She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “So are we leaving or not?”
Professor Powell shook his head. “Not yet. Not unless things get worse, but I did want you to understand that the situation could change in an instant.”
“We should definitely explore the cavern and tunnels while we still have a chance then.” She flung a hand in the vague direction of the pond. “There have to be cool things in there. Maybe we can find the Kraken—if there is one.”
He nodded toward the campsite. “Not everyone will want to go in a cavern. I’m not sure it’s safe.” He laughed. “And although I doubt there’s a Kraken around here that has somehow escaped the Navy’s attention, you should avoid it if you do find one.”
Raine grinned. “Fair enough. As for people not wanting to go, we might be missing out on rare species, and if we don’t have the poachers to worry about, we can break into smaller teams again, right?”
“I suppose you are not only a leader, but you’re also stubborn. That can be a disadvantage at times but being able to stick to what you want often leads to you achieving it. I’ll talk to the other professors. I’m sure we can work something out. How does that sound?”
She smiled. “Thank you. That’s all I ask.”
“You’re welcome, Raine.” Professor Powell turned and started down the pier. “And keep up the good work.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Raine tilted her head as she crept down the narrow rocky path with Cameron at her side. The pale glow from several of the rocks almost made her light orb unnecessary. The tunnel system didn’t look any different than it had previously. She thought it might somehow be more inviting now that the poachers were gone, but the same sense of heavy mystery clung to it.
At least now that they knew about the entrance on the other side, it made the process of entry far less troublesome and easier on the shifter too. The idea of layering spells and swimming with such a short, ticking time limit seemed more bizarre than it had before now that she had time to actually think about it.
Much of what had happened during the last few weeks seemed strange in hindsight. She had been caught up in the relaxed atmosphere of the summer research trip and somehow, that almost made poachers and mysterious earthquakes not seem like a big deal at the time, even though she’d had to fight for her life against men prepared to murder her and her friends.
“I can’t believe Professor Powell actually let us go by ourselves,” she said. “I wish Philip, Sara, and Evie could come, but I understand that Evie really wanted to help with the botanical survey of those flowers that Dnai spotted when she was looking for the poachers.” She smiled. “It’s funny how good things can come out of bad things.”
He grunted acknowledgment. “The initial surveys and maps aren’t that great. I don’t expect millimeter accuracy or anything, but I would have thought they would have put a little more effort into it.”
“They didn’t really need to. After all, many people like us are coming to help with the island.”
Cameron snickered. “By the way, I think the reason Professor Powell let us go by ourselves is that this is his way to reward you by giving you quality time with your boyfriend.” He tapped his forehead. “He knows how you think. You want to keep busy, but you don’t want to neglect your friends or me, so he set it up.”
“Did he say that?” Her expression was more than a little dubious.
“No, but that’s the feeling I had. Why? Is it a problem?”
Raine rolled her eyes. “Of course it’s not a problem. I simply wasn’t sure with all the earthquake talk.”
“Yeah, that’s the other thing. I think that’s the other reason he wanted it to be me and you.”
“How do you mean?
“When you do your Raine of Arc speeches and convince everyone to do something dangerous, I’m the one who will most likely still concentrate on making sure you’re not hurt. All the professors understand that. He does too.” He shrugged. “I think he’s that way with the headmistress. They have a similar relationship vibe.”
She laughed. “You think you understand their relationship vibe?”
“Sure.” The shifter grinned. “Call it animal instinct. That’s why I think I get along so well with Professor Powell lately. Our girlfriends are both stubborn, talented women who spend too much time concerned about everyone but themselves.”
“There are worse things than being compared to Headmistress Berens.” She slowed as they closed on a twisting pathway that provided a choice between two different directions. “And, by the way, Raine of Arc?” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t talk people into dangerous stuff. I’m only dedicated to helping people out. If everyone wants to come along and help me, I won’t turn them down. There’s nothing wrong with helping people.”
“I know. I know.” Cameron put both hands in front of his chest. “And you’d be a crappy FBI agent if you didn’t care about helping people. I’m just saying. Hey, you know what it’s like?”
“What?”
“It’s like when you fly. It doesn’t matter where you’re going or whether it’s subsonic or supersonic. They all give you that same safety speech—the part where they say you should put your oxygen mask on first before helping anybody else?”
Raine sighed. “It’s not the same thing.”
“It totally is.” He mimed putting on a mask. “Which is why I need to be around to make sure you have the stupid mask on, and that’s why we’re here now in the dark tunnels looking for…something.” He ran his hands along the moist rock of the wall. “I have to say, though, all we’ve found so far is jellyfish and more glowing rock. There might not be anything else down here to find. You have to at least consider that possibility.”
She grinned at him. “Oh, what? You’re saying you don’t want to spend hours wandering underground caverns in dim lighting with your girlfriend? I would have thought most boys would think that was a great time.”
