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  “Maybe we aren’t looking in the right places.” My hands gripped Rives’s forearms tight; my eyes stayed locked on his. “The problem is, we don’t know what we’re looking for, but we’ve got to figure it out because if we don’t, then we’re just resetting the clock, again, and the next group will be even worse off. This place is getting crueler, Paulo said so himself. Rives, we’ve got to search—”

  He gently put a finger to my lips.

  “We will search, Skye. We’ll search this whole island. For people, for clues, for answers, and one epic island-ending solution. If it exists, we’ll find it. But not today. Today we need to get to the City, meet the people already there, and get everyone up to speed. And then as a team, we’ll make a plan, together. One step at a time. One day at a time. Okay?”

  His green eyes were clear and bright, reassuring and ready—like Rives himself.

  I nodded. “You’re right. Totally right.” I forced myself to take a slow breath. “Let’s get a move on back to the City. But tomorrow, we start searching. For anything unexpected. For island clues. For what we missed the first time. Deal?”

  “Deal.” Rives smiled.

  The breeze ruffled my hair, whispering like the girl in the dark, the one I couldn’t see until I chose to look. But this whisper was everywhere.

  So I’ll look everywhere, I thought, lifting my chin. Inside, outside, in every Nil nook and cranny. No stone will be left unturned.

  Switching subjects, Rives asked Paulo about the City, food stores, and a myriad of other daily details that seemed basic to survival, but I didn’t add any questions of my own. I didn’t just want to survive; I wanted more. I wanted escape and closure and an unequivocal end to it all. That was my focus, it always had been. I was already looking three months out, and I’d only been back for one day.

  Less than a day, I reminded myself. More like an afternoon.

  It felt like months, not hours. The exhaustion I’d experienced last time on Nil had roared back as if I’d never left. It had hit me the instant I’d come through the gate, initially making it hard to wake. Now fatigue swirled around me like a thick breeze pressing against my mind like the darkness of my dreams, but my constant fight with the darkness had served me well. Now I both acknowledged the fatigue and defied it, because I recognized it was Nil’s weariness, not mine. There was an invisible line defining where I ended and Nil began, a line I recognized, a line I reinforced because my mind was mine.

  I looked at Rives and felt the same. Mine, I thought.

  I would protect all that was mine, with all that I had.

  Concern flitted through Rives’s eyes. “Skye?”

  “Rives?” I countered, lifting my eyebrows.

  A grin played at the corners of his mouth. “I know you’ve got it all under control, but for the record? I don’t like you being last.” He gestured ahead, to where everyone else waited.

  “You never have. What makes today any different?”

  Rives’s jaw tightened. The flash of levity was gone. “Don’t look, but I think we’re being followed.”

  CHAPTER

  32

  RIVES

  94 DAYS UNTIL THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX

  “Followed?” Skye’s body twitched as she fought the urge to look behind her. “By what?”

  “Not what. Who. I think it’s a person. Maybe Lana. Maybe more than one person. I don’t know. My guess is that they’re scared and keeping their distance until they figure us out. I just wanted you to know, okay?” I fought the urge to grab her and run, even though there was nowhere to go.

  Eyes everywhere, I thought. Mine stayed wide open.

  I kept my hands to myself. Instead, I winked. “Once your wingman, always your wingman.”

  Zane coughed. “Okay, lovebirds, let’s get a move on before something decides to make us a snack. I’ll feel better when we hit the City.”

  “Echo that.” Thad nodded once then turned to me. “You’ve got the rear?” he asked, his eyes sharp. He was really warning Watch your back. He knew we were being followed too.

  I nodded.

  We climbed single-file down the south cliff, toward Black Bay. Narrower than South Beach, Black Bay lounged between two steep cliffs, like the ocean had scooped out a massive arc of rock, leaving a curved beach arching inward and lined with trees. At the heart of the bay, the scrub thickened. Trees gathered in awkward clumps, perfect places for things—both deadly and docile—to hide.

