Nil on Fire Read online

  I think it sucks. I think it’s a wild goose chase. I think it has a million ways it can go wrong and only one way it can go right.

  The girl I’d bet could beat those odds stood before me. “I think it beats sitting around here, eating fish wraps and living the same nightmare, day in and day out. Maybe we’ll win the Nil crapshoot after all.”

  She nodded. “Exactly. It starts tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER

  39

  NIL

  TWILIGHT

  James traced his steps back to the cave. As he expected, Carmen was waiting.

  “So what did you find out?” Her dark almond-shaped eyes traveled his face, studying as always.

  “That everyone else here knows much more than we do.” James’s tone stayed level. “There is a Leader in the City to the north. I’ve talked to him. We have one year to leave, or we die.”

  At this Carmen’s brows shot up. “Really.” Her lip curled. “They’ll kill us?”

  “Not they, the island. The island takes you at a year if you haven’t left. Steals your blood and soul.” He shrugged. “But in three months’ time, a gate will open, and we can leave.”

  “Where?” Her word was as sharp as the fire-sharpened spear in her hand. “Where will this gate open?”

  “On the mountain. That is all I know. But I want to know more.” He watched Carmen, taking the measure of this tough girl he didn’t trust but understood. “I came to tell you what I know, and tell you I am going back to that City. I might decide to stay there.” James held Carmen’s gaze. “But I will not steal from them, not anymore.” He placed his fist over his heart. “That is the truth.” Dropping his hand, he spoke from the heart, with a passion he didn’t know he felt. “Carmen, we are not alone here, and I don’t think it’s wise to pretend we are. A City exists here for a reason, and there is an energy there. An urgency. I came back to honor my word, and tell you I am leaving.”

  Carmen didn’t react. Coolly, she asked, “Did Lana stay in the City?”

  He’d nearly forgotten about Lana. She wasn’t important, not like the others.

  “She spent last night.” James wasn’t sure why he declined to tell Carmen that Lana had gone north. All he knew was that he had no interest in getting in the middle of the two. “But the people in the City know more than she does, I am certain of that.”

  Carmen strode to the cave’s exit. “Then by all means, let’s go.”

  *

  Carmen left the darkness of the cave, feeling a shift in power she didn’t like at all. A Leader in the City, she thought, her curiosity piqued even as her blood boiled. One strong enough to make James choose the Leader over her. Not that she needed anyone; she didn’t. But she didn’t like feeling bested—or worse, insignificant.

  And James had made her feel as though she mattered less than a pebble on the ground.

  If anyone was worthless, it was Ace. He rarely had an original thought. Perhaps she could rid herself of Ace in the City as well. That thought made her smile. At least now she knew she would rid herself of all of them in three months. James’s information had been unexpected, both in subject and source.

  This Leader was someone she needed to meet.

  Part of her was curious, to know all that he knew. Knowledge had given him an advantage, which was unacceptable. And part of her wanted to meet the man who felt comfortable in a city of ghosts, a city that reeked of death and loss and blood. But she would answer to no one, not here.

  As twilight fell, she took the lead.

  *

  I freaking hate this place, Ace thought.

  He leapfrogged across the craggy rocks, struggling to keep up with James and Carmen as they scaled the cliff. Why the hell they were heading out on this trip to the City at night was beyond him, but Carmen had been determined to go, right now. And it wasn’t worth arguing with her about the timing.

  He’d almost stayed behind, but being alone in the dark cave creeped him out more than a night walk.

  He sighed.

  Three months, he told himself. He was ready to jump ship now, not wait twelve more weeks. But it didn’t look like he had a choice.

  The breeze whispered, dry and thin, as if an invisible demon were slowly rubbing his hands together near Ace’s ear. He shivered despite the warm air. Ace constantly heard whispers; they came over the water, in the grasses, through the cave. Sometimes he heard someone laughing, like someone was laughing at him. He’d look at Carmen, only to find her eyes elsewhere, not interested in him at all.

  This place was making him crazy.

  So was Carmen.

