Nil on Fire Read online

  She glanced at her watch. It was noon on the dot. She closed her eyes and pictured the boy with sapphire eyes, the one she loved with every bit of her heart.

  Thad, I love you. I believe in you. Look for what you don’t see.

  *

  Thad.

  On the beach, Thad sucked in a hard breath. His name echoed in his ears, a cruel taunt. It sounded so much like Charley he’d swear that if he spun around, he’d find himself looking into her golden eyes, close enough to touch. But Charley wasn’t here. She was safe.

  Nil was playing tricks again.

  He closed his eyes, half wanting to hear the voice again, hating himself for even considering it was Charley.

  Get out, he thought with a vengeance. Go play in someone else’s head.

  The whisper brushed his mind again, as warm as the noon Nil sun and just as fierce.

  Thad, I love you. I believe in you. Look for what you don’t see.

  Thad’s heart skipped in shock. It was her voice, her drawl, dripping through his head like honey; it stirred an ache in his soul that told him this was real. The voice was Charley, not Nil.

  He’d bet his life on it.

  The more he listened, the more he heard, the more Thad realized that was exactly the wager he would make.

  Despite the hell of Nil around him, Thad smiled.

  Nil still ran the tables, kept cards up her sleeve. But this time, he had a few of his own. One in particular, the ace of hearts, and his gut said the ace of hearts beat the ace of diamonds any damn day.

  I guess I’m playing after all, he thought, jogging up the beach, toward the City.

  In a few weeks, he’d find out who held the stronger hand.

  CHAPTER

  43

  SKYE

  83 DAYS UNTIL THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, AFTER NOON

  Would you have run? Paulo had asked after that gate had vanished.

  No, I’d thought. If anything, I would have run away from the gate. I had business to finish, ripples to stop. I eyed the mountain, picturing the platform in my mind, knowing our gate would rise in eighty-three days.

  And then we would destroy it, if I could just figure out how.

  Rives stood beside me on the black sand beach, his strong hand wrapping mine, our hearts and heads woven so tightly that we were one. The island had sealed our bond, branding a bit of each of our souls on the other, but the love we shared was ours and ours alone.

  I could not lose Rives.

  But the island wanted something, maybe someone. And now Zane had me thinking it wanted everyone.

  The thought terrified me because it felt true.

  An animal cry reached my ears, a predatory call that stole my full attention. An answering call replied to the first, louder. Possibly closer.

  The three boys stared at the mountain, all oddly oblivious, all strangely still. Despite his hand in mine, Rives felt very far away.

  “Rives,” I hissed, tugging his hand.

  He jerked his head toward me, his eyes clearing as he blinked. “How long have I been staring at the mountain?”

  “Long enough. We need to go, now. Something’s coming.”

  I slid my sling off my shoulder, rock in hand. On cue, a deer leaped from the bushes, its hooves gouging deep grooves in the black sand, slipping and slowing as it tried to gain traction.

  “Zane. Paulo,” Rives said sharply. Their heads snapped toward us, their eyes as clouded as his had been. “Let’s move. A deer just showed up and something’s chasing it. Keep your eyes open and minds to yourself, all right?”

  As he raised his knife, two animals burst from the tree line. They moved sleekly, their coats a blurry mix of black and caramel, their teeth bared in feral snarls.

  Hyenas, I thought. I was flanked by Rives and Paulo; I was caught between Dex and Jillian. The animals hit the sand in tandem, hunting the deer.

  “Skye!” Rives jerked my hand, urging me to run. He held his knife out defensively; Paulo gripped his spear tight. Zane was unarmed and I wasn’t much better off. I’d have to stop to aim.

  The deer stumbled.

  The animals pounced. They bit the deer repeatedly as it tried to escape; they nipped its legs, its hindquarters, its flanks, anything they could get their teeth on. I’d never seen hyenas attack so efficiently, and so brutally. I hated hyenas. I stood rooted to the sand.

  “Not hyenas,” Rives said as he pulled me along. Unwittingly, I’d slowed. “African wild dogs. They don’t usually mess with people, but—” He left his sentence unfinished.