  Without discussion, we hugged the water. In the fading afternoon light, coal-black sand glittered in the surf. Larger rocks littered the bay, visible through the clear water, their black tops repeatedly painted with froth. Black on black, the bay was a dark place, especially at night.

  Thad strolled beside and slightly behind me. He kept glancing at the trees to our right.

  For my part, I kept a close watch on our back. We hadn’t lost our invisible shadow yet. I still felt him—or her.

  My money was still on Lana.

  “Thad’s almost as observant as you,” Skye said quietly, and sighed. “He’s really struggling. He’s been away from Nil for so long. I can’t imagine what he’s thinking right now.”

  “My guess is that he’s thinking about Charley. He met her here. On this beach.”

  “I didn’t know.” Sympathy flashed through her eyes, and understanding.

  I shrugged. “No way you would. Before your time.” Skye knew so much about Nil, more than I did, that sometimes I forgot she didn’t know everything. That there was a past here she didn’t live, didn’t read. Didn’t know.

  Up ahead, Paulo, Zane, and Kenji walked a few meters apart from one another, not talking. Everyone seemed lost in their own heads. Or maybe that was just me.

  Nil air wrapped around us, cool and salty. Even our breath came at Nil’s mercy.

  Three months, I told myself. Ninety days.

  Merde.

  So much time, too much time. So much could happen in one day. It already had.

  Look around. Pay attention.

  All I could see was Skye; all I could feel was Skye. Beside me, in my head. In my soul. Talk about an epic blind spot. Shaking out my fists, I worked to control my breathing, knowing I needed to get my head clear or I’d get us both killed. Or miss something important that could help—or hurt—us later.

  I wrenched my head back into Nil’s game.

  Skye was still watching Thad walk alone.

  “I feel terrible that he’s here,” she said. “Even though I know it’s not my fault, it feels like it is.” She sighed. “And I think he’s still upset with me.”

  “No, he’s not. He’s in shock. At being here, being back. But he’ll get over it soon.” I thought of his clear eyes back at the tube-side grave after he’d pulled himself together, and the way he now methodically swept the trees. “I think he already has.”

  “Really?” Relief mixed with curiosity in her tone. “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because Charley’s safe.” This answer poured out without thinking.

  Thad’s worst-case scenario hadn’t come to pass. But mine had. Skye was here, and I couldn’t protect her. Nil had driven that lesson home, hard.

  “It’s going to be okay,” she said confidently. She didn’t have to read my mind to know my fear. “We’ll make it.”

  Of course she believed that. She was as optimistic as her dad, but this was Nil we were talking about. Plus, this Nil was more cruel, more vicious; Paulo had said so himself. And it was this crueler Nil that had pulled her back.

  I spun toward Skye, taking her hands in mine, needing her to listen.

  “Look, Skye, I hate that you’re here—”

  “I know—” Skye started, but I kept talking as if she’d never spoken.

  “—but you are. We are. And as much as I hate to admit it, I can’t protect you, not here. Not against Nil. God knows I’ve tried, but I can’t. So I’m only going to ask you once. Please don’t do an
ything reckless, or alone. Think about things before you do them, okay? Come to me. We’ll do this as a team. Seriously, don’t do anything stupid.”

  “Like drink deadsleep tea?” She raised her eyebrows.

  “That was different,” I said flatly.

  “Was it?”

  “Yes.”

  She crossed her arms. “I promise I won’t drink deadsleep tea if you won’t.”

  Her fierce gaze held mine.

  “I really do think it’ll be okay,” she said quietly.

  “I know you do.” My tone was flat. Beneath it roiled emotion too strong to let out. “I just hope you’re right.”

  Leaving the black sand, we threaded through the trees, making for the shortcut through the cliff. A black slice marked the entrance, an opening dusted with diamonds and light.

  I paused at the entrance. A shadow shifted on my right, at the edge of my peripheral vision. Tensing, I turned.

  Nothing was there.

  No one, no thing.

