Of course he was terrified after nearly drowning in his basement. That was why Matthew had been so pensive—he’d known this was in our future. So why not give us a heads-up? “Swim it, Jack? What about Matthew and Finn? Maybe we can go back the way we came?”
“If we do that, we’ll run out of light,” he said. The flashlights were already flickering. “And we’re getting close. Feel that air breezing?” He pointed toward the black expanse in front of us. “We’ve got to be near the end.”
Finn said, “Don’t stop on my account. I’d rather swim for a stretch than climb.”
Another shaft-shuddering quake. What sounded like larger boulders dropped in the distance, exploding against the ground.
“I can help Finn across,” Selena said, “but we need to push on. Any more quakes and we’re going to get trapped down here. Look at the roof trusses.” She tilted her light up.
Massive lengths of wood bowed under the weight of boulders, curving like the ribs on a ship. Ominous splintering sounds echoed.
In a rush, the water started rising even faster. To navigate that in the dark?
“WATER. WATER!” Matthew was hysterical. I was getting there myself, my heart thundering.
Jack brushed his knuckles along my cheek. His skin was shockingly cold. “Listen to me, bébé, it’s just like a swimming pool. You were a terror in the pool, non? As soon as you’re across, coo-yôn will be clamoring to follow you.”
Matthew had been traumatized just weeks ago. Now we were expecting him to swim in a dark mine with rising water?
Lark said, “Look, I’ll go first.” She bounded into the water, diving in an arc like a porpoise. Her rats were dislodged, paddling in her wake. When she surfaced some distance away, I saw her cutting through the water—until she disappeared into the murk.
Moments later, she called, “I’m here. On the other side. Yawning.” Even her echoing voice conveyed her impatience. She’d made it look so easy.
I turned to Matthew, peeling my hand from his. “I’m going to follow Lark. And then you and Jack will swim after me.”
“NOOOO!” he howled, the sound paining my ears.
“Coo-yôn, listen to me. It’s not far. How about I swim with Evie, then come right back for you? I’ll be beside you the whole way.”
Matthew seized my shoulders. “Dying! Dying! Death!”
With a muttered, “Screw this,” Selena eased Finn down to a sitting position, then jogged off to scout the way back.
Jack tried to pull Matthew off me. “We’re running out of time, kid!”
“Nooo, Empress!” Matthew thrashed, accidentally clocking me in the face.
My jaw sang. I reeled, dizziness and another tremor almost sending me onto my ass. “It’s o-okay, honey, just calm down.”
Selena returned. “We’re blocked. Trusses fell, tangling up like pick-up sticks. There’s only one way to go.”
“Calm yourself, coo-yôn!”
Matthew’s long arms connected with Jack, battering him. He was like a drowning man on land.
“Sorry ’bout this, boy.” Jack drew back his fist and popped Matthew in the face.
Matthew lurched, flashed a wounded expression, then went limp.
“Jack!”
He caught Matthew, laying him on the ground. “We doan have time! I’m going with you first.”
“No, you have to stay with Matthew! Make sure he gets across. I’ll be fine—just like you said, I’m a t-terror in the pool.”
“No way, Evie.” He curled his finger under my chin, lifting my face up.
“Stay with him, Jack. Please!”
“We’ll swim together, Matthew in tow.” He pressed a brief kiss to my lips, then reached for my pack.
I shimmied away. “I can handle it. You’ve got enough to carry.”
After a pause, he nodded. “Then in you go, bébé. You can do this.” He turned to Selena. “You got Finn?”
She helped him to stand. “We’re right behind you, J.D.”
I hurried in, the shock of the cold water hitting me like a blizzard’s blast. At the drop-off, I treaded water, startled by how much my clothes and pack weighed me down.
I aimed my light back at the shore, saw Jack dragging Matthew’s lanky frame into the water. After maneuvering the boy onto his back, Jack looped one arm around Matthew’s chest and started after me. “Doan look back and doan wait for me! Just get to the other side.”
Teeth clattering, I started across, holding the light with one hand. Farther out, the water was rougher, waves battering me. The chill temperature numbed my limbs, but I was able to make headway.
Jack was determinedly following.
