Chapter 72

Upon emptying the flower’s pink liquid contents, the vines on the nearest wall shifted, then opened into a passageway. Natalie followed the offered exit up and out, returning after a short hike into the enormous cavern above, where she’d fallen from.

And where her friends were frantically searching for a way to help.

Natalie, of course, had prepared some lies on the way up. She wasn’t the most meticulous or far-sighted planner, but even she knew if she didn’t have explanations for what had happened, she’d end up revealing some things she would really rather not. Even telling Jordan about the event was going to be mortifying. Maybe Natalie would forgo her typical policy of honesty even to her.

Liz saw her first, then cried out in surprise and relief. A moment later, Natalie was crowded in by the rest of her team. Even Ana’s mask had cracked into a hint of worry. Only a hint, but on the stony girl, any emotion stood out.

“Sorry, sorry,” Natalie said, assuring them. “I’m fine. I was just ... kind of an idiot.”

Which wasn’t untrue. Still, it grated on her. She needed to imply she’d fallen for a trap, when she hadn’t—not really. Traps at this level of the dungeon were usually pretty obvious. Undoubtedly, Ana and Liz would make a few judgments about her for having ‘fallen’ for one. Not enough to dislodge whatever appraisals they’d made of her from the past several hours of delving, probably, with it being an overall minor thing, but they’d at least note the event.

Liz, who’d crowded up next to Natalie in her frantic concern, wrinkled her nose and took a step back.

“And what’s that smell?” she asked.

Natalie wisely didn’t tell the truth. Or, the full truth. “Came from a plant monster.” In an amusingly literal manner. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t ever in danger. It was such a weird trap the dungeon didn’t go hard on me.” That was the general trend of traps: the trickier and stealthier, the less lethal. Proportional punishments. By implying the dungeon’s punishment had been minor, she implied the trap had been especially stealthy, which absolved her of some of the embarrassment.

“Plant monster,” Sofia said. “Like what?”

“Big mass of vines.” Natalie shrugged. “Weird thing. Not in the manuals. Like I said, I’m fine, just a quick diversion. Slap on the wrist.”

“What was the trap?” Liz asked.

“There was something on the wall,” Natalie said. “Didn’t look like danger, but I should’ve known, I guess. Touched it. Activated a trapdoor. Fell into this room of vines and had to fight my way out.”

All of it was true, in a sense.

And, this being the dungeon, nobody looked at her explanation too closely. It was entirely reasonably.

Nobody besides Jordan, at least, who gave her a questioning look. She suspected something. Natalie inclined her head, just barely, to confirm, and Jordan nodded back. Natalie hadn’t expected to slip past her attention. Jordan knew her too well.

“Kay,” Liz said. “It’d good you’re safe, then, but we really need to head back. We’re way late, now. Dunno if we can make it back to campus before curfew.”

“Maybe if we rush,” Jordan said.

Natalie nodded, then waved for them to head toward the cavern’s exit, striding forward herself.

Rushing back. That worked with her. Further questioning would only push her into having to lie directly, and she would rather not; these were her teammates, and potentially long term ones, since, besides the hiccups, this first delve had gone well.

“Guess we’re getting some cardio in,” Natalie said. “If we jog, I bet we can make it.”

They didn’t.

Even rushing through the previously cleared tunnels of the dungeon and backtracking to the exit portal at a speed that bordered on reckless, then jogging through the streets of Aradon back to the campus gates, they missed curfew. Not by much. A few minutes. Unfortunately, still late.