  She stalked ahead with the same irritating hip-swaying swagger, like she owned the island and him too. Sure, she’d found the cave, but he’d found the edible greens and berries, thanks to all those years spent in his dad’s kitchen. Being a fourth-generation Pericelli had kept him alive here, teaching him both what to eat and how to play. It was always about the game, he reasoned, and Carmen wasn’t as cool a player as she thought she was.

  Maybe he would stay in the City too, he thought, especially if that new chick Lana was there. Despite himself, he smiled.

  He was valuable, he knew it.

  He smiled again.

  Carmen and James now walked a good forty yards ahead, with Carmen slightly in front. They’d already made it to the top of the rocky cliff, cutting the south corner as they made a direct line toward the City. The water tunnels sprawled ahead, slightly to the right. Clumps of scrub brush dotted the edge near the beach, growing more numerous to the north. Patches of tree loomed ahead too. In the fading light, a shape moved.

  Ace stopped.

  Is that a moose? he wondered. Or a bull? Bulls were dangerous, mean enough that some city in Spain made a profit off people trying to prove they had balls big enough to run with bulls. Moose, he wasn’t sure about.

  He squinted.

  It was definitely a bull. And Carmen and James were looking the wrong way.

  A favor, he thought smugly. In the form of a warning. Then Carmen will owe me.

  Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted, “Carmen! James! Bull at two o’clock!” He waved his arms like he was directing a plane.

  Carmen and James turned. James started yelling immediately, gesturing emphatically to Ace. “Run for the scrub brush!” He pointed to a large thicket of scrub brush to Ace’s left. “Watch your right!”

  Ace looked to his right and nearly wet his shorts. A rhino with a wickedly large horn bore down on him at breakneck speed. Now Ace ran. He dashed over the rocks, terrified, making for the thicket.

  “Hide inside!” James shouted.

  Ace dove into the brush. Brambles tore his skin as he plunged deeper into the thicket. His leg brushed something warm and soft. An instant later, something white and black clamped down on his leg. Fiery pain shot through Ace’s thigh as the animal bit him again. With a scream, he backpedaled, punching at the animal in front of him, which somehow registered as a panda—one as startled as he was. Blood ran down Ace’s leg as he fought his way back out of the thicket, his arms wild.

  He turned and ran smack into the rhino.

  The beast drove forward, tossing him through the air like a rag doll, its horn goring Ace’s side with a pain that made the bite on his leg feel like a scratch. He landed on his back, felt something snap, and then Ace felt nothing at all.

  *

  James watched in horror as Ace twitched on the rocks. Why would he run out of the brush? If he’d stayed there, the rhino would’ve moved on and left him alone. The wind had shifted, blowing the human scent out to sea, and considering how poor a rhino’s vision was, Ace was relatively safe. A tree would have been better, but the thicket would have been a strong alternative.

  The rhino wandered away. It headed to the water and began to drink.

  James turned to Carmen. “If the rhino charges at you—climb a tree. You will be safe.” He doubted the rhino would charge again. Ace had startled the animal with his shouting and waving,
and rhinos were vegetarian. Still, being cautious was always a wise choice, especially here. The bull was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where are you going?” Carmen asked.

  “To help Ace.”

  “You can’t help him.” The undertone said Leave him.

  “Perhaps not.” James didn’t balk. “But I must see.”

  As he neared Ace, a giant panda peered at him from the thicket, skittish and startled, its mouth bloody. And he had driven Ace right into him.

  He nearly retched right then.

  Ace looked worse than James had imagined. His face and arms were lined with a crosshatch of fine scratches, same for his chest. Bite marks riddled one thigh, exposing bone; the other leg dangled at an odd angle, a gaping hole from his side weeping blood in a dark stream. The dry black rock sucked it up without a sound.

  “Ace,” James said gently.

  Ace’s eyes fluttered open. His mouth worked but no sound came out. James waited, not sure what to say. He barely knew Ace, didn’t know if he believed in God or gods or nothing at all. He’d seen men killed by game animals before, but never a boy. God usually smiled on youth, or so he’d been told. So he’d always believed.

