“You saved me.” Willow smiled up at me.
“Hey, isn’t that—?” The ledge gave way under Dad.
“Art!” Willow screamed, grabbing for Dad as rocks crashed to the unknown bottom below.
“No!” The sound ripped from my throat.
She fell to the side, slamming her hip against the ground, and slid toward the edge as if dragged. I lunged behind her, landing on my hands and feet before hitting my stomach, then locked my arm around her waist to hold her back. I swung her legs, bringing her feet back toward the door and the more stable portion of the ledge.
“Cam!” she shrieked. “He’s too heavy!”
I crawled forward to see that she had Dad’s hand, and it was twisting her arm at an angle that was going to snap it quickly.
“Dad!” I reached for him, following the line of Willow’s arm.
“Let me go. Don’t let her fall with me!” he called up.
Willow cried out.
I felt the killing calm come over me and welcomed it like a long-lost friend.
“I’ve got you.” I gripped his wrist with my left hand and immediately felt some of the strain lift from Willow’s arm. Then I reached around the back of Willow’s hand, her knuckles white from trying to keep Dad from falling. “Let go, Pika, so I can get two hands on him. You can’t lift him out at that angle. Let go.” I kept my voice soft even as my heart slammed against my chest.
“Cam?” she asked, still holding on to him.
“I promise I’ve got him.”
She released her hand, and Dad swung to the left before I could get his hand with my right. “Got you! Willow, get Gid.”
She scrambled for the door.
“Let me go,” Dad ordered.
“You have no idea how deep that goes, Dad. Just hold on.” Rocks crumbled from the area Willow had just vacated.
“Camden.”
My eyes met his, and it struck me how calm he was. How I’d been cursing the parts of me that were like him, only to be grateful for them later on.
“Gideon is coming, and we’ll pull you up. I just don’t have the leverage,” I told him. “You’re not slipping, and I’m strong enough to hold you.” Thank God he had on a fleece jacket. My hands would have slid right off his skin.
“The ledge is going to go. Do not do this.”
“The ledge is fine,” I shouted. “Gideon!” Where was he?
“I love you, Camden. And I know I was shit at showing it. But you were just so much like me. Sully and Xander, they were your mom, but you…in everything but looks, you were me. And Cal…he was the lovable one. The good one.”
Another section of rock gave way, and I heard footsteps hurrying toward us.
“Dad, you can tell me all about it later.”
“Let me go.”
I sucked in a breath, finally understanding what he was saying. “No, Dad. No.”
“I’m not taking you with me.”
“Holy shit,” Gideon shouted, hitting his stomach and sliding up next to me.
“Gid’s here, Dad. We can pull you out.”
He stayed silent, but his expressions flickered so fast that I couldn’t tell what he was feeling or thinking. Sadness? Anger? Acceptance? Even happiness?
“Just reach up with your other hand.”
Gideon leaned forward as far as he dared and lowered his hand.
“Dad?” I begged. “I can’t do this for you. It’s your choice.”
Gideon’s gaze snapped toward me and then back to Dad before managing to lower his hand another inch.
“You have to choose, Dad.”
This was it: the moment he’d wanted. The decision was his. Another section of the ledge collapsed, ending right before my arm started, but I still didn’t look away from those eyes. Sullivan’s eyes.
His lips pursed, and his brow furrowed. Then he roared and swung up with his left hand. Gideon caught it, and we both immediately lifted, scraping Dad’s arms, then his chest and stomach on the edge of the ledge as we pulled him back onto the solid surface. Once he got to his knees, he fell forward, and we all rushed for the door, where Willow waited.
Dad looked back at me and gave me a singular, knowing nod, and I knew that was all he’d ever have to say about what just happened.
“I think this belongs to you, young lady,” he said, pressing something into Willow’s palm before walking through the door.
“I need a beer,” Gideon muttered, following Dad.
I grabbed Willow to me, holding her against my chest, not caring that her helmet dug into the layers of my jacket to press the skin beneath. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she repeated, her hands clutching the fabric at my back.
“Let’s get you out of here.” I could go the rest of my life and never see this portion of the mine again. That would be fine by me. She nodded, and we walked back into the chamber.
“Look what your dad found.” She held up her unicorn pin. It was a tiny thing, barely the size of a quarter.
“Look at that.” I brushed my thumb over her palm, but when I looked up, she was focused on something to her right. The door. “What is it?”
She tucked the pin in her pocket and turned to face the heavy iron mass. Then she brought her hand down from her chin, as if she were measuring something, and when she reached mid-chest, she moved her hand to the same level on the door.
“Cam,” she whispered.
There were two darker spots in the rust. Blood.
Rage swept over me, holding hands with a knowledge I never wanted. And it all made sense. All of that day, those that came before, and the ones that followed.
Our eyes locked, hers wide with shock, and I shut the door, letting it close with a satisfying slam.
I knew where that fucking map was.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Willow
Cam was nearly silent as we made our way out of the mine. He reminded me of a caged tiger, prowling the edges of his bars, waiting to be unleashed. I kept Rose’s hand in mine and tried not to think about what we’d found and what we’d almost lost.
Gideon checked for cell reception as we climbed sublevels, and it didn’t surprise me that there was none to be found this far underground.
Art was showing signs of sundowning, and I knew we needed to get him out of the mine before he couldn’t remember why he was here. I needed to get out of this mine before I couldn’t forget.