Othersphere (Otherkin) by Nina Berry

Author:Nina Berry
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: K-Teen
Published: 2013-12-31T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

The cave was narrow and less than four feet high. It sloped sharply down at first, so we ran awkwardly through the mountain stooped over like apes, following the blue-white beam of Caleb’s flashlight, which he kept trained on the black dire wolf in front. The cave seemed to be entirely natural, perhaps carved at one point by an underground stream, now dry and fairly smooth. Like everything else in Othersphere, it hadn’t been worked or touched by a metal tool of any kind. We were moving fast, breathing heavily, and conscious of how little time we had. Behind me, Lazar tripped over the uneven floor, and would have knocked me over, but he threw a hand out, using the curved wall to stop his fall.

My back was aching, and my knees cramped by the time I sensed air above me rather than rock. We didn’t stop as Caleb scanned his beam of light around. The walls on either side rose to a ceiling that rapidly ascended into the dark, too high for the light to reveal anything. The light startled a flock of creatures that looked like trout crossed with hummingbirds, with long narrow bodies flashing iridescent purples and blues, wide staring eyes, and filmy wings that flapped too fast to follow.

I tripped over a protruding rock and pitched forward. Behind me, Lazar caught hold of my waist and saved me from a fall. Then he pulled his hands away, quickly.

“You keep doing that,” I said softly, and reached back to take his hand as we continued trotting forward.

He squeezed my fingers. “What?”

“You keep saving me from falling,” I said, my voice low. “Thank you.”

“Don’t fall behind,” Caleb said, swinging the light around.

I pulled away sharply from Lazar. His hand fell away. Had Caleb seen us together? I couldn’t tell. He kept jogging through the darkness, shining the light ahead once more.

“Wouldn’t want to leave you here without a light,” Caleb said. His voice was flat but strangely ominous. Or was that just my guilty imagination?

We passed a number of side tunnels, some at floor level, some high up in the side wall, most too small for us to pass through. The cave widened, and water dripped steadily in the distance as we wound between stalagmites pointing up like crooked fingers. A light glowed to our left, and then we were walking through a natural arch and out onto a flat stone terrace into the brilliant white radiance of a nearly full moon, just rising above the skyline. It was not our moon, with its familiar gray seas and splotches. This was the strange, corpulent moon of Othersphere, veined with black lines that beat like a living thing.

Its light fell like silk on my skin, pulsing subliminally through my body. It reflected brilliantly off the blanched stone at our feet, casting multiple shadows on the mountainside behind us. A faint breeze stirred my hair, which waved in a flutter of notes perfectly in sync with the anthem of the night.

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