“Being together with your girlfriend, yes. Wandering caves and tunnels, no,” Cameron scoffed. “It’s not like we’re making out, and I wouldn’t want to do that in this slime and jellyfish factory anyway. This place doesn’t exactly scream romantic mood.”
“I’m not here for romance.” She laughed. “There’s something here. Something else we can find. We’re supposed to survey this island for rare creatures and plants. It doesn’t hurt to examine the inside in addition to the surface.”
The shifter frowned. “How can you be sure there’s something to find? The poachers didn’t mention anything about it, and they obviously used these tunnels more than a little.”
“The poachers didn’t care.” Raine tapped her wand against the wall. “The cavern and tunnel system were merely ways for them to get from point A to point B. They were looking for easy money, not the answers to hidden questions. Do you really think that guy and his cronies are the kind of people who feel wonder and awe at unexplained mysteries?”
“No.” He stopped and frowned. “Wait.”
Raine halted immediately. “What is it? Do you hear something?”
He shook his head. “No, but now that you mention it—and I’d forgotten about it—the other day when we followed the scent trails, there was one path that smelled weird. I can’t say I’ve ever smelled anything like it. In fact, it was so strange, I can’t even put the smell into words.”
She put her hands on her hips and fixed him with a stern look. “And you’re only telling me this now? That screams ‘I’m a mystery, solve me!’ Are you trying to mess with me?”
“I didn’t care at the time. All I cared about was tracking the poachers. Anything that wasn’t related to them might as well have been a million years in the future. There are many scents around this island and I needed to focus.” He shrugged. “And then we had the fight and the agents came, and the professors had their questions after that. It was one thing after another. It wasn’t like I tried to keep it from you.”
“Well, the important thing is that you’ve tol
d me now.” She pointed her wand back the way they had come and the soft light of her orb gave her face a vaguely sinister cast. “Do you at least remember where you smelled that weird scent? It might be nothing, or it could be the hidden artifact that changes everything we know about Oriceran.”
“I doubt that it’s anything like that, but I do remember the general area where I smelled it.” He cracked his knuckles. “This should be easy. I’ll lead you there, shift, and we can follow the scent until I find the secret KFC recipe or whatever is down there.”
She gave him a calm nod but her heart raced a little. There had to be something important. It was time once again for the evidence to lead the case.
Cameron padded quietly in wolf form with Raine behind him. They’d followed the unusual scent trail for twenty minutes and had taken so many turns and twists, there was no way she would ever be able to navigate back to the original tunnel without his help.
Aside from their breathing and the drip of water, only oppressive silence filled the tunnels.
She sighed.
He looked at her over his shoulder, his head cocked, and whined inquisitively.
“It’s annoying that you can’t talk.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to only hear my own voice.”
His rumbling half-growl doubled as wolf laughter.
“I know that you’re leading us there using your wolf senses, but our time together is so precious that I feel like I’m wasting it by not being able to talk to you.” She shrugged.
The shifter’s ears lowered, and he whined quietly.
“I know, I know. I’m not being reasonable. Do you think we’re close at least?”
He nodded.
“Oh, that’s not so bad then.” Raine managed a smile. “Maybe it’s something really exotic, like the tomb of the most ancient gnome.”
Cameron looked behind at her, his stare a little disconcerting.
“I’m not saying that’s a thing. But maybe something like that. We’ll see soon enough.”
A few more minutes of travel passed, which included two more turns, before they approached a vast, pulsating chamber. The closer they moved, the heavier the weight of massive amounts of magic that hung over her. Her theory about a powerful artifact might not have been as crazy as she’d thought.
The wolf shifted into human form and stepped in front of her before they entered the cavern.
Her breath caught as they stepped inside. Outside, the heavy levels of magic were plainly obvious, but inside, the intense magical pressure that flowed over her was unlike she’d ever felt. While she understood her experiences were limited compared to someone like Librarian Decker, she’d at least been in a couple of kemanas and unusual magic situations, and this didn’t feel at all comparable. Like her boyfriend, she had no true point of reference for what she sensed.
The walls, ceiling, and much of the floor of the dome-shaped area were encrusted with small, irregular nodules of iridescent rock. A slow, pulsing cerulean glow from the nodules provided illumination, but there didn’t seem to be anything that remotely resembled an artifact.
Raine licked her lips and rubbed her shoulder. “I know you can’t feel it, but the magic in here is crazily high. It’s like being shoved directly into the charged quartz of a kemana or gobbling aventurine. No—injecting it directly into your veins. I feel like I could do major magic right now. With this kind of power, I could have probably flung those three poachers to Antarctica with one spell.”
Cameron frowned as he turned slowly. He gestured to the walls and the ceiling. “I’ll tell you what I think. This isn’t a natural formation. The shape’s too regular, even if these weird glowing rocks seem to be vaguely random. It’s like someone formed this room with a particular purpose.” He shrugged. “Or it grew that way. I don’t know. But it doesn’t look like something you’d get from rocks simply shifting or falling or even eroding. You’d know better than I would.”
