Tessa/Jessica pov.
I was down to five warriors by the time Ronald led the injured ones back. I’d let him take most of them on purpose — better to have more guarding the wounded than slowing me down if things went wrong.
By the time the sun began to sink behind the thick line of trees, we had already searched through most of the area. Nothing. Just dust, traps, and the same heavy air that carried traces of old magic.
Kevin kicked a rock out of frustration. “Gamma, are you sure this place has anything at all?”
I looked at the map again. “According to what Paige’s letter hinted at, it should be somewhere here. We just haven’t looked deep enough.”
One of the warriors, Erik, pointed ahead. “There’s still that cave we saw earlier. We only checked the front part.” We had fallen into—not exac
