CHAPTER 267: 267-FINDING OUR MISSING FRIENDS.

Clementine:

"Okay, so another corner checked, and she’s not there. Neither is Haiden or Ian," Troy muttered, stretching his neck back and rubbing his nape tiredly.

We had been running around anxiously, looking for our missing crusaders, and so far hadn’t come across a single one of them.

It was worrying, especially because of the state Oriana had run away in, and I had a bad feeling she wouldn’t be able to survive.

However, I had strong suspicions that Haiden was fine.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to feel his pain until we had marked each other, or at least one of us had, but still, I could sense he was okay.

"Now what?" Yorick wondered, facing me tiredly.

We had thankfully collected whole bags of coal, and there was more we could hand over to the missing three.

While we stood there talking, a squeaking voice echoed, warning us of another danger approaching.

I remembered Ian telling her that these things never came alone, that a shadow followed them.

But honestly, I hadn’t seen any of it.

I began to wonder if Ian had planted all that fear in us before he passed out and woke up as a different person, or maybe he had just been misinformed.

Anxiety hit me as the voices grew louder.

Yorick got ready to attack the Earth Eater while Troy and I stood behind him, tiredly holding our spears.

We hadn’t rested all day, we hadn’t slept or sat down once, and we were tired as fuck.

So tired I felt like my back was going to break.

Something was wrong with the oxygen, too. The tunnels felt suffocating now.

The longer we stayed, the more exhausted we became.

I took a deep breath, gripped the spear with both hands, and readied myself to throw at whatever was coming.

Suddenly the first person to appear in view was someone who made my eyes go wide.

Haiden!

I dropped the spear and rushed from ahead of Yorick toward Haiden, who held a fire torch and wore a bag slung across his shoulder.

He rushed forward and hugged me tightly, while Troy and Yorick moved back to fight whatever was chasing him.

"I’d been so worried for you. I almost broke down. I don’t know why I suddenly felt so weak," I said, as he rubbed my back.

"Hey, I’m here. Of course I was going to come and survive for you. I’m not going to give those assholes a chance to steal you from me," Haiden joked, still hugging me tightly.

I heard the Earth Eater’s screams and realized Troy and Yorick had taken care of it.

When I broke the hug, I grabbed the strap of his bag to lift it and see if it was full.

Thankfully, it seemed he had already found the coal.

"Where are Ian and Oriana?" Haiden asked after we told him we’d found all the coal.

"We didn’t see Ian from the start, but Oriana was with us until one of the biggest attacks. Then we just lost her," Yorick explained, shifting in his spot and turning his head around to make sure we weren’t about to face another attack.

All of us were taking deep breaths now. None of us said it out loud, but breathing was becoming a real problem.

"So not only do we have to find her, but we also need to find a way out. And I don’t know how. We never thought about marking the areas we passed through, and this place honestly feels like a maze," I admitted, voicing what scared me the most.

"Oh, don’t worry about that. Your prince is here to help with all your worries," he teased, lowering himself, tying his hands behind his back, and leaning close to my face with a smirk.

I awkwardly shifted my eyes to the left to glance at Yorick, then to the right at Troy, both of them standing with their hands on their hips, staring at him.

"I’ve been leaving marks, and I know the way out. Is that enough to ease the worries of my beautiful mate?" Haiden declared, untying his hands from behind his back so he could rest it on one of his knee while still crouched, and with the other, gently flicked my chin with his fingers.

It was a soft touch.

"You know the way out?" I blurted, instantly grabbing his fingers, moving them away from my face but still holding them tightly.

I saw the way his eyes lowered to our joined hands, acknowledging and maybe even cherishing the touch from the small smile spreading on his face.

"And since I know the path, we can also track Ian and Oriana," he added, making me glance happily at the other two, who rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, Mr. Hero knows it all," Troy scoffed.

"Such a show-off," Yorick muttered, smirking at Haiden, whose grin only widened.

"See? They’re just jealous of me," he quipped.

"We can argue later. Right now, getting out of here should be our priority."

I told them we should move, though I was sure they noticed how often I had to clear my throat.

I honestly wasn’t feeling well, my throat kept itching, and it was getting harder to breathe.

"Yeah, Mr. Hero, should we leave, or are you waiting for us to die from lack of oxygen?" Troy teased, using the chance to jab at him for not doing a great job.

"Yeah, right. Let’s go," Haiden replied, thankfully not staying behind to argue.

We started walking through the passages he led us down. Halfway through, we began to hear footsteps.

They were slow, relaxed ones, like someone was just strolling around.

We turned a corner and saw her.

Oriana.

She walked with her bag slung crossbody, one hand brushing along the tunnel wall as she moved.

"Oriana!" As soon as I called out, she froze, then snapped her head back, eyes wide, staring at us.

Then she came sprinting straight into me.

The sudden force caught me off guard as she threw her arms around me, hugging so tightly it almost knocked the air out of my lungs.