  The deer may have survived Amara’s spear, but it didn’t last long with the dogs. The dogs feasted as we left them behind.

  I realized I’d never been afraid, at least not for myself, but my fear for my friends had grown exponentially. I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else I cared about—especially Rives. Especially since I was the reason he was even here. I would protect him at all costs from the greatest threat.

  In that moment, I chose.

  Rives must live, and Nil must die.

  It was that simple.

  CHAPTER

  44

  RIVES

  83 DAYS UNTIL THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX, AFTER NOON

  We hit the City well after noon.

  Maybe we’d misjudged, maybe we were tired. Maybe we were all trapped in our own heads, or working overtime trying to keep Nil out. Skye didn’t have to tell me we’d lost time at Black Bay before the dog attack, time lost staring at Mount Nil like we were effing tourists with all day to waste. If Skye hadn’t pulled me back, I’d still be there. Same for Zane and Paulo.

  And since then, I’d felt abnormally drained. It occurred to me that Nil stole more than time when we checked out for a minute. It was like Nil stole a piece of us.

  I passed the deadleaf barrier, eyes wide open, mind shut tight.

  The City screamed ghost town, which in some ways it was. No Natalie, no Jillian. No Dex. Still, my mind played tricks. For an instant I thought I saw Dex crouched by the fire, his skin pasty white, hair dark and spiky with frosted tips, then my mind nudged—Chuck.

  He crouched by the firepit, holding a stick, watching it burn. He didn’t look up as I approached, his gaze riveted on the flames creeping toward his hand. It occurred to me he could use some supervision.

  Thad stood at the far perimeter, his back to me.

  No one else was around.

  Thad turned as I approached. He broke into a relieved smile. “Good to see you, brother.”

  “Same. Everything okay here?” I braced for the answer.

  “Yup. Just glad to lay eyes on your ugly mug.” He grinned.

  The knot in my stomach loosened. “Anything new?”

  “A girl. Carmen. Quiet, pulls her weight. City’s been quiet. How was Search?”

  “Worthless.” I paused. “So, besides Carmen, any other news?”

  “Actually, yes.” He slowly turned toward me, his bearing alert but calm. “I can’t explain it, but I can hear Charley. I hear her talking to me, in here.” He tapped his head.

  Alarm bells rang in my head.

  “Not a good sign, bro. That’s Nil talking, not Charley.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Last time I was here, I heard Nil. Calculating, cunning, cruel. I remember that voice; it’s not one I could forget. This is different. I’m telling you, it’s Charley.”

  I said nothing, letting my silence speak for me.

  “The thing is … I only hear her at noon.”

  Damn.

  I studied Thad, struck by the intensity of his gaze, and the newfound chill he was suddenly sporting.

  “Maybe it is Charley,” I said slowly. And the unspoken Maybe not. “Let me know if she tells you anything that can help get us off this rock.”

  Thad ran one hand through his hair as he spoke. “She told me to look for what I don’t see.”

  “Well, that’s helpful.” Thad didn’t flinch at my caustic tone. “Anything else?”

  Thad shrugged. “S
he said she loved me and said something about a bottle.”

  “A bottle?”

  “A bottle.” Thad’s face read completely serious.

  “Like put a message in a bottle? Find the genie in the bottle? Don’t play spin the bottle?” Davey had walked up from the beach. “As if we could.” He snorted then grinned at me. “Welcome back, mate. Glad to see you hale and hearty.” He turned to Thad. “Did today’s walkabout with Kenji and Chuck. No sign of anyone for at least one hundred meters in any direction, although Chuck talks so bloody much he probably annoyed everything and everyone within range. Hashtag chatty.” He shook his head. “Hafthor, Calvin, and Molly didn’t see anyone on the white beach to the north, either. And no one found a bloody thing on today’s grid. Although big Cal swears he saw a silverback gorilla.” He shrugged. “So he probably did.”

  “What about Carmen and James?” Thad crossed his arms.

  Davey shrugged again. “Haven’t seen them.”

