Forgotten Love: An Action-Packed Adventure Romance (The Forgotten Chronicles) by Kameron Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

up in places, but they kept going.
    A sound that had started off as a whisper began to grow louder. It was a continuous hissing, a sound of steam escaping through an exhaust pipe, or an angry Nidhogg.
    "Do you...hear that?" Gillian asked him. "What is it?"
    "Well, I'm betting it's not Minik's monster. Come on, let's go see."
    After walking what Theo estimated was at least ten minutes, probably more, the cavern began widening out. The walls that had pressed in on them began to get further and further apart and it was slightly warmer. The ice on their faces turned to water. Theo kept them close to the wall on their right, as a guide.
    And then suddenly they entered a wide underground grotto.
    It was a huge cave, with massive rock pillars that went from the floor up to the high ceiling, thinner in the middle than at the base or the top, like conjoined stalactites and stalagmites. They stood like support columns everywhere, and Theo couldn't see how far back the grotto went because of the pillars being in his way. The hissing noise was loudest here, echoing around the chamber. And everywhere veins of purple and blue fluorescent minerals streaked through the otherwise black rock.
    Theo shut off his flashlight, just to see what would happen. The world they now stood in was lit by a soft purple glow. The crystals radiated light from some inner source, giving plenty of illumination to see by. "Interesting," he said.
    "Yes," Gillian chattered, hitting her fist weakly against his chest. "It is p-positively incredible. K-keep m-moving."
    He could tell she had to be close to the end of whatever incredible reserve she was drawing on. It wasn't freezing anymore but they were still in danger of hypothermia. He had an idea about what that constant hissing sound they were hearing might be. If he was right, they might just have a chance. And if he was wrong...
    Well, if he was wrong they were most likely going to die here.
    He weaved them through the rock columns, some of them so close together that he and Gillian had to go around them, some so widely spaced a semi-truck could have fit through. Everywhere, the fluorescent rock glowed and gave them light. The noise got louder still as they continued on and the air noticeably warmer. The grotto showed no signs of ending.
    And then, in a space clear of the heavy support columns, he found what he had hoped to see.
    "Oh, thank God," he whispered.
    "What is that?" Gillian said.
    "Our salvation," he said to her.
    "Wh-wh-where—"
    "Gillian, don't speak. Just trust me, okay?"
    She followed along next to him with shuffling steps...

Chapter 7
    THEY STEPPED INTO a rock clearing where Theo directed her stand in one specific spot—right where a natural vent blew currents of heated air up from the floor of the cave.
    "We need to get out of these wet clothes," Theo told her and began to strip down.
    To his surprise, she didn't argue.
    The two of them hurried out of their soaking wet clothing, down to their underwear—Gillian's, a nice set of Victoria's Secret. Theo's, a pair of well-traveled boxers.
    They both studiously ignored each other's nearly naked bodies standing deep under the surface of Greenland. The air washed up and over his skin, up his legs, his groin and his chest. The heat of it seeped into his flesh until he was sure he could feel ice crystals melting in his blood. It felt better than anything had in a long time.
    Gillian ran her hands over her bare skin, working warmth back into herself. "Oh my God," she moaned. "This is heavenly! How did you know these were here?"
    He forced himself to turn away from her, to keep his eyes from seeing...her. "I had no idea they were here. I just kept moving. Sometimes that's all you can do."
    The force of the air tickled over him, touching and warming sensitive areas of his nearly naked body. As his blood began to flow again back into his extremities, his muscles flexed easier and his fingers and toes tingled and he stood there enjoying it. This place was