  “—you.” Ace’s whisper was a rasp. Then the life left his eyes.

  Beneath James’s feet, the ground trembled.

  James realized Ace had said Thank you.

  *

  The island drank in the rush of electria, the surge of power. This was the power it craved, electria in its purest form, not the bitter, diluted wisp leached from the furred beast earlier today. That had only served to taunt the island, tempting it, leading the island to now.

  Now the island inhaled. The male, Ace, had served his purpose; if the fighter no longer needed him, expendable he would be. They all were expendable, and would be, each in their own time.

  Time.

  It gave and it took, and today it surprised, for the island did not foresee this male’s death or the surge it would provide. But his abrupt swell of fear and pride mixed with the animals’ own, a potent blend of panic ripe for manipulation. And ultimately, death.

  The island reveled in its newfound strength.

  It would not wait so long to take another.

  If the opportunity came, the island would take it. Take and take and take, until there was nothing left but the island.

  CHAPTER

  40

  SKYE

  93 DAYS UNTIL THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, NIGHT

  Finally, we had a plan. We’d leave at dawn. Rives, Paulo, Zane, and I would go on a Search for clues; Thad would stay behind, with the rest. Paulo seemed as eager to go as I was. Our destinies were still linked; I felt it.

  Inside the Shack, I fingered the rope, debating whether to add it to my satchel.

  “Rives.” An unfamiliar silhouette appeared in the doorway.

  “James!” Rives stuck out his hand, smiling. “Good to see you, bro.”

  “Thank you.” James nodded, his expression intense. “I accept your hospitality, if your offer still stands.”

  “Of course,” Rives said. “This City is yours, too.”

  James’s eyes flicked around the Shack, landing on our satchels. “Taking a trip?” he inquired.

  “More like a scavenger hunt,” Rives said. He turned to me and said, “Skye, meet James. He helped with the bear burial today, which sounds as weird as it was. James, meet Skye.”

  “Hello, Skye.” He lifted a hand in greeting, then glanced behind him.

  Rives stepped forward. “See something, James?”

  “Nothing.” James’s voice was troubled. “We are alone.”

  Wrong, I thought, watching Rives stride outside to inspect the perimeter. Not here.

  Darkness circled my mind; it was ever present, like the cloud of fatigue. Nil may have stopped haunting my dreams, but it hadn’t stopped haunting me. Nil wanted to rest, forever, and it needed our help.

  I’m trying, I thought, abruptly frustrated. Give me something, won’t you?

  The darkness in my head surged like a tsunami. I recoiled. My mental walls held, but my certainty shattered.

  In that terrifying moment, I sensed Nil wanted something else entirely: something darker, something greater, something it coveted more than me or my help. Nil hungered for life on a scale beyond my comprehension.

  Rives was talking to James outside the Shack. The rope shook in my hand.

  Because I suddenly feared Nil was exactly as Thad always warned: a games master, a cruel croupier, and I was too blind—or naïve—to see it; I feared Nil was using me for its own horrible ends. And if I’d led my friends and my love back here only to watch them die, I’d never forgive myself.

  Never.

  CHAPTER

  41

  RIVES

  83 DAYS UNTIL THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, MORNING

  “We have to go back,” I told Skye.

  No edge, no bite. Just a matter-of-fact statement, like saying, Hey, the breeze is gusting offshore and by the way, there’s a koala by the cliff.

  She already knew. About the breeze, about the koala, about this trip turning out to be a total bust. It had been a complete waste of ten days.

  A complete waste of time.

  We’d crawled all over Quadrant Two, scanning and backtracking, using Charley’s maps as our guide. We’d searched every damn millimeter, and had come up empty. There were the Arches, the cliffs of South Beach, the sands of Black Bay, the tubes, and the lava fields stretching out wide. We basically retraced our steps from our latest Day 1, and the only thing we’d found worth mentioning was a stand of mango trees that quenched our dry mouths and filled our empty guts.

  Skye had grown more frustrated with each day that passed.

