Wild Gold by Hunter Sam

Author:Hunter, Sam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I’D FELT OKAY when the sun was still up, but it was another matter entirely when the red and gold of sunset crept across the canopy. It was still early in the evening—late afternoon, more likely. But all our nerves started to get the better of us, as every cracked twig and crunched leaf brought to mind images of a crocodile man in the darkness, glowing yellow eyes watching from the shadows.

“Shouldn’t we be close to the village soon?” Ellie asked. “I thought you said we’d reach it by nightfall.”

“Yes, we’re getting close,” Mira said, but I heard something in her voice—a hesitation that wasn’t familiar coming from her. I called her up beside me as Ellie strained to listen behind us, creeping ever closer.

“Is there something you aren’t telling me?” I asked.

“Of course not,” she said, but she averted her gaze.

“Mira…”

“Fine.” She frowned, glancing behind her and toward Ellie. “The village…we should have passed it already. It sits in the bottom of this canyon, at the foot of the hike that would take us up to the ruins. I swear it should have been beside that waterfall we passed about half an hour ago.”

“They could have re-located; when were you last here?”

“Six months ago,” she said. “And Vic, I’ve never seen anything like the things from the past two days until now. I can’t explain it.”

I hissed out a breath.

“I think I might know what’s going on.”

“What?”

It was Ellie, joining us and poking her head over my shoulder. I glanced back at her and then pulled the coin out of my pocket, showing it to the two women. “Remember how the villagers said this coin is cursed?”

Mira shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, while Ellie’s eyes went wide.

“Holy shit,” Ellie said, though she rarely cursed. I glanced over at her with a bemused stare. “I didn’t know you brought it.”

“I didn’t even know you still had it,” Mira groaned. “I’d assumed you would turn it over to a museum, or…I don’t know. It would have been nice for you to tell me you had a potentially cursed object with you.”

“And then what?” I said. “Would we have turned back? Been more careful about the massive crocodile that killed our friend?”

“Well, it explains quite a bit, doesn’t it?” she said. “The creature, the corpse lilies…maybe even this missing village.”

“Wait a minute,” Ellie cut in, panic in her voice. “The village is missing? But that’s where we were supposed to stay for the night.”

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Mira said. “It should have been here…but I’m wondering if the coin has us misdirected—as if it’s drawing us to the city, like a magnet.”

I looked up at the sky, which had now turned a brilliant shade of pink. We were running short on time, and the jungle was growing ever darker. I didn’t want to be lost out here in the shadows after nightfall, especially when we didn’t know what was lurking around out there.

“So what are we going to do?” Ellie asked Mira.

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