Chapter 98
In the cave, Lucy White suddenly opened her eyes.
She rose quietly and had just reached the entrance when familiar footsteps echoed behind her.
"Ethan?" she whispered.
Ethan Smith emerged from the shadows, the moonlight outlining his tall, lean frame. "Going to deal with the beast bones?"
Lucy arched an eyebrow. "How did you know?"
"Lucky guess," he replied, the corner of his mouth lifting. "The Seven-Kill Bone Mirage can't be left intact."
Her pulse quickened. This man always seemed to read her thoughts.
"Together?" he asked.
She nodded. Moving in perfect sync, they slipped past the patrolling special forces and vanished into the night.
Outside the cabin, a guard stifled a yawn.
He never noticed the two figures silently unearthing the buried bones.
"This sigil..." Ethan traced the eerie markings on the bone with his fingertips.
Lucy handed him a small knife. "Just scrape it off."
Under the moonlight, they knelt side by side, meticulously working through each bone. Ethan's movements were precise and practiced, as if he'd done this countless times before.
Lucy stole a glance at him. The concealment technique he used felt hauntingly familiar, but her memory remained frustratingly blurred, like a veil she couldn't lift.
"Done." Ethan buried the last bone back in the earth.
Lucy murmured an incantation, pressing a decay sigil into the soil where it dissolved without a sound.
"Let's go." She dusted off her hands.
When they returned to the cave, Michael Johnson was tossing restlessly in his sleeping bag.
Seeing Lucy's empty bed, his chest tightened. He was about to go search for her when soft footsteps sounded at the entrance.
Moonlight revealed Lucy and Ethan walking in one after the other. Michael's fists clenched.
At dawn, Lucy rose to find Michael immediately at her side.
"Lucy..." He hesitated, words caught in his throat.
She kept walking. "I'm going to wash up."
"I'll come with you!" he blurted.
Lucy glanced back toward the cave. "I'll wake the others to join us."
Michael's smile froze. Watching her retreating figure, an ache spread through his chest.
The girl who once only had eyes for him now wouldn't even give him a moment alone.
And Ethan...
Michael's hands balled into fists. The way that man looked at Lucy—he knew that gaze all too well.
It was the same way he himself had once looked at her.
A wave of urgency crashed over him. Taking a deep breath, Michael followed her into the cave.
He had to do something before he lost her completely...
[Plot Teaser]
Ethan's true identity is about to be revealed
What lengths will Michael go to win Lucy back?
What secrets lie within the stolen Black Horizon files?