The Fire Sisters (Brilliant Darkness 3) by A. G. Henley

that the Sisters might be leaving traps along the path sobers us as we set off again. That, and the weather.
    The thunder and lightning let up a bit, but the rain drives into my face like the sky has a special plan to drown me. I’m drenched and freezing again within minutes, and from the chattering of teeth all around me, so is everyone else. We're in the same close grouping, but this time, I don’t mind being in the middle. It’s a little warmer with all the bodies around me.
    Kai leads us to a path that continues to follow the Restless, but the river sounds a little farther away, and it runs on our right side instead of our left now. It also sounds calmer since it went through the gorge under the bridge. Maybe it widened out again. Kai doesn’t say if she remembered this path being here or what. She hasn’t said much of anything since Peree and I helped her, except her observation about the slats.
    This path is more open, allowing us to move much faster. Only the occasional rock or divot threatens to topple me. I still use my walking stick, but I could probably do without it for once. That’s the good news.
    The bad news, other than the stinging rain, dreary cold, and growing mud, is that the hills are far from finished with us. We climb up and down them with a burning, aching relentlessness, until the path parts ways with the river all together, venturing into the forest.
    There’s a hush among the trees, broken only by the rain rapping on the canopy overhead. My mind turns to poor Kora and the other children again and again as we slog on. How are they coping with the weather and the difficult terrain? And what about pregnant Frost? I’m worried we won’t catch the Sisters before they get to the Cloister. What will we do then? Storm the home of a group of cunning, seasoned fighters?
    Apparently, everyone’s thinking the same thing, because we don’t rest or even slow for hours, and no one complains. I’m so mired in my drenched, dismal thoughts that I almost don’t notice when we stop. It’s hard to tell what time it is between the trees and the gloom—late afternoon?
    “What are we doing?” I ask.
    “There might be a cave where we can take a breather,” Bear says from behind me. “Peree and Kai are checking it out.”
    “A cave? In the middle of the forest?”
    “We’ve been walking next to a low, rocky ridge for a while now. There’s a dark hole in the side of the rock over there, close to the ground. Might be an entrance.”
    I had no idea a ridge ran beside us, much less a possible cave. We could be cruising through the Cloister right now for all I know.
    I shrug my pack off and roll my neck, then lift my shoulders, one at a time. The others shift around, too, groaning as if they’re stretching. We probably shouldn’t stop here—who knows how hard the Sisters are driving the children ahead of us—but a rest beside a fire in a dry cave is too tempting to pass up. When the rain stops, we can press on.
    Peree and Kai’s feet shuffle along the wet ground as they return.
    “We couldn’t see to the back without a torch, but it seems big enough for all of us,” Peree reports.
    “Let’s go,” Cuda quickly says.
    The group hustles me off the path to the left. Small rivulets of rain spill onto my head and splash in my face as we brush by low branches. We stop again, and Peree takes my hand.
    “You have to duck to get in. Watch your head when you stand; the roof of the cave isn't high.” He leads me forward.
    Bending low, I scuttle inside and cautiously straighten. I can stand, but reaching up, the roof is only a hand-length or two above my head. The cave is pitch black and smells stale and dusty, but it’s blessedly dry. I take a few steps inside, giving the others a chance to enter.
    “We need torches,” Bear says. “I can’t see a thing.”
    “Good luck finding anything dry to burn out there.” Conda sounds weary.
    Maybe there’s something in here to burn. From the close