  Thad turned to me. “While you four were gone in Quadrant Two, we did most of Quadrant Three. We’d go out in pairs or threes, working a set grid, going over the same spots on different days with different eyes. Didn’t see anything new to me, with the exception of that cavern with the carvings. Except the animals.” He exhaled. “Panthers, a wallaby, a jaguar, and a shit ton of hippos. We stopped at the mudflats, didn’t go past to the hills.” He looked with curiosity toward the Crystal Cavern. “That cave, the one behind the falls. It’s something, eh? I could sit in there for hours.”

  “I don’t recommend it,” I said crisply. “Any sign of Lana?”

  “None.”

  “We need to find her.” Skye had walked up behind me, Paulo at her side. She turned to him as she spoke. “Where would she go?”

  “I would say the Looking Glass Cavern, but—” He lifted his hands slightly. “I don’t know.”

  Skye’s face fell.

  “What about Dominic?” I asked.

  Thad looked blank.

  “Big smile, thick Bahamian accent?”

  Thad shook his head but Davey snapped his fingers and grinned. “That’s it! Aquaman. He came by a week ago, asking for you. I told him you went south. He left another giant fish with Hafthor and I haven’t seen him since. But you know what was weird? He came up from the water and left the same way.”

  “Maybe it’s safer there,” Thad mused.

  “I doubt it.” No place is safe here, I thought. Not the land, not the water.

  Not even our own heads.

  *

  Afternoon. Night. Dawn.

  Noon.

  Repeat.

  Skye grew more agitated with each day that passed. She paced during the day, unable to sit still. To keep still.

  The only time she stilled was in sleep, when she slept like the dead, a sickening thought.

  Today was my fifteenth day back on Nil, and I’d woken before Skye, again.

  On the beach, Calvin ran intervals, sprinting hard in the soft sand, his dark skin dripping with sweat as he pumped his arms and legs. I wondered if anyone had bothered to tell him the equinox gate was stationary.

  Thad jogged up the minute he saw me.

  “Does Calvin know the equinox gate doesn’t move?” I asked. “No running required?”

  “He knows. He does this every morning. The dude is seriously fast.” He looked past me. “Is Skye up?”

  “Not yet. Why?”

  “Because Charley woke me up in the middle of the night. I think it was midnight.”

  “TMI, bro. Keep your dreams to yourself.” I made light of Thad’s words, unwilling to encourage the I-hear-Charley theme.

  He ignored me. “She repeated the same thing over and over, like she was making sure I heard her. She said, ‘Find the ruins, solve the riddle. Look for what you don’t see.’”

  “Find the ruins?” I frowned. “I don’t know of any ruins. Or a riddle.”

  “Me either. We walked all over this damn island when we mapped it, and I don’t remember seeing any ruins. But maybe Skye or Paulo know something we don’t.”

  “What do I know?” Skye walked up to us, yawning.

  “Ruins,” I said, kissing her cheek. “Have you seen any here? Or know of any?”

  She blinked. “No. Why?”

  “Because Charley told Thad to find them. He thinks she’s talking to him.”

  “She is talking to me,” Thad said with conviction.

  Skye’s eyes cleared like she’d been doused with cold water. “What?”

  “I usually hear her at noon,” he told her, “but last night I heard her at midnight. She told me to ‘find the ruins, solve the riddle.’”

  “Find the ruins, solve the riddle,” Skye murmured. Then her eyes widened and she grabbed my arm. “Rives! I know what she’s talking about! Mazes and men, caves and creatures, ruins and riddles, all wrapped up in an island bottle. My uncle wrote that in his journal!”

  “So, that’s the bottle Charley mentioned the other day.” Thad nodded as if it all made sense.

  I fought back a laugh.

  “What else did she say?” Skye asked Thad. Her bright eyes told me she was all in.

  “To look for what you don’t see.”

  Paulo walked out from his hut and Skye practically pounced. “What do you know about the ruins?”

  “Ruins?” His blank expression told me he was as clueless as the rest of us.

  “Ruins. Mazes and men, caves and creatures, ruins and riddles, all wrapped up in an island bottle,” Skye repeated. “It’s from my uncle’s journal. The same uncle that met your aunt Rika.”

