could down the path didn't get him to her fast enough. Brae felt as though he had been walking for hours when the path started to narrow. The dirt on the ground didn't start to slide as it had in Brae's dream. As he came to the edge of the passage he peered down into the chamber and saw that he had to jump to the ground below, so keeling down he put his free hand on the edge and jumped down into the hidden chamber. Brae squinted his eyes, trying to see into the darkness surrounding him but couldn't see past the small circle of light generated from the flame in his hand. Turning back toward the passage he raised his hand with the flame and grabbed the edge of the opening.

     "Fire."

     The single flame erupted into a fire that surrounded the doorway and lit the entire chamber. If not for all the paintings that filled the cave walls no one would ever believe that anything or anyone had ever been down in this chamber. Brae looked around at the empty room in utter amazement that his Aunt Trill had been wrong until he noticed something caught in the roots of the tree. Walking over and pulling it free, Brae spread it out in front of him. He frowned as he felt the fabric between his fingertips. He was certain that he was holding her shirt, although she had been wearing it around her waist. A lingering scent remained on the shirt that Brae immediately recognized from his dream. He lifted the shirt to his nose and made a full circle in the chamber. "Where are you?" The scent of honey and vanilla invaded his senses as Brae began to panic.

     Tossing the shirt back on the tree roots, Brae turned and desperately began looking at the cave walls for another hidden passage. His dream had ended after she had been pulled free from the tree roots, leaving him no clue as to where she could have disappeared to. Running over to the wall closest to where he found her shirt Brae frantically searched, running his hands along every inch of the wall to feel for something he might not see. He was certain she was here, hidden somewhere and scared, maybe worse. Brae knew he was getting closer as the panic intensified and his breathing became deeper and more labored. He felt as if his heart was going to explode from his chest. Finally, Brae came to a rounded corner across from the tree roots and saw a crevice in the wall.