  Still, the sense of being watched clung like a shadow. Person, thing, or animal, Thad had questioned me earlier. Person, my gut said. Animals wouldn’t stalk this far. My gut also said that Lana had followed us after seeing us fly past her cave. Then again, it could be anyone behind us. But whoever they were, they were hesitant. Skeptical, maybe even suspicious. Probably a newbie, unsure of us and our motives.

  Which basically were to stay alive.

  I turned around and addressed the trees and open air.

  “Lana, if that’s you following us, it’s cool. We’re going to the City, a place where you’re welcome to stay or just visit if you change your mind and want some company. But just so you know, there is no you and us, no dividing line. We’re all islanders now. All just people, fighting to survive long enough to get home.” I paused, hearing the bitterness in my own voice, feeling a Nil déjà vu from a similar argument with Maaka. “And if you’re not Lana, if you’re someone else following us, that’s cool too. You’re welcome in the City anytime. We have food, information, and a plan to get home, all of which we’ll share with you. But word of warning: we don’t appreciate raiders or thieves and we protect our own.” I fought not to look at Skye.

  “And stay away from the meadow,” Skye added with extra sweetness. “Until the crescent moon rises over the heart of the island. Then we’ll see you there.”

  That’s my girl, I thought. A clever way to let whoever was watching know that she knew as much about the island as they did—if not more. A warning and a lifeline, wrapped in one.

  “Come on.” Skye grabbed my hand. “Everyone’s already gone. Let’s go meet Paulo’s new friends.”

  CHAPTER

  33

  NIL

  ALMOST TWILIGHT

  James had tracked the girl, Lana, easily. He’d watched her avoid certain plants with care; he’d done the same. He’d seen her pluck redfruit from a tree and eat it without fear; he’d followed suit. But she’d never heard him behind her, never sensed him, not once.

  But the boy with an air of authority and blazing green eyes had nearly seen him, twice.

  His brothers would be ashamed; they would laugh in his face. You think you can track, Little J? they would say. You think you are ready to lead? they would scoff. You not ready, you just a boy. You need to be a man to lead.

  But he did not want to lead like his brothers back in Kenya. The thought of spending his days leading big-game hunts for rich Americans made him sick, even though it would make him money. He bled for the animals as they bled; their death gaze cut him to the quick. No, he had no interest in leading that. Killing did not a man make.

  But leading did.

  Perhaps that was why, when the green-eyed boy turned for the third time in his direction, James had nearly stepped from the tree’s shadow, and when the boy spoke at the cave’s edge, James had felt the boy was speaking to him, to his heart. He wondered if Lana had felt the same. She’d stood still and listened too. And when she followed the group into the cavern a good hour later, James followed suit.

  She’d led him to this group, and they had been more interesting than her by far.

  He’d watched earlier as the boy led the group to bury dry bones, giving someone long dead a simple burial worthy of a bowed head, a show of respect. He couldn’t help but respect that in kind. And the green-eyed boy was clearly in charge. All looked to him, all followed him. Even the blond one who called the green-eyed boy brother.

  He’d heard little, but that word he’d heard as clearly as if it were spoken to him.

  He knew he should turn back, go tell Carmen what he’d found, what he’d seen. But he wasn’t sure he was done. She wanted information, and this group had it. The green-eyed boy had declared that truth himself.

  Perhaps he was with the wrong group, James mused.

  He would wait and see.

  *

  Davey surveyed the City perimeter for the third time in an hour. He’d swept all the way from the icy cove to the fish traps, and everything in between. He’d spent an inordinate amount of time strolling up and down the wooden wall full of names, wondering what happened to all those people. Some had checks or moons or some other sort of mark, but given the heaps of crosses sprinkled throughout, he couldn’t help but assume that quite a few people had met their death here. It reminded Davey of the crude marks prisoners would make, something to scream I was here.

  Creepy, he thought. He refused to add his name to the mix.