The quakes continued, rocks falling. A softball-size one struck me square on the head. Pain erupted, faintness almost overwhelming me. I’ll heal, keep swimming! I breathed in water, coughing on it.
The mine rocked harder than ever before. Boulders began plummeting from the ceiling, roof trusses stabbing down into the water. “Jack!” I shrieked.
“Keep on, Evie—”
An entire shelf of rock landed behind me with so much force, the percussion was a punch to my stomach. A wave surged, whipping me up and toward the opposite shore. I felt weightless for a brief moment. . . .
“Ahhh!” I slammed into the shallowing water, the force flinging me forward, far into the shaft. The ground was a washboard of grit and rock scouring my face.
Over my heaving breaths and coughs, I heard Jack yelling from what sounded like miles away. The wave must’ve hurled him and Matthew in the other direction. The quakes kept rumbling. So dizzy. Wait, where was Lark?
—I’LL MAKE A FEAST OF YOUR BONES!—
Ogen’s call. Close. Panicked, I scrambled up; my arm bent at a weird angle. Broken? I collapsed right onto my wasted face.
Selena screamed, “Evie, they’re here! Watch your six!” To Finn, she snapped, “Light it up now, Magician, or she’s done!”
With a yell, Finn threw a beam of light from the opposite shore, illuminating the shaft in front of me. . . .
Death.
He was just there, terrifying in full black armor. I shrank back from him, knowing these were my last moments alive. His tableau—the mounted Reaper wielding a scythe—looked less horrific than his actual appearance.
Selena launched a volley of arrows, one after the other, what must have been an entire quiver.
He batted them away like flies. “Come with me, Empress, if you want them to live,” he said, his starry eyes aglow behind his visor. “Ogen’s striking the mountain, you see.” The Devil was causing the quakes? “If I do not stay him, this mine will collapse.”
I gazed over my shoulder. Jack had just caught sight of Death through the falling debris and spraying water.
“Nooo!” he bellowed, desperately trying to reach me while keeping Matthew’s head above water.
In a bored tone, Death said, “Sooner or later, the mortal will leave the Fool to drown. Anything to save you.”
I choked out, “What d-do you want?” Behind Death, I could see a cloudy dawn light streaming into the shaft. We’d been so close. Had he already murdered Lark?
“Come with me.” He offered his gloved hand. “And my allies and I will leave your . . . friends to their fates. Take my hand, and I vow they won’t be killed.”
Jack was getting closer. “Evie, goddamn it, doan you dare!”
I gazed into Jack’s tormented eyes. Rocks struck like missiles all around him. He was still swimming, but had to realize he’d never get to me in time. When a boulder nearly took him and Matthew both down into the depths, I knew I had to end this.
Even if it meant ending myself.
“Make the choice,” Death said. “Bend your will to mine. What wouldn’t you sacrifice for them to live?”
My right arm was broken. I had no poison, no arsenal. Didn’t matter. With my good arm, I reached for Death.
Even over the rumble of the quakes, I thought I heard Jack rasp, “Bébé??” Then louder: “Doan you do this!”
I gasped out, “T-take care of him, Jack—”
Death yanked me to him, sweeping me up in his arms. I fought him with any strength I had left, hyperventilating, dulling my claws on his armor, not even scratching it.
Death just laughed. When he turned to stride toward the light, Jack gave an agonized yell. Selena’s last arrow struck Death square in the back of his armor, shattering into splinters.
“Evie! EVIE!” Jack’s bellows grew fainter as the light brightened. “I’m comin’ for you! You know I will!”
We exited the mountain into pouring rain. Even the stormy day blinded me.
Nausea churned as Death carried me to his pale, red-eyed steed. I was shivering uncontrollably even before I saw the Reaper’s fearsome scythe in a saddle holster.
With me secured in his arms, he mounted. Why not just kill me?
“Wh-what did you do to Lark . . . ?” I trailed off, blinking in disbelief.
Lark, that bitch, was on a horse beside Death’s. And she was all smiles.
I cried, “H-how could you?”
“You’re too damn trusting, Evie.” The girl adjusted her conductor’s hat. “And now you’re looking at me like it’s my fault that I’m taking advantage of your failing?” Her falcon had returned to her; it perched on her shoulder, dining on one of the rats.
