Nil on Fire Read online

  But she didn’t stay in that camp. Despite the lack of bodies, it swirled with ghosts and something evil, something that reeked of death.

  The whole island stank of it, if she were being truthful. It was why she preferred to stay near the shore, where the breeze smelled salty sweet and fresh, where food swam in abundance and the animals let her be.

  “You are one quiet chica,” Ace said.

  “My name is Carmen,” she snapped.

  “Touchy, touchy.” He raised his hands, smiling and confident. Overconfident, she thought.

  He tilted his head as if he could read her thoughts. Then his smile flickered for an instant, like a dying firefly. Something fragile replaced it. “Okay, Carmen, so where are we going?”

  “A place where we can get what we need.”

  *

  Farther north, at the top of White Beach, Molly plucked a familiar green fruit off a tree. She squeezed it gently, brought it to her nose, and sniffed. Satisfied, she handed the fruit to Calvin.

  “If it smells sweet, and kind of musky, then it’s ready to eat,” Molly told Calvin. She hadn’t eaten guava in years, but when she was twelve, for an entire year, Molly had practically lived on fruit, and guava had been one of her favorites. Fortunately, that phase had passed. Right now Molly would have given anything for a cheeseburger with extra ketchup.

  “What’s musky mean?” Calvin stared at the green fruit, then sniffed it suspiciously.

  “Ripe,” Davey offered. He held up his fruit and with a nod, took a bite. He showed Calvin the inside of the fruit, which gleamed a deep pink.

  “You can eat the peel?” Calvin’s suspicion grew.

  “Totally,” Molly said. “It’s guava.”

  Calvin shrugged. “Guava,” he said before taking a bite. “Tastes weird.” Juice dribbled from his chin.

  With a guava in each hand, the group headed south, toward the black rock cliff curving into the sea.

  No people. No houses. No boats.

  No docks.

  No roads.

  No power lines.

  No sign of civilization at all.

  Molly had trouble accepting the reality of the last few days. Grabbed by a mysterious force, she’d woken in a mysterious place. Something she couldn’t pinpoint told her she wasn’t in Australia at all anymore; a sixth sense perhaps. This same sense told her she was in as much trouble as she suspected: She was lost, hungry, out of sorts, and stuck in this strange dream until she figured it all out.

  Not a dream, she thought. More like a nightmare.

  After all, Davey was here.

  She was stuck here with the last person she’d choose to have her back. She wasn’t sure Davey even had her back, wasn’t certain what he’d do in a truly prickly situation. Right now she might pick Calvin as more reliable, the friendly boy from America, but he actually seemed more terrified than her and Davey put together, which was odd since he had more muscles than anyone she’d ever met. And she had known Davey since she was four, whereas she’d just met Calvin.

  So, left with little choice, she’d slept outside last night on the beach, under the stars, with—of all people—Davey King, the biggest player she knew. They’d literally slept back to back, skin touching skin—which was awkward and weird and highly unnerving in its own odd way—as they tried to stay warm. Calvin had slept a few feet away. Given the weirdness, Molly had barely slept. She wasn’t sure about Davey. They’d talked a little, enough for Molly to know that Davey didn’t have a clue what was happening either.

  She focused on the one person here who knew more than she did.

  “What have you been eating?” Molly asked Calvin as she savored the guava. She wasn’t certain when they’d find more food, so this harvest of fruit might have to last. They hadn’t seen another person since meeting Calvin yesterday, let alone a restaurant or supermarket, not that she had any money. She fervently hoped Calvin had something helpful to share. “You’ve been here for—what did you say, four days?” she asked.

  “Something like that,” Calvin said. “Raw eggs, mostly. I found a chicken, with a half-dozen eggs. I ate the eggs raw. They were okay.” He shrugged. “And I ate a raw fish.” He exhaled harshly, his huge frame rippling. “Couldn’t keep it down.”

  “Nasty,” Davey said.

  “Yeah,” Calvin agreed.

  “And you’ve seen no people?” Molly frowned. “Not one?”

  “Not until you two. But I’ve seen a lot of animals. Weird ones, too. Animals that shouldn’t be together, and sure shouldn’t be on a tropical island. I’m talking lions, a camel, a couple monkeys. Even a zebra. And a kitten.”

  “A tiger cub, more like it,” Davey offered. He looked at Calvin. “Where did you say you found the clothes again?”

  “I told you. In a bag.”

  “Just in a bag,” Davey repeated in a dubious tone. “Like, a welcome package? With itty-bitty chocolates and nuts and a thoughtful note like Hey, Calvin, welcome to paradise? Don’t pet the tiger. Try not to die. Like that?”

  “No.” Calvin kept walking, facing forward. “Just a bag. Lying around.”

