A pair of hands popped into my head. I focused in on the memory, trying to pull it into even sharper detail, but all I saw was someone placing the trap in the woods, then piling the leaves on top of it. Frustration surged through me because I didn't even see the person - only their hands. Even worse, they were wearing black gloves, so I couldn't get any sort of sense about whom the hands belonged to, whether it was a man, a woman, a kid my own age.
I opened my eyes, let go of the trap, and got to my feet.
"Anything?" Daphne asked.
I shook my head and put my gloves back on. "Nothing. Just some Reaper putting the trap here."
Rory stared at the trap, then kicked it and sent it flying into a nearby tree. She glared at the metal like she wished she could somehow kill it. Daphne and I glanced at each other, but we kept quiet. We knew all about being angry at the Reapers and not being able to do anything about it.
Daphne reached down and grabbed her bow. "Well, if we're all done playing veterinarian, we should leave. We need to get back to the others."
Chapter 23
Rory, Daphne, and I walked back to the stream. Apparently, everyone had been busy doing their own thing, and no one seemed to notice how long we'd been gone. Oliver didn't even look up from his phone when we walked past him. He was texting again. I was surprised that he'd found a signal this high up on the mountain, but, hey, good for him.
Five minutes later, everyone was ready to go, and we started back up the steep, winding trail. I looked left and right and even peered up into the clouds above, but I didn't see the baby gryphon anywhere. I also didn't spot the mysterious shadow that had been in the forest earlier, following alongside us. Maybe it had just been a curious animal after all, wondering what the humans were doing hiking through its turf.
Except for a few brief snatches of conversation, everyone was quiet. My friends kept scanning the forest on either side of the trail, and Ajax kept sneaking glances over his shoulder, as though he expected someone or something to come up on us from behind. We all had our weapons close at hand too - in case the Reapers decided to attack before we reached the ruins.
But the minutes slipped by and turned into an hour, with no sign of the Reapers. I was about to whine and ask how much farther it was when we crested a high ridge. The others slowed and then stopped, and we spread out in a straight line across the trail so we could all see the sight before us.
A swinging rope bridge stretched, swayed, and slightly sagged between either side of a deep, wide chasm. In the distance, the crumbling remains of what looked like a grand stone mansion covered the landscape.
"We're here," Rachel said. "Welcome to the Eir Ruins."
Covington's pictures hadn't done the place justice. Beautiful, blackish stone stretched out as far as the eye could see, the boulders piled in precise heaps, as though the building walls had been dominoes that had fallen on top of each other in a particular pattern. Thick, green ivy vines snaked over, around, and sometimes even through the rocks and the snow that covered them. Farther out in the ruins, I could see small, bright splashes of color, probably the wildflowers and other plants that bloomed in the main courtyard, despite the harsh winter weather.
"Well," Alexei said. "I suppose we should get going."
"Yeah," Carson said in a faint voice, peering over the edge of the trail and staring down into the chasm. "Let's, um, do that."
Rachel gestured at the ropes. "The bridge is fairly sturdy, but I'm not sure it's strong enough for all of us to cross at once. So, just to be on the safe side, we'll go over in groups of two. Rory and I will go first, since we're most familiar with the area. Wait until we're on the other side before sending the next group over."
Ajax and Covington nodded.
Rachel went over to the bridge, grabbed the ropes on either side, and stepped onto the weathered wooden planks. The bridge was free of snow, given all the wind that constantly swirled around it. Rory followed her, and the two of them quickly crossed over to the other side with no hesitation and no problems. Carson's face had a decidedly greenish tint to it, and I could hear his stomach gurgling, but the band geek hurried forward, and he and Daphne crossed second. They were followed by Oliver and Covington.
Then, it was my turn. Alexei stepped up beside me and flashed me a confident smile. He went first. I waited until he'd gone a few steps before walking out onto the bridge behind him.
Just like Rachel had said, the swinging bridge seemed sturdy enough. The wooden boards might have been bleached a pale gray by the sun and wind, but they didn't have any cracks or chips in them, and the ropes were thick and heavy. So I put one foot in front of the other, slid my gloved hands along the rope, and tried not to look down.
I'd made it to the middle of the bridge when a gust of wind whipped up from the chasm below. The sudden rush of air made the bridge sway from side to side. My stomach lurched up into my throat, and my hands tightened around the ropes. All I could do was stand there and hold on.
Alexei glanced over his shoulder at me. "Come on, Gwen," he said. "It's just a little wind. This is nothing compared to the winters in Russia."
"Yeah," I repeated in a faint voice. "Nothing."
Another gust of wind screeched up from the canyon. The high, piercing sound made me think of the baby gryphon, and I remembered that this was exactly how he had felt while he was soaring up and down on the wind currents - and how much he loved the sensation. Sure, he had wings, and I didn't, but thinking about the creature gave me the courage to keep walking forward, one step at a time, until I was on the other side. I hurried forward away from the end of the bridge. Thinking about the gryphon might have made crossing the bridge a little easier, but it wasn't anything I wanted to do again anytime soon.
"Please tell me there's another way down the mountain," I said to Rachel as we watched Ajax navigate the bridge by himself.
She smiled. "Not a fan of the swinging bridge?"
I shrugged.
"There is a trail on the far side of the ruins," she said. "I haven't been down it in years, though. It's much steeper, and it would take twice as long for us to get down the mountain that way. And that's only if there haven't been any rock slides on that part of the mountain to block the path."
In other words, I was going to have to go back over the bridge when we left whether I wanted to or not. Yippee-skippee.
Once Ajax had crossed, we left the bridge behind and entered the ruins. I'd been right when I'd thought the stone was beautiful. Up close, I could see the flowers and vines that had been chiseled into the smooth surface of the fallen boulders. Even in places where the walls had crumbled and the rocks had scattered over the snowy ground, everything still seemed neat, precise, and clean, as though someone had meant for the ruins to look exactly the way they did. I wondered if it was the goddess Eir or some other magic at work.