The Guardians Crown (The Guardians Book 5) by Wendy Owens Page A

fell over the group.
    “Do you think there’s any chance Mirada got the coordinates wrong?” Rachel asked. It was clear to the group that they had followed the directions precisely, and after thoroughly searching the area there was no sign of a cave.
    At first nobody answered her question. Sophie and Haim collapsed on the ground, both relieving themselves of the rope around their waist. The rest of the group soon followed suite.
    “I don’t know, maybe she had bad information,” Sophie suggested.
    Gabe took a big gulp of the water then made his own suggestion, “Perhaps she’s not all that different from her sisters after all.”
    Uri nodded in response, but Rachel quickly chimed in to defend the woman whom she barely knew. “That’s not fair. Mirada told us from the beginning that she was working off secondhand knowledge and that this could be a wild goose chase. I think you’re being too hard on her.”
    “She has a point,” Haim added, moving to stand next to Rachel, causing her stature to look even smaller. “I don’t think Michael would marry someone who’s that dishonest.”
    “You’re sure giving him a lot of credit when it comes to judging a pretty face,” Gabe remarked.
    “Really?” Rachel snarled, leaning back against the surface of the rocks behind her.
    Suddenly her face shifted from one of contempt towards her husband’s comment to one of pure terror. Before Gabe could react, he watched helplessly as Rachel slipped backwards and out of sight into the mountainside, a crumbling wall now the only thing he could see.
    “Rachel!” Gabe shouted, rushing forward. Before Gabe could reach her Haim, being closer to where she had fallen through, leapt into the gaping hole after her.
    The group now only heard Haim’s cries echoing in the darkness as they drifted further away.
    “What the hell?” Uri shouted as he and Sophie hopped to their feet, peering down the hole with Gabe, only darkness staring back at them.
    “Where did they go?” Gabe cried.
    Peering into the darkness, Uri commented, “It looks like some sort of old shaft.
    “Get out of my way, I’m going after them!” Gabe exclaimed.
    He didn’t hesitate. He grabbed what remained of the sides of the cavern, and propelled himself through the hole, and down the ice-covered tube. As he rocketed through the shaft, he could see where pieces above his head had melted away, exposing solid rock, or in some place even an empty darkness.
    The further he travelled, he realized the tunnel was no longer made of ice, but was now a smooth stone surface. He also noticed the temperature was rising with every foot he moved further into the core of the mountain.
    “Rachel?!” he managed to shout. The only thing he could hear were the cries of Sophie and Uri who had followed behind him into the darkness.
    Suddenly a soft light revealed itself at the bottom of the tunnel. Gabe saw the shaft was about to come to an abrupt end. He did his best to slow his descent. Clawing at the walls, he grasped for anything that would slow his high speeds. Nothing seemed to work. Letting out a scream as he was ejected from the tube, he landed with a thud and rolled to an abrupt and painful stop.
    He found himself in some sort of vast cave, his eyes still adjusting to the dimness. Stuck to the walls were little round bits of blue light. Hundreds of them lit up the entire cavern.
    “Gabe!” Rachel cried, rushing over and helping her beloved to his feet.
    A second later Uri and Sophie came bursting forth from the shaft. Haim was able to soften Sophie’s landing by catching her mid air, Uri on the other hand was able to stop his rapid descent against a stone wall.
    “What is this place?” Gabe asked, his focus still captured by the odd lights.
    Sophie approached a wall, water trickling over it. She ran her fingers over one of the small lights. Gripping it tightly, she pulled it free, much to everyone’s amazement it still glowed.
    “Magic?” Uri asked.
    “Not