  “Just lying around. And it had clothes. Which just happened to fit all of us and we all just happened to be naked.”

  Davey stopped walking and faced Calvin, his eyes piercing, all humor gone. “I want the truth and I want it now.”

  Calvin ran a hand over his head, his powerful muscles glistening in the sunlight, then shook his head, a slight movement that Molly suspected wasn’t meant for anyone but himself.

  “Look. I told you the truth, Davey. Straight up. I was running, and I found two bags. One had clothes. The other had some food, but it was bad. Seriously rank. And, it was hard to tell because of the rotten food, but that bag also had something that looked kinda like a pillow.” Calvin shrugged. “It was weird.” Then he swallowed, and blew out a nervous breath. “Okay, and—there were bodies. Two of them. Skinny kids. One white, one black. Boys, both about”—he glanced at Davey, and met his eyes—“our age. Just laid out, dead. And they were wearing clothes like these.”

  “What?” Molly felt the blood drain from her face. “You found dead bodies? And they were wearing clothes like these?” She jerked her head down to look at her wrap shirt as if it were ready to come alive and choke her. She whipped her eyes to Calvin. “Oh my God. Did you take these clothes off dead bodies?”

  “Hell, no!” Calvin’s eyes went wide. “Man, I’m not about to disrespect the dead. But their bags? That was fair game. These”—he gestured to his loincloth—“and those”—now he pointed to Molly’s skirt and top—“were in the bags.”

  “Bags that were beside dead bodies,” Molly said. She felt as though a black hole might come and swallow her whole any second. “Of boys,” she added. “Like you two.”

  “That’s exactly what he said,” Davey said drolly.

  Molly glanced at him; for a moment she’d forgotten he was there. Such a jerk, she thought. But Davey’s predictable asshat behavior helped her refocus with less panic.

  “The question is, why?” Davey continued, oblivious to Molly’s cool gaze. For an instant she thought he actually looked worried, then his normal cocky expression slid back in place, marring his handsome features. “Why did they die? Why were they here?” Davey waved around his guava. “Why are we here?”

  “I can answer that, at least in the general sense.” A male voice sounded behind them. Molly turned first. Her eyes met a boy’s caramel ones, set in a tanned face. He stood a few meters away on the white sand beach, a calm smile softening his angular features. No shirt, familiar cloth shorts, and tribal tattoos wrapping one taut bicep. “I’m Paulo,” he said casually.

  “Molly,” she replied.

  Calvin jerked back. “Jesus! Is that a rat?” He pointed at a boy with a blond buzz cut standing slightly behind Paulo, something furry dangling from his hand. It struck Molly that the boy appeared to be Paulo’s bodyguard, not that Paulo seemed to need one. It also occurred to her that ginormous,
muscle-bound Calvin was shaking.

  “Yes,” the hulking blond boy said, a serious expression on his face. He raised the rat slightly. “But we will not eat it. Rats carry disease, and are better buried. But I would not be so cruel as to bury it alive. Its death was swift.” He frowned, glancing at the dead rat in his hand. “Still, the blood. I fear the island craves it.” He sighed and turned to Paulo. “I will bury the rat while you talk to the newcomers. They are not the hidden people I fear.”

  He strode off.

  Davey yelled, “Watch out for the tiger!”

  Without turning, the blond boy raised the rat in acknowledgment and disappeared into the thick brush.

  “Hidden people?” Calvin looked bewildered, then whipped his head toward Davey. “And what’s with you and tigers?”

  Molly stepped closer to Paulo. “What island?”

  *

  The female, Carmen, found the City empty, exactly as the island planned. The longer she was isolated from the others, the stronger she would become. The island tracked her approach, studying her, sifting through her emotions. The spare was not worth the island’s time or scrutiny; he was an afterthought.

  While the fighter took what she wanted from the human City, the island turned its attention back to the pair, which had turned into a quintet while the island had been distracted. One was a killer, blood still dripping from his kill. But the kill was too small to bleed power, the killer’s heart too soft to be useful. Disappointing, on both counts.

  Still, the island watched.

  For an instant the island considered taking one of the five, absorbing their power without wait. But the island was bound by rules, unyielding rules, all crafted by time; the island was constrained by time itself and the year deadline demanded obedience. To the island’s dismay, there were no feral creatures close enough to reward the island with an early prize.

  The blood and power the island craved was so close, yet out of reach. After the taste of power in the Looking Glass Cavern, waiting was cruel torture for the island, and yet wait the island must.

  If it could scream, it would.

  But here the island had no voice. No outlet, no release. It was as trapped as the humans, and it despised the humans for that too. And yet, nothing was forever. Not here, not there. In three days’ time, a new shift would come, perhaps the biggest one yet.

