Chapter 4

"Ah, the sun is so fucking hot!"

I was going to lose my shit when Bianca made that statement. Why? Because she was saying it for, like, the fifteenth time.

While she was admittedly right that the sun was roasting all of us in the plains and I had wiped away the sweat several times from my face, her bitching wasn't doing anyone any favors. If I could read the minds of most of the crew members behind us, I would say it was even making things worse. Heat plus irritating griping and moaning wasn't a delightful combination.

It also served as a reminder of Larry's absence. My old father figure had dropped the news at the last second that he was needed at a conference at the university. It left Jeff, Bianca, Connor, and me to take on the excavation journey, along with six other guys to do the heavy lifting. Although, I thought Connor was enough for the latter.

Speaking of whom, he noticed the irritation on my face from Bianca's whining.

"Say the word and I would bury her in the sand." He nudged me with a wink. I wasn't sure the grunt from Jeff behind us meant he heard that. But if he did, I doubted Connor gave a damn.

"Hey, it doesn't work like that!" I elbowed Connor's ribs with a laugh.

"I tried." He shrugged, his strong grip not relenting on the large equipment he pulled behind him.

My gaze switched to the site, and my mouth nearly fell to the ground. The rest of the crew stopped like I did, and even if I didn't turn around, I'm sure they mirrored my expression.

"Is this a joke?" I blinked.

Where the supposed skeleton of the dragon was supposed to be was a large hole. It was as if a meteor had recently landed on that place. Tiptoeing, I could see various more smaller holes in the edges of the crater.

I pulled the map out of my pocket and looked it over, even turning it upside down. The map was correct. This was the place. So where the hell was the dragon skeleton?

"Okay, this is nuts." Jeff stopped beside me, peering into the crater. "What happened?"

"Did someone else beat us to it?" Bianca spoke from behind us.

"It's not possible." I shook my head, not even bothered by the fact that I even answered her. "We're the only ones that should know about this."

"How?" Jeff threw his hands up in the air. "Obviously it's not here. Larry must have gotten it wrong."

"No, he hasn't." I shook my head.

"It wouldn't shock me if he did," he snorted.

"What are you insinuating?" Turning to face him, I placed my hands on my hips.

"Well, he's old." He had the nerve to shrug casually like that was a harmless statement.

"What—" I clenched my fists.

"Enough." Connor stepped in. "We do not have time for debates right now."

Taking a deep breath, his gaze switched from Jeff and me to the rest of the crew.

"There is only one way to solve this." He cleared his throat. "I stand for the fact that Mr. Wesley will never send us on a wild goose chase. I will die on that hill. Now, is anyone not going to consider that there might be the case of the bones sinking further into the ground due to a case of different natural causes that may have affected this very soil? A flood? A storm? Nobody knows. But right now, we came on a mission, and we might as well finish it. We go down and explore for at least a trace of an existence. Even if it is one bone. If we find none, we have nothing to lose, and no one is to blame."

A small wind was the only thing that cut the silence as everyone stared at my towering friend.

"What?" His eyebrows furrowed.

A smile slowly appeared on my face. Sometimes it was easy to forget he had his moment of brilliance.

"Fine, let's do this and get this over with." Jeff shook his head, seemingly blinking away the surprise.

"We split up." I folded the map and put it back in my pocket, directing my attention to the rest of the crew. "Get the equipment ready, just in case. Connor and I will go through the hole at the center. Jeff and Bianca will take the route through—"

"Hey, who put you in charge?" Bianca's high-pitched voice cut through my statement. "Just because you're the boss's daughter doesn't mean you can boss us around."

I exhaled through my nose, shutting my eyes and mentally counting to ten. Someone might leave this expedition with missing teeth.

"Hey!" The footsteps of Connor made me open my eyes. He was making his way towards Bianca. Jeff shielded her, his menacing gaze on Connor. I doubted that would do any good.

"It's okay." I grabbed Connor's arm to stop him.

Forcing a smile, I faced Bianca. "If you have a better suggestion, please, let's hear it."

"All of us have to go together." Her shoulders lifted in a haughty fashion.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. And here I thought only blondes were dumb. Jeff definitely went for her because her body was the only thing she could offer.

"You do realize there's not only one hole in there." I gestured to the crater. "If all of us go through one route, it would take forever to find at least a clue. Splitting up makes the task easier and increases the chances of getting this done with."

Her eyebrows lifted. Good. At least my words were getting into her thick skull.

"I mean, you've been bitching about the sun all day. Maybe if we finish up sooner, you can go home and enjoy a spa or whatever it is you do in your free time."

Her face lit up. The corners of my lips curled upwards in amusement at the fact that she didn't realize I had insulted her in my first sentence.

I clapped my hands to the men. "Alright, let's get to work."

In the space of ten minutes, the men had set up, and the four of us took our assigned routes.

Passing through the hole at the center, Connor and I walked along the muddy ground. Besides being disgusted at the stain it made on my boots, I couldn't contain my curiosity on how there was even mud in the first place. Before we had arrived at the valley, there was no detection of rain days prior.

"You know you have qualities of a queen." Connor's voice cut through my thoughts.

"Why would you say that?" I brandished the torch at his face, my eyebrows lifting in amusement both at the irritation he showed and the strangeness of his statement.

He pushed the torch aside. "I don't know how to put it, but there was a way you spoke out there. Your voice commanded a kind of obedience. No one made you question you."

"Yeah? Well, Bianca and Jeff had different ideas," I snorted.

"Since when do they count for anything?"

That got a laugh out of me, and I punched his shoulder. "And you. No one would ever think you had some smarts in that large knucklehead of yours."

"Stop that." He swiped my hand away.

Turning to our right, we met a dead end.

"There's nothing here," Connor sighed with a shake of his head.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Let's try other routes. By my count, if Bianca and Jeff follow instructions, there should be two holes remaining."

Connor took the lead, and I followed. It wasn't up to five seconds when I heard it.

"Come home."

I paused, my skin feeling a strange chill. The voice was low. It was like a whisper and a whimper mixed together.

"Did...did you hear that?" I called to Connor.

"Hear what?" He spun around. "You heard something?"

"I..." My lips clamped shut. His head cocked sideways, proving that I was the only one who heard it.

'Wonderful,' I thought. 'As if two wet dreams in a row weren't weird enough.'

"Sorry, it must be the heat getting to my head." I forced a smile at him.

"That would be a first." He regarded me for a while, then shrugged. "Come on."

He resumed his steps, and I picked up the pace to catch up.

"Come...home." The voice was a bit louder now.

I stopped again and felt woozy. This was bad. Connor's image seemed to drift further away. A red glow emanated from my left. Squinting towards the direction, my lips parted in surprise. It was coming from a route I could have sworn I never saw as we came in earlier.

Not bothering to ask questions, I followed the source of the glow until I rounded a corner. My footsteps halted swiftly when I saw the source of the light.

There was a large red jewel that was stuck embedded in the edge of the wall. As if sensing my presence, it's glowed brighter than before. Like a moth to a flame, I found myself walking towards the jewel. I stopped before it, waiting for the next instruction.

"Take it," the voice spoke.

My hands moved on their own as if remote controlled. Touching the jewel, I felt a bolt of painful shock dance through my fingertips to my chest. Screaming was impossible as the red glow took over my vision.