I took a step closer, so close I could feel the heat of his chest against my skin. "It's my hair. You're secretly interested in biology rather than botany. Admitit."
His other hand reached and tugged a strand of my hair. I closed my eyes only to feel him stepaway.
"Right," he said. "This cave is why I brought you here. I need to show you what'sinside."
I blinked and swallowed hard. Right. Okay. Hank might be physically attracted to me, but his willpower was stronger than his physical drive. Good to know. "After you, sir." I gestured for him to gofirst.
"So generous," hequipped.
"You said you had strength and speed. I am merely a weak necromancer. So if you die, I can bring you back. Versus if I die, there's no one to bring me back. Win, win,right?"
Hank rolled his eyes, ducked down, and entered the cave. I followed behind, shuddering as spider webs stuck to my hair. Caves weren't for people. They were for animals and things that went bump in the night. I wanted to be anywhere buthere.
"Hank, do we really have to do this? What's so big about a cave on my propertyanyway?"
Hank ignored me. He fished around on the tool belt he wore and pulled out a flashlight. This told me we were going deeper into thecave.
"We can just stay right here. I'm totally fine withit."
"Helen?"
"Yes?"
"Canit."
"Hank," I hissed, "you have me in a creepy cave. If you were going to clobber me over the head and rob me, you had seven acres above ground to doit!"
"I never planned to clobber you, but if you don't stop talking I may reconsiderit."
He clicked on the light, sending a small beam of dusty light into the darkness. The cave was a whole lot larger than I expected. No bears came rushing out at us, so my shoulders dropped just a touch. I was still completely freaked out,though.
"Follow me," hesaid.
"You could just tell me, you know. You don't have to be allsecretive."
"I'm not sure you'd believe me. In fact, I'm not even sure I believe myself. Plus, I'm not a hundred percent sure what it is, though I have strong suspicions." He led the way through the dark, careful to keep his footing steady. I stepped exactly where he did. I didn't want any Indiana Jones' traps springing out and me getting impaled by arrows orsomething.
We must have walked for twenty minutes. I was getting more nervous by the second because that was quite a long time to be in a cave and not hit the end of it. Nerves were squirming in my stomach. Hank stopped abruptly and moved the flashlight directly in front of us. Light gleamed on what appeared to be a door. A very large, steeldoor.
"Huh. That can't beright."
'That's exactly what I said." Hank stepped a little bit closer. "As soon as I saw the door, I left and came back to the house. I have a pretty strong suspicion about where itgoes."
I frowned at his back. "Where?"
Hank glanced back at me, his eyebrows raised. "How often do you getout?"
"Rude," Imuttered.
"There's been a rumor about Midnight Cove ever since it became incorporated as a town. Portia Kadish is a notorious recluse. She has rarely been seen out of the agency she built. So how does she getaround?"
I looked at the door and back at him. "No," Ibreathed.
"Maybe." Hank moved the flashlight to look at the door in greater detail. There was writing around the edges of it. When he went to touch the handle, he jerked it back with ahiss.
"Magic?" I stepped closer to look atit.
"Has to be. It's too hot totouch."
