75

Surely I had to be dreaming. It felt like my strength had been restored.

“Riggs, you can’t be, how are you-“ I couldn’t find the right words to say. He put his index finger over his lips and then pressed his hand against my forehead, at first I felt a sharp pain and then all of it was gone.

“I just extracted the poison,” his familiar voice said.

I swallowed hard, my chest thumping in its cage. “That’s not the-“

“You can’t tell anyone about this, Talie.”

Hearing his voice like this was something I thought I wouldn’t be able to experience forever. My eyes were instantly filled with tears, and I attempted to pull him into a hug, but he got to his feet.

“Meet me here again by tomorrow.”

I hurriedly got to my feet as well, “where are you going?!”

“I have to go now, no one must know about me.”

“You can’t just leave me hanging in the dark, Riggs!” I called but all to no avail, he walked out on me, leaving me in the cave.

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to find my way back, but it felt like