  “But it’s his words.” Paulo looked bewildered, like he was trying to find meaning in the mess.

  Good luck, I thought.

  Skye spun back to Thad. “Did Charley tell you anything else?” she asked hopefully, like Charley could feed us answers from the outside.

  I wasn’t convinced.

  For all I knew, this riddle was Nil’s newest Ima mess with their heads game. Nil was all about the fun and games, only the fun was all Nil’s.

  “That’s it,” Thad said. “You know as much as I do.”

  “Do you think the ruins are the Dead City?” Skye asked.

  Paulo sighed. “I have no idea.”

  “We need Lana.” Skye’s voice dripped frustration. “And no one has seen her.”

  “Maybe he has,” Paulo suggested, pointing.

  Dominic was walking up the beach, holding a fish that required two hands to carry.

  “Dominic!” I waved. “Long time no see.”

  “Same to you, mon.” He grinned broadly. “Brought a grouper. Good eatin’ here, enough for all of us.”

  Skye smiled. “Dominic, where have you been staying?”

  “Around.” He shrugged, still smiling, then set the fish down on the sand. “I sleep where the island calls me.”

  “Have you seen a girl? Long dark hair? Her name is Lana.”

  “I only see the people here. And a boy, on the other side. But the lion saw him too.” Dominic sighed as he made a slicing motion across his throat. “I leave fish for the tiger, to keep him happy. But the lion…” Dominic shrugged. “No way to keep him happy.” He made another slicing motion.

  “Back to Lana.” Skye’s eyes were pleading. “Are you sure you haven’t seen her? We can’t find the ruins without her.”

  “The ruins?” Dominic raised his eyebrows. “The ones on the coast?”

  “Which coast?” I asked.

  “Due east. On the other side of the island. If you want, I will show you. But I’m telling you now, I won’t go in that place. It’s a living ghost town.” He shivered.

  Thad looked skeptical. “I can’t believe Charley and I missed an entire city when we mapped the island.”

  “It doesn’t feel like a city, mon.” Dominic’s expression was somber. “It feels like a grave.”

  “The Dead City,” Skye breathed. She lifted her eyes to mine. “That’s the answer. We need to go there, now.”


  “Whoa there, island traveler.” Zane walked up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Salty and stiff, his blond hair stuck out in all directions. “Where are we going now?”

  CHAPTER

  45

  NIL

  NIGHT

  The fighter grew restless with the game. The island fueled her unrest, stoked her anger. Hate was a powerful emotion and the island relished hers; it would twist it for the island’s own pleasure.

  It would twist her.

  In the end she would destroy the one with murder in her heart. The fighter would serve the island’s end, until the one who wished to harm the island was no more.

  Then they both would bleed, and the island would savor every drop.

  *

  From her vantage point in the trees, Carmen studied the players around the fire. Amara sat slightly away from the rest, rolling a small knife through her fingers, listening to Skye talk with a remarkable lack of expression on her face. She’s working hard to be intimidating, Carmen thought acidly as she glared at Amara. But she wasn’t. She couldn’t even take down the deer and had nearly hit Carmen’s foot with her poor throw, a move that infuriated Carmen to no end.

  The only one who annoyed Carmen more than Amara was the wiry blonde, Skye. Carmen deeply resented how everyone treated her with respect when she’d done nothing to earn it. She also resented how the leader, Rives, looked at Skye as though she created air. It rankled Carmen that this mouse of a girl turned the leader’s head with the wave of one hand, that she meant so much to Rives he’d asked another boy, Thad, to watch over her when he left, as if she were a gem too precious to lose. This was a weakness for the leader, an obvious vulnerability making him less impressive in Carmen’s eyes. But more than anything else, she resented the power that flowed from Skye, as if she were more important than anyone else—including Carmen. The more she watched Skye from the shadows, the more Carmen detested her.

  Carmen had never liked being second place.

  *

  “Carmen.” James spoke softly as he tapped her on the shoulder. He always took care not to startle her.

  She turned. “Yes?”

  James studied her, how fury flickered in her eyes like firelight. “Have you eaten?” he asked.