  Still moving, he walked an invisible line along the City edge. Restless and worried, he couldn’t sit still. Paulo had said the wild gates came every day at noon, and that a guaranteed gate would come in three months. The thought of sitting around twiddling his thumbs for three months drove him absolutely crazy. He’d go bloody insane collecting wood, cooking fish, and waiting for time to pass, not to mention constantly peering around for tigers. It was an island hell he’d never imagined.

  But the night he’d spent curled against Molly on the beach hadn’t been too terrible, even though he knew she’d felt differently. She’d even asked him to share her hut, if only because she didn’t want to be alone. He’d do it again, every day, every night, even if it was a different kind of torture.

  Where was Paulo?

  Davey swept his eyes through the trees. What if Paulo didn’t return?

  We’d be completely screwed, he thought dismally. They were all banking on a mysterious mountain gate opening in three months’ time, showing up in an equally mysterious mountain location known only to Paulo. And how were they to know exactly when three months passed? It wasn’t as if they had a calendar handy. What if they miscounted? Davey constantly repeated the date to himself throughout each day, like exam material to be tested later. Ten days, he’d say when he woke. Ten days, as he ate. Ten days as he walked, ten days as he went to bed. And the next day he’d add another. Today was Day 11, but it was a poor system at best.

  And how were they supposed to know when noon arrived? No watches, no clocks, no timepieces or sundials of any sort. I guess we just hope to see a gate in time to catch it, he thought.

  But he hadn’t seen one yet.

  On the other hand, he’d seen a black panther, a wombat, a bison, and a bear, and that was just today.

  Davey stood at the City’s edge, pondering the ridiculousness of it all, when Paulo stepped out of the cliff, literally. Three more people followed, all boys about his age. Two had blond hair, with lanky, lean builds; both could pass for any of his surfing mates back in Melbourne. The taller, more muscular one looked like he’d just chewed nails; the shorter blond with shaggier hair seemed a bit strung out. Shadows bruised the skin under his eyes, dark enough that Davey wagered he partied harder than Davey did. The third boy had a straight spine and spiked black hair, with a lethal-looking sword slung on his back. He’d likely hit it off with Amara, he thought, if she doesn’t spear him first.

  Davey stood still, arms casually crossed simply because he had no pockets to stick them in
, and watched.

  The closer they got, the wearier they looked. Interestingly enough, they all seemed to know where they were going, which was straight toward him.

  Another couple popped into sight from the cliff face, a couple who seemed to actually be a couple. They weren’t touching, but something about the way they moved together screamed twosome. The girl had a mane of wild blond hair, a heart-shaped face, and a twine rope slung across her chest. The tall, dark-haired boy beside her walked with purpose and an air of power.

  Actually the entire group walked with purpose, as if they owned the island.

  “Paulo brings many.” Hafthor’s voice came from behind him. Davey looked up to see Hafthor’s earnest expression. The Icelander always made Davey feel a bit stunted, which was new for Davey, who was accustomed to being the tallest on his football team.

  “Five,” Davey commented.

  “Five we can see,” Hafthor mused.

  Davey fought the eye roll threatening to overtake him. Hidden people, he thought. It was as if Hafthor expected fairies to pop out at any moment. But this island seemed to call only people, and beasties. No fairies. And fairies didn’t sound particularly frightening anyway.

  A cold laugh rattled his skull; it drifted through his ears, from inside his own head, loud enough for him to twitch. It was one of those fleeting moments when Davey wavered and thought Hafthor might be onto something after all.

  Paulo and his posse strode up to Davey.

  “Welcome back,” Davey said. “I’m guessing your trip went well?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Not exactly as I expected,” Paulo said, “which, given this place, isn’t surprising.” And yet, Davey thought, you still look surprised.

  “Davey, meet Zane, Kenji, and Thad.” Each boy raised a hand in turn.

  “And this is Rives, and Skye.” The couple waved and said hello.

  “Davey.” He raised his hand, silently repeating their names, knowing he was missing something.

  Hafthor stepped up beside him. He held two full nets teeming with fish, hefting them as if they weighed nothing. “I am Hafthor.”