Dreamwalker's Bride - Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Hot and cold
Ford marveled again at the strange temperature. He’d heard tales of a mine to the far West that had run afoul of underground volcanic activity. The tunnels had become heated and full of steam before the miners had evacuated.

That mine had been abandoned for its dangerous nature, but there were others like it to a lesser degree. As long as magma chambers weren’t breached, there was usually time to get everyone out.

“When you were here, those years ago,” Ford asked Gary, “Was it this warm?”

“No. It must be a seasonal change,” Gary lifted a hand to brush him off.

“Underground doesn’t have seasonal changes,” Ford argued. “Everything stays within a few degrees temperature all year round, no matter what is happening on the surface. Besides, isn’t it fairly chilly right now? We’re heading into summer, not coming away from it. If anything, there should be leftover cold, right?”

“You’re talking nonsense to scare me out of here, aren’t you?” Gary accused. “It won’t work. I’m here to stay, get used to it, or leave. You won’t deter me from getting down to the tree… which should be that way, I think…”

Gary moved forward into the room as Mia followed. She seemed to be moving without thinking, without contemplating where she stepped.

Ford had let go of her when they’d needed to crawl through the smaller spaces, but now he reached forward and took her arm again.

Her eyes were unfocused and distant. Was she having some sort of traumatic dissociation with her surroundings?

“Mia,” He said firmly. She blinked and looked into his face.

“What? What is it?” Mia looked up and around as if suddenly concerned that the ceiling was going to fall on their heads. “What’s happening?”

“You seemed distracted,” He glanced over at Gary, who was already leaving the room. “But I don’t want him to get away from us. I don’t trust him.”

“He’s been around us for days and not done anything other than help dig,” Mia said softly back. “What do you think he’ll do now?”

“I don’t know,” Ford had his ideas that the older man’s behavior might change once he got powers, but he wasn’t sure exactly why he had such a bad feeling about the man. “Let’s catch up to him.”

He moved quickly after Gary, footsteps echoing through the cave.

“Listen, I don’t like the fact that–” Ford began.

“That it’s hot? But it’s not anymore, is it? Now that we’re out of that room.” Gary frowned at Ford. “You’re being ridiculous.”

The air did suddenly seem cooler. An appropriate temperature. Ford frowned, looking backward.

“That’s very strange…” He mused. He’d never experienced a change so rapid. From unseasonably warm to absolutely normal, just by moving around a corner? He was tempted to go back and step back and forth across the threshold to test what was going on, but Gary was already moving onward down the tunnel.

“Where are you going?” Ford called.

“Where do you think?” Gary shot back. “I have to make sure the tree is all right.”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Mia seemed to snap out of whatever daze she was in as Gary’s behavior became more erratic.

“You don’t understand,” The older man’s voice was echoing back toward them, and the pair glanced at each other before jogging to hurry up.

Ford watched Mia’s face as she came alongside him. It seemed, for now, she was too distracted by Gary to worry about her own feelings. That seemed like it could backfire if at some point her mind suddenly decided to give her flashbacks.

He remembered how nearly catatonic she was back at her home when she first began to be bombarded by the lost memories. Then she wept, and was uncontrollably angry. Whatever Gary was planning, Ford couldn’t deal with that and Mia’s emotions at the same time.

Relying on her to keep them in check was a risk, but he really had no other choice at the moment.

“Hurry,” He said to her softly.

“Your leg–can you keep up?” She replied, a hint of worry behind her tone.

“Don’t fret over me,” He rolled his eyes, but it touched a part of him that no one else had that she constantly looked after his needs, when anyone else would be thinking about themselves.

Gary slowed a moment, allowing them to catch up. He was sweating heavily, despite the cool air. He wiped his brow with a rag, red-faced, and continued downward.

He was muttering under his breath, but Ford couldn’t catch the words. Gary was breathing heavily as if he’d run very far or sat in the hot sun for a long while. It was a strange thing; he’d worked in the cave for years and done heavy labor. The short jog he’d just endured shouldn’t leave him so sweaty.

And yet, Ford’s brow was also wet. He looked up, expecting to see stalactites dripping moisture down from the top of the cave, but he couldn’t see any directly above him.

Mia, too, seemed to be breaking out in a cold sweat. Her face was equally perplexed, as she wiped it and looked at her hand, bewildered.

“This cave… what’s going on?” She asked Gary. “I don’t remember this. It wasn’t like this before, causing people to sweat when it was perfectly cool.”

“It’s fine,” Gary said. “Don’t worry about it. Maybe you didn’t come this deep before. It you’re scared, just go back.”

Ford wasn’t about to let the man go deeper on his own. Something very strange was afoot, even if he didn’t know what.

Mia reached to tug on Ford’s sleeve.

“I… I remember,” She said softly.

“What do you remember?” He paused to look at her face. She seemed very serious. Her eyes closed and opened several times in rapid succession.

“I remember the room, I remember coming out. I remember the faces of the men who caught me.”

Ford patted her arm, not really sure what she needed from him at the moment.

“It’ll be all right,” He said slowly.

“No. No it won’t,” She whispered. “Because now, I remember Gary.”