Page 90 of Nothing But Air

“Hold on.” Eden put a hand on his arm. “Someone more experienced should go first. See that crack running down the south side? And notice what’s missing?”

Teague scanned the entrance. No nests. No droppings. No sign that anything lived here. “Animals have good instincts,” he said.

“Exactly. And after last month’s earthquake, this whole formation could be unstable.” Eden’s voice was calm but firm.

Marcus’s jaw tightened. “It’s fine. I can see it from here?—”

“I’ll go.” Teague stepped forward.

Eden caught his arm. “Teague?—”

“I’ll be careful.”

“You don’t know how to be careful. We’ve established this.”

“Then I’ll be quick.” He squeezed her hand briefly. “Quick, I can definitely do.”

He pulled out a flashlight and stepped inside. The temperature dropped slightly, and he gave his eyes a moment to adjust. The cave opened up but wasn’t deep—maybe twenty feet, twelve feet wide. He swept the area with his light. Then again.

Empty.

“Nothing,” he called back. “Just like yesterday. But it seems stable.”

“I want to look.” Marcus was already moving.

“At what?” Eden walked deeper into the cave. “There’s nothing here.”

But Marcus didn’t seem deterred as he rushed past Teague. He ran his hands along the walls, checking every crack with frantic intensity.

“Marcus.” Teague kept his voice calm. “What are you doing? If the chest is anything like the others, it would be obvious.”

“But what if?—”

Marcus’s hand found something. A crack he could just get his fingers into.

“Here.”

He pulled a rock hammer from his pack—when had he brought that?—and before anyone could stop him, he wedged it into the crack and pried.

Limestone gave way with a grinding sound. A chunk fell, revealing a deeper crack.

“No, no, no—” Marcus wedged the pick under a rock and pulled.

The rock shifted. Slid free. A hole opening to the outside.

“Stop!” Xander grabbed him. “There’s nothing there?—”

A trail of pebbles fell from inside the wall out through the hole.

Slow at first.

Then more.

A pop.

Those rocks had been supporting something, and they were about to find out what. And all he could see was Eden, ten feet deeper in the cave. “Eden, walk back this way.”

She took a step toward him, and another pop filled the air as a crack appeared by the opening Marcus had created. It spread up the side of the cave and across the ceiling. A large section breaking free.