  I don’t know what we’re looking for, she’d exclaimed, at least twice a day.

  No one else did either. Except me. I knew what I was looking for. Animals. Predators. Anything that might look at us as a meal. So far we’d been lucky.

  Too lucky.

  We’d been beneficiaries of a deceptively docile status quo, one that could shift at any moment. Would shift, when Nil decided to play. Anticipating the worst, I’d spent the last ten days watching Skye’s back and everyone else’s, and the nights watching her sleep. Here, she slept without waking, without fear. Me, I slept like crap—when I slept at all. I dozed fitfully, Skye in my arms, my body on high alert. Not exactly rest. Then again, Nil was never meant to be a vacation.

  As least not for us.

  But maybe for the people lucky enough to crash here on their Day 1, like Paulo.

  Skye hadn’t answered me. She stood perfectly still, her eyes sweeping the inside of the cave. It was the same look she’d give a hotel room or hostel when we were traveling, making sure we’d left nothing behind. We’d spent last night here, in this cave near where we’d ditched the wolves a few weeks ago. Apparently all the islanders stayed in Cave Med on their Day 1. The rest of us only got the invite on round two.

  “We’re missing something,” Skye said.

  “Something here?” I frowned.

  “No. I don’t think so.” She sighed. “This feels like a pit stop, just a place to sleep or hide. But something.” She bit the inside of her cheek, her expression pensive. “This place is inside, but it’s not where I’m supposed to look.”

  “There’s a cave on the north shore,” Paulo spoke up. “I’ve stayed there before. Maybe it has a clue?”

  Skye nodded without enthusiasm. “Maybe. But if you’ve stayed there, then you already know it’s nothing new.” She sighed again. “We should get back to the City. If we leave now, we should be back by noon.”

  “You’ve got my vote to roll,” Zane said. “Maybe noon will bring good news, like a mysterious benefactor has just shown up with a full spread of In-N-Out burgers, or better yet, Lana’s chilling out in the City without a chip on her shoulder.” He grinned as Paulo laughed. “Hey, a dude can hope. Noon is the best time on the island, right?”

  “You kn
ow it.” I returned Zane’s grin. “But I think you’ve got a better shot at a burger benefactor than you do with Lana.”

  Zane grabbed his heart in mock hurt, then broke into a comical jog.

  Skye didn’t say a word as we left the cave. We walked in silence, climbed in silence. And when I tried to read her thoughts, I couldn’t. Iron walls locked her mind out of reach. I couldn’t care less, as long as her mental walls kept out Nil too.

  Skye gasped.

  “Hey.” I stopped, and she did too. “What’s going through your head, chérie?”

  “You know how we came at noon?” Skye gripped my hand. “I just realized we’ll leave at midnight. Or at least it means the next equinox gate will open at midnight. So while we came in the light, we’ll leave in the dark.” She let that gem of an announcement sink in.

  “And Rives…” Her voice bled worry. “Darkness makes us vulnerable. It heightens our fears, and makes everything harder because our own eyes betray us in the dark. The night we leave, the darkness in here”—she tapped her head—“will have the edge.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “I used to be so certain that the island wanted to die. But now—now I’m not so sure.”

  “Don’t you still feel that fatigue?” I asked. “The island’s exhaustion?”

  “Yes, but I also feel the island’s want. Sometimes I feel it wants to die, sometimes I’m not sure. Sometimes I feel that it wants to live, desperately. It’s like the island is conflicted.”

  “I don’t think Nil gets a choice.” My voice was hard. “We’re here. If we can end it, we will.”

  “That doesn’t mean Nil won’t fight,” she said quietly. She lifted her eyes to mine, dread in their depths. “This whole destroy-the-island plan was a whole lot easier when I thought Nil was with us. If Nil’s against us, this whole trip just got a lot tougher.”

  “Whoa there, space cowboy.” Zane popped his head in between us. “I don’t think Nil was ever with us, or not with us. It’s just how you look at it, Skye. From what I can tell we’ve pretty much been on our own since Day One, and in the end, I think it’ll play out the same way.”