Black veins tracked down his face and neck.
“Gladly,” I said.
I slashed across his eyes with the Hyena. A red line, marring the reflection there. The veins continued to spread, and skin started to boil and flake away.
Then I gave him a push. Enough that when he fell from the edge of the building, he didn’t hit the stairwell on the way down.
I watched him fall, because I had to be sure.
His body hit the ground, almost impossible to see.
From a large crack in the side of the pillar, a great black hand as large as a house reached forth. It seized the body, and it dragged it into the darkness.
With no time to waste, I hurried to help the Knights in dispatching the lost souls that had clustered around them.
With my approach, however, they scattered.
The library rumbled, and in keeping with its rules, we were silent on the way out. Limping, wounded, missing pieces, and perhaps a little heartbroken.
I was acutely aware of Alexis’ absence.
■
The gunshot was loud, but it prompted no ringing.
I saw Nick’s expression, as he looked down at his Knight. The one the Barber had torn open. The pain had been too much. We’d had to stop walking, and the victim had begged for peace.
Nick had given it.
“Alister,” Rose said.
Alister shook his head.
“You got hurt badly too.”
“I did. It sucks. I- I lost my ring. I’m not sure what that means.”
Rose nodded. “And the pain?”
“I don’t think the cut was meant for me. The pain is… there. But not like it was for him.”
Rose gave him a hug. It was stiff, unexpected, and weird, without any real affection. Alister looked more surprised than anything.
Then he returned it, and he was able to offer something resembling affection.
“We’ve been walking a while, and we’re not making any headway,” Ty said. “We’ve got a lot of injuries. Should we stop and look after the wounds?”
“We’re close,” Rose said. “We feel close.”
“We’ve felt close for a while,” Tiff said.
I looked up. We were working our way uphill, but the trees were dense, and the uphill climb didn’t stop. We might as well have been on a treadmill. But as we walked, the Abyss was drawing more into itself. More trees, more marsh.
“Evan?” I asked.
He was with Tiff and Ty.
“Are you up to it?” I asked. “Scout?”
He nodded, wordless, and took flight.
We continued our trudge through snows and between trees. The sky remained dark overhead, the clouds roiling.
Evan returned. He led us off to one side. An angle.
The trees were denser here. A cage, a barrier.
“Blake!” I heard Green Eyes, from somewhere distant.
“Green Eyes!” I called out.
“Be careful! Remember what I said in the beginning! Our first meeting!”
“Which!?”
But my cry wasn’t answered.
“Can’t,” Evan said. “Tried flying to them, but it just keeps going. Peter’s up there with Ainsley, the witch hunter, and Green Eyes.”
“A trick, a trap?” Alister asked.
I shook my head.
We were in the Abyss, but we weren’t. We were at the gap, a middling place.
What had Green Eyes told me on the first meeting?
Oh.
Ways to escape the Abyss.
I felt something ugly well up inside. A kind of certainty.
Once I knew what I was looking for, it wasn’t hard to find.
Into thicker trees. I moved with an energy, now, a desire to find out that I was wrong.
“Blake! Don’t get too far ahead, we’ll lose you!”
I forged on. Evan at my shoulder.
I found the path. One that led from the library to outside. Sections of snow-covered driveway. Burned tree. Thick woodland.
A locket dangled from a branch.
I took it, and I opened it.
Dark hair within.
I tugged it free of the branch, firmly enough to break wood.
Three more paces found the fragments of metal, laid out in the snow.
One of the ways out of the Abyss, I thought. Gotta get past the Gatekeeper.
I put the Hyena down in the snow, and the broken edges of the sword lined up with the fragments of metal, like two puzzle pieces. I had little doubt they’d fit together readily.
Birds chirped in the trees.
When the others caught up with me, I was staring at a tree that had grown into a peculiar shape. It bent, providing a space.
Mara told me, I thought. That I’d lose the freedom I wanted.
I touched the wood. A chair. A throne.
The Abyss wants me to be one of the gatekeepers, and it’s holding the others hostage.
Last Chapter Next Chapter