nothing better to do. But the question was whether the hovercraft would work in a similar way. It was like comparing driving a car to flying a plane, wasn’t it?
She blew out a small breath, her eyes flickering to the kekevir tunnel, making sure the sconces were still lit.
It was a risk she would have to take, wasn’t it? And while she wasn’t going to be piloting out of there that day, she could at least memorize the controls—the pad, the layout of the console, maybe even take the chance to see how to start it up before Jaxor returned.
She had to do something. She couldn’t just wait around, twiddling her thumbs.
Erin only wished that she’d paid more attention when Jaxor had piloted the hovercraft yesterday.
There were no buttons on the console, only clear blocks of a material that felt tacky to the touch when she skimmed her fingers over them. When she dared to press one of them with more force, the block grew warm to the touch and she suppressed a surprised cry when beams of blue light suddenly shone in front of her, outlining—she peered closer, frowning—terrain, it looked like. A map?
It certainly resembled one, but unlike any map she’d ever seen before. When she applied force to the clear block again, it disappeared.
Okay, the map button, she thought. Progress.
There were six clear blocks in total, three on each side of the silver pad. One down, five to go. Her finger hovered over the next one, just to the right. Inhaling a small breath, she pressed down before she lost her nerve…but nothing happened.
Then she moved on to the next. Again, nothing happened.
Moving to the ones on the opposite side of the silver pad, she pressed one—and then yelped when a rush of something coming from the front of the hovercraft whooshed her hair back. Her alarmed cry echoed around the tunnel and she held her breath, not daring to move, listening.
Her shoulders relaxed, though her heart still stuttered in her chest. A faint humming sound met her ears and she noticed that the air seemed to shimmer towards the front of the hovercraft. Lips parting, she lifted her hand to touch whatever it was and her fingers met slight resistance. It was the strangest sensation. When she pushed her hand farther through the shimmering air, it felt thick.
It’s some kind of shield, she realized excitedly, peering down at the block. A blue glow emanated from it and—
A familiar hissing shriek came from deep within the tunnel to her left.
A shiver raced up her spine, her blood chilling with the sound. She had no weapon, had nothing to defend herself with except for a torch.
Fool, fool, fool, she chided herself mentally, fumbling with the block, pressing it with force. There was a slight hiss and the shimmering in the air fell away, but Erin hardly noticed. She was already scrambling down from the hovercraft and snagging her torch.
She didn’t spare the kekevir tunnel a second glance as she ran back towards Jaxor’s base, her footsteps echoing as they slapped on the rocky floor. A biting pain registered when she felt something cut into the bottom of her left foot, but she bit her lip, ignoring it as she stumbled into the brightened clearing. Cold air whipped across her cheeks, unshielded by the rocky walls.
Her eyes alighted on the cave she’d slept in the night before, on the thick door that could offer protection just in case one of those things managed to slip past the protection of the fire sconces.
Hurriedly, she snuffed out the torch against the wall and propped it back into place, hoping Jaxor wouldn’t notice she’d used it. There was still no sign of him. Although, Erin had probably only left for five or ten minutes at most.
Racing towards the cave, scrambling up the makeshift staircase, she opened the door, slipped inside, and then sealed it behind her. Only when it was bolted did she relax, drawing in lungfuls of air. She stood there, listening, but after a few minutes of hearing nothing, she finally turned and sat at the back of the cave, her spine curving against the hardened, cool stone.
She felt a tingling pain and, remembering she’d cut her foot, she lifted it and inspected the bottom.
Wincing, she saw the cut wasn’t too deep, though there was a smear of blood across her sole.
“Shit,” she murmured, watching more well up. She hoped she hadn’t left a blood trail leading from the entrance