JUNE 10, NIGHT
The room exploded in noise and heat and oh HELL no.
Skye turned on me, her eyes narrowing, her hands on her hips. “Do not tell me what to do, Rives. I’m a big girl. But”—she whirled back to her dad—“are you really telling me to go back to Nil? Are you kidding me? Because I don’t think—”
Professor Bracken’s exclamation competed with Skye’s. “I’m certainly not telling you to return to Nil! Absolutely not! What I’m trying to say—”
“Because you don’t understand the darkness, Dad!” Skye stared at her dad like he’d grown a second head. “It’s horrible! And if that’s really Nil, then I can’t—”
“Stop.”
The steel in my own voice sliced through both Skye’s and her dad’s at once. Silence fell like a dark cloud.
“No more Nil.” I didn’t care how harsh my voice sounded. “We’re done. There is no way in any world I’ll let Skye go back there.” An image of Dex’s mangled body in the meadow coursed through my head; it was Skye’s bloody memory, not mine. “You have no idea what she went through. What she survived. What she did—for all of us.” I glared at the professor. “A return trip for her is not negotiable. It’s not happening.”
The professor’s expression softened. “Rives, I agree. Hear me out. What I was trying to say”—he shot Skye a look that said let me finish; she tipped up her chin in a go on, you’ve got thirty seconds move—“is that Skye is tough. Skye beat Nil once, and escaped. And she can do it again, here.” He emphasized that last word, then looked directly at Skye. “I have full faith that you can get Nil out of your head without stepping anywhere near that hellish island.”
“What do you mean, ‘Skye can get Nil out of her head?’” I crossed my arms.
The professor spoke calmly. “Rives, obviously Skye isn’t hearing Talla. It’s not possible for reasons you know all too painfully well.”
Because she’s dead, I thought harshly. Because I buried her, six feet under in Nil dirt. I had the most insane thought that Nil had resurrected Talla and brought her back to life. But I knew that wasn’t possible. Nil might play God, toying with people’s lives, but Nil wasn’t God. Stealing people’s lives didn’t make the island all-powerful; it just made the island cruel.
And a murderer.
All the checks fell squarely in the evil column of Nil. Apparently I was still keeping track.
The professor had stopped talking, no doubt sensing my mental drift.
“Go on,” I said. “Please.”
He nodded. “Skye’s not imagining Talla’s voice, or her image. She wouldn’t be able to manufacture someone so real if she were delusional. So, if Skye’s not hearing Talla, she’s obviously hearing Nil. Nil is using Talla to speak to Skye. The question is, why?”
Nil is using Talla to speak to Skye.
I knew exactly why. I stared at Skye, feeling sick. She wasn’t the pawn; that was me.
Skye was the prize.
“Rives.” Skye’s hand slid into mine. “Come with me.” She pulled me out of the office and down the hall. Then outside. Onto the back porch, under the misty Florida night sky. Humidity buried the stars; only the moon shone bright. Nil was out there somewhere too. Watching, laughing. Plotting. My free hand clenched.
Skye’s soft voice breathed into my ear. “I know you’re freaking out. I kind of am too. But I need to talk to you. I need you.”
I turned, and not caring how sweaty I was from my run, I wrapped her in my arms.
“I hate Nil.” I spat the words. “I hate that place. Using Talla, using me. Using you, definitely wanting you. Why won’t it let us go?” I pulled back to look into Skye’s eyes, my hands finding hers. “I cared for Talla. I really did. But what I felt for her back then is like a drop in the ocean compared to what I feel for you, Skye. I’m not downplaying my feelings for Talla, I’m just stating the truth. And the island knows how I feel. How you feel. So it’s using her for something.” Like a warning, I thought. Like a Hey, I screwed with your head and your heart once, I’m not afraid to do it again. And that was just a taste of the pain I can make you feel.
It had gutted me to bury Talla. Ripped something open that took months to heal, leaving a brutal Nil scar.
But if I lost Skye, I was done. I didn’t deserve her, but I sure as hell couldn’t imagine life without her. She was my best friend and my future, the girl I dreamed of traveling the world with as a two-person team, me snapping pictures, Skye writing the stories. The fact that Nil had linked us so completely in our final minutes on the island ensured that, if Nil tore us apart, I’d have more than a scar—I’d have a crippling wound that would never heal.
“Rives?” Skye tucked her hands in mine. “Worry is pouring off you, but right now I have no idea what you’re thinking.”
“I won’t let the island hurt you. But I’m scared, Skye. Of this darkness, this long-range Nil. Nil shouldn’t be able to mess with us here, or want to. I don’t know how to protect you from the invisible.”
“I don’t think you have to.” Her cheeks flushed with hope. “I think I figured out what Nil wants.”