Guardian of the Dark Paths (Children of the Ajda #1) - Susan Trombley Page 0,1

have their own lights as well. With extra batteries,” she ground out, waving for Sarah to hurry up. “Let’s go!”

Delaying tactics failing, Sarah followed reluctantly in Matt’s footsteps as he trailed Beth out her front door. He tossed one last, longing glance at her gaming rig before meeting her eyes and giving her a smile he probably thought was charming.

Sarah was unimpressed. She’d seen enough of his fake smile on the one video she’d tried to watch of his. She had no idea why Beth kept hanging around him, though to be fair, Beth’s videos were no more substantive in their content.

Beth was hoping to elevate her profile by doing something more profound and different than she’d been doing. Instead of fashion reviews, makeup tutorials, and unboxing videos to go along with her Instagram modeling profile, she wanted to add some exploration videos, in the hopes of entering a new market that wasn’t oversaturated with beautiful blonde girls.

Sarah really wanted to help Beth follow her dreams and become famous, but she’d been uncertain about her best friend’s current plan since Beth had suggested it. Neither of them knew much about exploring caves in the middle of the Arizona desert. Matt was going along for extra muscle and camera operation, but he wasn’t exactly an expert either.

“We’re not going too deep inside this cave?” Sarah asked, as they arrived at their destination. It was the first time she’d spoken since they’d hopped into Beth’s Jeep. Her mind had been too preoccupied with worry after her nightmares, most of which she’d instantly forgotten upon waking, but the dread had remained.

Beth broke off her conversation with Matt, who was driving her Jeep and rattling on and on about the recent social media convention they’d attended. He’d dropped a ton of names during that conversation that Sarah didn’t even recognize. A few of the video gamer channels registered with her, though she generally preferred to play the games rather than watch others play them in videos.

Matt put the Jeep in park as Beth turned to face Sarah, who sat in the cramped back seat. Her knees felt sore from slamming repeatedly into the back of the driver’s seat as they’d bounced over every bump and dip on the unimproved desert road.

“Sarah, we’ll be fine! I don’t know why you’re worrying so much! I’m trying to get you out of your house so you can have a real adventure instead of just running around in a video game world. This will be fun!” She reached back to pat Sarah’s bruised knee. “You’ll see.”

“It’s just… risky, don’t you think?”

“Come on, Sarah,” Matt said as he threw open his door and climbed out. He popped his head back inside to peer back at Sarah, “don’t be such a coward.”

They had to hike to their destination, and Sarah had to admit she was glad Beth had pushed them to get moving, because even in the early hours of the morning, the desert heat had ratcheted up to over ninety degrees. The scrubby mesquite trees with twisted trunks squatting low to the ground did little to add shade, and the ocotillo stabbed into the sky like thorned pikes left behind on a battlefield after some long distant war, barely casting a decent shadow.

The landscape appeared alien and unforgiving, cruel and uncompromising. Even the air was harsh, dry as a bone and burning with each inhale, as if every breath of it stole some of her water away from her. Sarah preferred thick forests with towering trees and deep shadowed glades to this relentless bright light and crippling heat.

The sight of their destination finally appeared like a mirage on the horizon. It did not endear Sarah any further to the arid landscape. The looming mountain may have promised shade, but that tight hole at the base of it, barely visible behind a cluster of large boulders, did not promise safety. Quite the opposite. It looked like it would crush anyone foolish enough to try to crawl inside. The twisted metal grating that had been pulled from the cave entrance and tossed to one side made the impression of danger worse.

“Oh hell no!” Sarah said, stopping in her tracks as Beth and Matt moved closer to the cave entrance. “There is no way I’m going through that hole.”

Beth chuckled as she dropped her pack to dig out her mining hat. “Come on, Sarah, you’re not that big.” She eyed Sarah’s generous hips, chewing on her filler-plumped bottom lip. “I mean, if