Her same three wolves surrounded her. Back from the dead? Familiars.
Off to the side stood monstrous Ogen, his body gigantic, over a dozen feet tall. His mottled torso was bared. Huge tattered pants were cinched at his waist.
Like Death, his tableau—a goat-man ogre leading tethered slaves—was less terrifying than his actual appearance.
His uneven horns twisted up from his misshapen head. What should have been the whites of his eyes were red and webbed with thick greenish-yellow veins, his black pupils slitted. With a grotesque smile, he pounded his meaty fists even harder against the mountain, rocking it.
“No!” I screamed, striking Death’s armor. Ogen would level the entire mine! “You swore you’d leave them alone! You swore.”
Death reined his mount around. “I’ll keep my vows to you as well as you did to me.”
“Wh-what does that mean?” My voice sounded so distant. Exhaustion was overwhelming me, but I struggled to remain conscious.
“Doesn’t this feel familiar, creature? You, injured in my arms, as I ride. Our history repeats itself.” When he removed his spiked glove, tears welled, then streamed from my eyes.
I tried to break free, the effort sending me closer to blacking out. “Don’t touch me!”
His fingers brushed along my cheek, his skin burning hot against mine. He shuddered from the slight touch; I braced for pain. This was it, then.
My eyes rolled back in my head.
Death’s hand inches ever closer to my face. Closer . . .
Contact. This is my end. His skin is surprisingly hot. My lids slide shut. Scarcely conscious, I await more grueling pain.
Heartbeat, heartbeat, heartbeat.
I crack open my eyes.
I feel nothing but the continued agony of his sword. Brows drawn, he yanks off his other glove, laying both hands against my face, then running his palms down my arms.
His starry eyes glow brighter; as if in response, my glyphs shiver, awakening.
Voice gone hoarse, he says, “None of the others survived my touch. No one.” He strokes my cheeks, my neck, my lips.
When was the last time he held a living person this long?
I sense something wicked beginning to seethe inside him. With a lustful gaze, he leans in to press his lips to my bloody ones. I am too stunned to react. His kiss is ardent but unsure, as if he’s never done it before.
Once he draws back, he licks the blood from his lips and groans, “So sweet.”
“I-I don’t understand.” Am I immune to him?
“I am Death—and you are Life. You were made for me alone.” He grips the hilt of his sword, yanking it free from my body. As I scream with pain, he catches me with his other arm. “You will heal.” Under his breath, he says, “You must.”
Cradling me to his chest, he mounts his steed. “I will protect you, and you will forgive me this. I will see you well.”
“L-let me go.”
“Never, creature.” He gazes down at me. The most beautiful male I’ve ever seen. “I will never let you go.”
“Where are you taking me?”
He frowns, as if the answer should be obvious. “To my bed, Empress . . .”
20
DAY 258 A.F.
SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTHEAST
When I woke, I was still on a horse, still held by Death. As in my dream/memory.
But this time, I was astride the saddle, with my back to his front, my cheek resting against his armor. Instead of sizzling desert sands, we rode through pouring rain.
How long had I been out? My broken arm was healed?
That dream of Death merged into my present reality. He could touch my skin! I was the only one he could touch without killing.
And he’d been attracted to me.
Not this time around. My wrists were so securely cuffed together even I couldn’t slice my way out. At some point he must have peeled off my parka and pack, leaving me in jeans and a short-sleeved shirt. To keep me cold and weak?
“She wakes,” Death intoned from behind me.
I stiffened, sitting up in the saddle. His voice brought other memories rushing into my consciousness. Oh, God. Ogen had battered the side of the mountain with even more force after we’d emerged. We’d been seconds from dying down there before—how could Jack and Matthew have lived through another wave of quakes? If the mine had collapsed . . .
Matthew, please answer me!
Nothing. Maybe they were trapped. Or just asleep.
Sweetheart, I need to know you’re okay! PLEASE TALK TO ME!
Silence answered. And emptiness—as if the comforting presence I’d felt since before the Flash had been uprooted from me. Even Death’s presence in my head was utterly gone.