We approach a few rocks in the middle of nowhere. They're more like boulders, most of them are taller than me.
My leg is just about reaching its breaking point and I think I'm going to die from being so hungry. My organs physically hurt, my leg doesn't function correctly, and I'm drenched in sweat. Thirst tugs at my throat and my mouth is very dry.
"So much for finishing out strong." Colton mutters as he leans his back against a rock. I sit next to him, letting my legs finally relax. It hasn't been that long since I last sat down, but I'm weak and get tired easily.
"Are we here?" I question. My head is tilted up towards the sky absorbing every last minute of the stars before I return to the Afterworld.
"Indeed we are, blondie." He replies.
"What am I going to do now?" I look up at the blue sky, wishing that the sun would stop shining so bright on my skin. "What am I going to tell my friends?"
He sighs, brushing some dirt off of his arm. "You don't have to say anything at first. Your friends probably knew that going on this trip brings a risk of you not coming back. They also must know that there's a possibility that Nick won't be coming back with you. They'll understand."
I smile at him but he doesn't make eye contact with me. "Thanks, Colton. It's weird cause I almost don't want to go back. I don't want to go to training and I don't want be happy. I don't deserve it after what happened."
"Can I tell you a secret?" Colton prompts, turning his head towards me. There's dirt all over his face, probably all over mine too. His eye is a bit swollen, the bruises still present on his face.
I nod.
"Training isn't like school. They don't take attendance, it's impossible to do that with so many people. Skipping a few days can't hurt." He says.
"I guess I could do that."
His glance falls to my leg. "Besides, that wound its going to take at least a week to heal completely, so it's still going to hurt when you go up there."
I nod. "I know. I'm just ready for the horrible feeling in my stomach to go away. I could also use a bath to get all of this dirt off of me."
He chuckles. "That would probably be good."
When he stops speaking, I forget every single word of the english language. His gaze dissolve all of my words and I escape eye contact by looking away. He's too intimidating. "What do you do when you're not going on voyages and... stuff?"
"There's only so much you can do in the Afterworld. I train for the most part, but after a trip like this I'm probably going to get a long break before I have to do anything again. Being a voyager is rigorous work." He explains. "Why?"
It sounds like a hard job, but also one that involves the least amount of time commitment. "I was just wondering. If I need to figure out what my path is, I might as well ask you as long as you're with me."
He smirks. "You wouldn't be able to handle being a voyager."
I raise my eyebrows. "If that was true then I'd be dead right now. I did not stab somebody, knock out a demon, and get whipped in the leg for you to say that."
"Relax, Blondie," he says, "I'm kidding. Now we should go before we're both too weak to stand up." Colton pushes himself to his feet.
"Do all of your voyages end this messy?" I inquire. If so, then I can't imagine being a voyager is very fun at all.
"No, usually everyone is normal. Healthy. Normally, they don't have a huge cut on their leg or a black eye. You made one hell of a journey."
I smile to myself. For some reason, that makes me feel special.
I follow him behind the big boulder we're leaning against. There are dozens of smaller rocks scattered around us.
Besides this clutter of rocks is nothing but patches of grass and dirt. I can't see any sign of civilization anywhere, no matter how far I look. Even the museum a few hundred feet ahead of us doesn't look like anyone is in it.
Colton stops at one of the bigger rocks, it almost looks like a cave. The rocks are tinted a reddish color, I've never seen any boulders like this before. Each one is taller than both Colton and I.
There is a slight indentation in the center of the big one, and at the bottom. Colton holds three emeralds in his hand, then looks at me with sorrow embedded in his eyes.
He hands me the extra emerald. "Keep it."
I smile and admire its glow in my hand. "Thank you." This is the last thing I have that resembles Nick. He once held this in his hands and now they're in mine, and it feels so wrong.
He should be here. He deserves to be here. I can't emphasize it enough. I wish I could be finishing this adventure with him. I wish I didn't have to tell Brooke that my little brother is still in the Underworld.
I hold it tight to ensure that I won't lose it.
"Ready to go back?" He asks me.
"Would it matter if I am or not?" I inquire with a smile; it's the last time I'll be saying that. Though, I never knew why he kept asking if my answer was the same every time.
"Nope." He replies, then inserts two emeralds inside one of the small holes in the rock that I didn't even see.
I stand next to him waiting for something to happen.
The indent in the rock starts to get deeper and deeper and deeper...
It is deep enough for the both of us to fit inside, and Colton pulls me in with him in the tight space.
"What the..."
The rock is hugging my body tight, there is barely enough room for us to fit. The entrance to the cave closes instantly and I'm left in darkness.
My arms are pressed against Colton's chest because I have nowhere else to put them, there is no room to put them anywhere else.
Colton continues to take small steps deeper in the cave, and it gets so deep that the entrance is nowhere to be seen and we are submerged into complete darkness.
Suddenly, the ground shakes.
I can't tell if I'm falling or going up but my stomach feels wheezy and my knees become weak. My back scrapes against the wall as the small space we're in jerks from side to side.
I feel Colton's hands at my shoulders and I use his arms to balance myself, as my feet can't be more than a few inches apart, which makes me extremely unbalanced.
We stop.
The cave wall that I was leaning on disappears, causing me to fall backwards, taking Colton with me. I land flat on my back with a grunt but it doesn't hurt as badly as I expected.
We made it.
We're safe now.
Colton's body colliding onto me hurt more than the landing, his smirk reveals that he didn't expect me to fall over like that.
"Hi." He says through a smile. His eyes have returned to the way they were before, which makes him appear more intimidating than he already was. He places his hands on my stomach to push himself off of me.
When both of us stand up we look around us at our new environment. We're in an elevator.
"Looks like we're at the train station where we left." He observes, then walks out into the darkness. He pulls a flashlight out and I'm finally able to see where I am going.
I make sure I don't twist my ankle on one of the tracks, that is the last thing I need right now.
Although I expected my wound to not ache completely when I came back here, it still stings almost just as much as it did when I was lying on the ground just a few minutes ago. Maybe it's going to take longer than a week to heal.
"How long is the train back to my dorm?" I ask. My eyelids are starting to get heavy and I can't wait to get under my covers.
"I don't know, an hour maybe." He returns, to which I groan. I'm so close yet so far.
I don't know why, but it's the middle of the night in the Afterworld. At least I think. It's dark through the windows at the top of the staircase. It's a good thing because I won't have to see any of my friends. I don't have the energy to talk to them.
"So am I never going to see you again after this or what?" I ask as we step onto the empty train.
"That's usually how it works." Colton sits down, then leans his head back against the window.
"Right." I reply. Something about that makes me sad, even though he was a pain in the ass the entire trip. I don't want to just throw away everything we've been through. I feel like there is still so much to learn about him.
He was the only one I could relate to, he was the only one I know who still hadn't recovered from their death. He didn't have the sparkle in his eyes, he wasn't like everyone else I have met here, which generates some curiosity.
If I don't mean anything to him, why did he tell me about how he died after telling hardly anyone? Why did he kiss me, even if it was to just distract me? I can't read his expressions or his mind, and I definitely don't want to ask him.
I ignore these thoughts and close my lids, shielding the artificial light on the train from my eyes. This is going to be a horrible ride back by myself.
sorry this chapter is boring. It was like 1000 words which is so short but literally like 5 mins ago I added 700 words so hopefully there's like no errors cause I didn't proofread it but yeah if there were any then my bad