“What are you saying? That it’s a secret kemana or something hidden on this island?” Raine leaned forward to peer more closely at one of the nodules. “This doesn’t look like quartz or a quartz-related mineral, but I’m not a hundred percent sure what you can charge and what you can’t, so maybe it is so some kind of magical battery.” She tapped her bottom lip, her mind racing. “If there is a secret kemana here, that might explain the earthquakes. Maybe there’s an artifact or something that goes off because of the magic from this place. We only have to find it.”
“That could be it.” He shrugged. “Like I said, you would know better than I would. No one seems to think the earthquakes are natural, so that’s as good an explanation as any. But if it is an artifact, just because it’s powered by this room doesn’t mean we’ll be able to find it.”
“Maybe.” She frowned as she peered hopefully at their surroundings. “Do you know what I don’t see? Something I’d expect if this is kind sort of kemana.”
“Hap and some Willen in red coats?”
She chuckled. “No. There’s nothing marked anywhere. No glyphs, no messages, and no sign that this is anything other than a weird room. I can feel the power, but that’s it. The kemanas were mostly built before the gates closed the last time. People understood that they would be around for thousands of years. If this is supposed to be something like that, why would it be here on some random island in Maine with no indication of what its purpose is?”
“You got me.” Cameron reached toward one of the nodules. “I wonder what this feels like.” He ran his thumb over a few. “It’s surprisingly smooth.”
Raine collapsed to her knees as magic blasted through her. Her stomach lurched, and she vomited. The room pulsed brighter and the light turned blinding in intensity. The shifter grunted as he slid an arm around her to take her weight and prevent her from falling.
Her eyes rolled toward the back of her head. “It’s coming. An earthquake’s coming.”
The room shook violently. The last thing she saw before she passed out was Cameron lifting her into his arms.
“You’ll be all right, Raine. I’ll get us out of here. You can trust me.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
She groaned as her eyes flickered open in her bed in her cabin. Professors Hudson and Powell stood over her, concerned looks on their faces. Cameron stood in the corner, his arms folded and a scowl on his face.
“What happened?” she mumbled.
“You passed out,” the shifter said. “I touched one of those weird rocks in that chamber, and it caused an earthquake somehow. It was too close. Luckily, I remembered the way out. I don’t have magic and I couldn’t have dug us out of there.”
“But why did I pass out?”
Professor Hudson patted her hand. “Because you were too close to a major concentration of leaking magic. Don’t worry. It won’t result in any lasting harm, even if the earthquake it caused was nasty.”
Professor Powell wore a grim look. “It was one of the strongest yet and several of the cabins were damaged. We repaired them, but that means this island could have earthquakes strong enough to collapse the structures, which in turn means it’s not safe here anymore.”
Raine sat up. Her stomach still felt like someone had used it for origami practice. “But now we know the cause. Someone can go there and determine how to stop the earthquakes, right?”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “Sometimes, knowing the cause and being able to stop it are two completely different things, especially when it comes to magic. I’m sorry, Raine. That’s often the way things are.”
The cabin door flung open, and Professor Tarelli charged through the opening, wild-eyed. “I want to use an opposite-eye potion on Raine. Right now.”
Cameron stepped in front of her, his eyes flashing yellow.
Raine blinked. “Opposite eye? Isn’t that like a memory extraction potion?”
The Nyran shook her head. “No, no, Jessie, it’s not like that at all. Mostly.”
She sighed. So much for the professor knowing her name. “Can you
clarify exactly what it does, then?”
Professor Hudson stepped forward and cleared her throat quietly. “Its effects are limited. You can see people’s memories, but that’s it. You literally see what they saw, and they retain the memory. You don’t hear what they heard or know what they thought.” She turned toward the wide-eyed Professor Tarelli. “That magic can be rather exhausting, and she just went through a rather unpleasant experience. Why do you need to use it?”
The other woman threw her hand up. “This is important. Very important. Extremely important.” She pointed at Cameron without looking at him. “Especially since I think I know what he described—or, at least, what the others told me he described.” She rubbed the back of her neck as if to release the tension that defined her. “Opposite-eye will let me confirm it.”
“And what is that?” Professor Hudson asked.
“No, no, no. I’m not saying anything. You might mock me if I say it. Let me do the spell. That way I don’t think, I know, and then we can all share in the joy of such wonderful discovery.”
The shifter frowned. “If you need to see what someone there saw, do the spell on me. I didn’t pass out.”
“I can’t. I wish I could, but it doesn’t work on shifters.” The professor shrugged. “Call it a quirk of anatomy, genetics, or merely some aspect of your anti-magic nature. I don’t know. I really don’t care, to be honest. Right now, I’m only interested in seeing what Raine saw. Either you take me to that cavern so I can see for myself, or I use the potion.”
Untouchable Witch: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (School of Necessary Magic Raine Campbell Book 7) Page 17