41 DAYS UNTIL THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, AFTER TWILIGHT
Skye!
Nothing.
No response, not even a whisper. I couldn’t hear her. Couldn’t feel her. My mind filled with worst-case scenarios, raging out of control. Only my legs worked properly. Pumping, scrambling, running, doing whatever it took to get back to her.
I whipped around the cliff’s corner and nearly knocked Davey down.
“Where are they?” I grabbed his shoulders. “Where’s Skye?”
“I was coming to get you. Follow me.”
He stepped off the ledge and switched to freestyle, kicking hard. I followed. Beneath the water, he pointed to an opening in the rocks, one similar to the oceanside exit of the Looking Glass Cavern.
I hurtled through the underwater passage. When I surfaced into clear air, I heard my name.
“Rives!” Molly’s shout was an echo. It bounced around, ricocheting off rock. “In here!”
In here. In here. In here.
“Rives!” she shouted again. Fear laced her shout, reminiscent of another shout before: Miya’s. A lifetime ago, lived by a different Rives.
Molly’s shout faded. I scrambled out of the water and into the dank opening, following the echo and the light. When I burst into the widening space—another cavern, bigger, full of light—Molly lifted her tear-stained face to me. Skye lay in Molly’s arms, eyes closed, head and body still.
I dropped to Skye’s side. Her skin burned hot, like she had a fever.
Gently, I brushed Skye’s cheek with my thumb. “Skye?” I whispered, my chest tight.
Nothing.
I looked up at Molly. “What happened?”
“Skye found this place, and I followed her. First the cavern with the eye, then this one. There was water. She touched it, and it sucked her entire arm in, up to her elbow. The water lit up like liquid sunlight, like it was happy. I felt it was happy, ecstatic even. But Skye’s face went white. I pulled her out as fast as I could. Rives…” She swallowed. “Skye only put her hand in the pool for a moment, I promise. Maybe five seconds at the most. But she hasn’t moved since.” Molly glanced around. “And the pool disappeared.”
“Disappeared,” I repeated.
Molly nodded. “It seeped into the ground, like it was never here.” She pointed across the cavern. The bottom was bone dry.
No evidence left of Nil’s poison, just the victim.
Skye.
We were trapped inside Nil ground.
I lifted Skye from Molly’s arms into mine. “I’m going to stay here with her until she wakes up.” If she wakes up, came the cruel whisper.
Molly was still looking at me. I said, “She can’t swim out when she’s unconscious. Tell Thad, okay?”
Molly nodded, and left.
Skye didn’t move, other than breathing.
Mine. Mine. Mine, whispered the breeze.
No, I thought fiercely. She was in my arms, in my soul. But Skye belonged to no one: not me, and definitely not Nil. Her will and spirit were hers alone.
Thad showed up, breathing hard. His eyes went directly to Skye. “How’s she doing?”
“Not good. I think she might have a fever.”
I felt so helpless. Didn’t know what the hell was wrong, didn’t know how to help.
Thad sat down and leaned his back against the wall, getting comfortable, like he planned to stay awhile.
“You don’t have to stay,” I told him.
“I know.” He closed his eyes.
A long minute passed.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Not necessary, brother,” Thad said. “We’re getting out of this together. All of us.”
Inside the cavern, night fell. Time passed. Skye didn’t stir. The light faded completely and the noise in my head grew.
Rivessssss …
She’s mine, snarled the darkness. I’ve touched her. Felt her. Claimed her.
No, I lashed out. Lashed back. She is not yours, and she never will be.
Too late.
The two words echoed in my head. Laughter followed, smug and satisfied; it bounced off cerebral walls, burying deep.
Hour after hour, taunt after taunt.
Skye didn’t wake.
Dawn broke, shooting light into the cavern. Skye lay as still as death, her skin still hot. Thad looked like he’d pulled an all-nighter, like me. My mouth was dry. My head, bruised.
“Thad, we have to get her out of here. Now.”
“No argument there, brother. Just tell me how.”