Hidden Within [BOOK 1] | ✔️

Instinct

miss_madamee
|• you never gave up on me, even when I did •|

"How far?" Yawned Dianne. "Are you sure about the coordinates?" Lyra nodded and paced on, her heart beating faster than she expected.

This is it, this is the end.

She sucked in a breath before glancing at Lincoln. He looked at her at the same time, their gazes colliding, their hearts beating faster and faster, almost running. Lincoln slid his hand into hers and squeezed it, their intertwined fingers rubbed against each other, sending shivers through their spines.

"It'll be alright," he said, enough to make her believe that she was in the right. "We'll make to the end."

"Together?" Lyra asked.

Lincoln brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "Always."

"Aww, my little love birds," cooed Croy. "May death do you apart." He blinked a few times and pretended to wipe away a tear.

"Oh shut up, Croy." Lincoln retorted with the widest smile Lyra had ever seen on his thin lips. It made her smile too.

"Yeah yeah, mans blushing, I see," sniggered Croy. "Don't start fainting on each other next." River joined his taunts as Axixa rolled her eyes.

"How much further?" Dianne whined.

Lincoln glared at Dianne. "That's my line, how dare you steal it!"

"Whatever." She snorted as Amybeth giggled. "Lyra, how long?"

"Just about..." Lyra watched the green dot curve around the bushes as she moved. "Here." They all followed her gaze to the left.

Dark green leaves hung above the entrance, they cast droopy shadows on the rock surface below their feet. The green hid the ancient cracks on the rocks. Within the small cracks, water gushed down and disappeared into the stream behind it. Lincoln blushes his hands along the surface, just before his eyes met the engraving on the stone.

This is an entrance, one without exits.

He let his fingers hover on the cursive letters. The words had great power on him. They were simple words, yet he felt like he understood them. How the words felt caged to a monster known as a sentence. Like he felt to a knife. How the words were stuck in the embodiment of a sentence. Like he was in the program.

Lyra heaved a sigh. "Let's go in." She pulled a lip and walked in as silently as possible.

"What are we looking for exactly?" Axixa asked whilst inspecting the scratches and bloodstains on the rocks. "Or do we just walk on."

"Just walk on, and if you see anything strange, like an exit, like a door, or a box or a—"

"Hole?" Amybeth interrupted Lyra as she balanced herself on the edge of the deep and wide burrow. "Should we go in?"