  To soothe itself, the island looked beyond, looked ahead. A new prize would come in a few days’ time, perhaps the best prize. The knowledge empowered the island, as did the passage of time. Time took and time gave, and time always was. Time ruled the island, but within its time, the island would play.

  And victory was a mere three noons away.

  Over the island, the crescent moon glowed like electria unleashed, and the island inhaled.

  CHAPTER

  22

  SKYE

  JUNE 18, MID-MORNING

  Now it was me worried about Rives. Now that I’d stopped the downward spiral in my head—now that I knew I wasn’t crazy—it was Rives who was struggling; it was Rives fighting his personal demons, Rives fighting the shadow of Nil. Or maybe Rives fighting his sixth sense. He was definitely fighting something. I caught him clenching his fists at weird times, often while staring at me.

  Like now.

  We were minutes away from landing in Honolulu, an hour away from meeting up with Charley and Thad. In two hours the four of us plus Dad would all be on a boat headed for a remote area of Micronesia, a place Rives and I had left behind three months ago. Three months ago. Three days until the solstice. Three minutes until we land.

  Still counting, I thought.

  I wondered whether I’d ever stop.

  At least now that I’d accepted that Nil was in my head, the darkness had retreated. Not disappeared, but withdrawn a vital fraction, enough to let me sleep without soul-crushing fear, enough to keep me from breaking. Enough to let the girl take center stage.

  She was ever present.

  In my dreams, in my daydreams, in the quiet moments when I paused to think. Choose me, she begged constantly. I knew the only way to get her to leave was to go to the Death Twin and stop the island from taking another.

  The rest would be up to Paulo.

  Better yet, the simple knowledge that I wasn’t crazy had brought the release I’d so desperately craved. I was haunted but sane. Time formerly spent journaling now went into exercising and working through arguments with islanders in my mind—I was ready to go head to head with an entire team of elders if need be. I felt more like myself; I felt like me.

  I was back.

  I felt even better knowing that in three days, I’d banish Nil from my head once and for all. Because wouldn’t she—the girl, Nil, whoever was begging for help in my head—leave me alone once I did what she asked?

  I refused to consider any alternative.

  Three days, I thought.

  The plane dipped, then touched down with a rough lurch.

  I turned to Rives and smiled. “And so it begins,” I said dramatically.

  He shook his head, his jaw tight. “I don’t think it ever ended.”

  *

  “Charley!”

  Hearing my voice, she turned, her ponytail swinging behind her, her eyes lighting up when she saw Rives and me a few feet away. She and Thad stood near the ground transportation entrance, a striking couple who were easy to spot in the middle of the bustling Honolulu airport. Each wore a backpack and carried nothing else. Our trip didn’t require much in the packing department. Rives and I each had only a single backpack too.

  I hugged Charley, feeling the strength of her as she hugged me back. Now that I knew her, Charley’s slow drawl didn’t fool me one bit. She was a force of will and muscle.

  Beside us, Rives and Thad clasped hands, then Thad pulled Rives into a tight hug.

  “Good to see you, brother,” Thad said, his voice gruff with emotion.

  “Feeling’s mutual.” Rives grinned.

  Relief that Thad had survived Nil hit me anew; it was Rives’s relief driving mine.

  Thad let Rives go and turned to me. “Skye.” He hugged me as warmly as he’d hugged Rives. “Long time no see, Nil slayer.”

  “I wish.” I hugged him back. “I mean, I wish I’d slayed Nil, or at least helped it pass peacefully.” But I hadn’t done either: I hadn’t killed the island or helped it.

  I’d just made it worse.

  Thad studied me, his blue eyes intense.

  “Looks like this is the last shot then, eh?” He adjusted his backpack, his smile fading. “Skye, listen. I’m not going to lie to you, and I want this out in the open from the get-go. I have a bad feeling about this trip. After all, this is Nil we’re messing with, right? And the thought of being anywhere near a gate?” He raised his eyebrows. “It creeps me out. Weirds me out.” He sighed. “I spent a year there, Skye. A full year. And barely got out alive.” His sapphire gaze held ghosts I didn’t recognize but knew belonged to Nil. “I just want it on the record right now that I think this is a seriously bad idea.”

  “That makes two of us, bro.” Rives nodded.

  “Noted,” I said, annoyed. Don’t they realize I have no choice? That if I don’t go, the girl in my head won’t leave me alone? Ever?

  I wanted her gone, which was why I had to go to the Death Twin. There was no alternative, not for me. Not if I wanted to be free.

  I glanced at Rives, his expression a blank mask, but his eyes were weary with resignation. He knows, I thought, relaxing. He knows I have no choice. Still holding Rives’s gaze, my voice radiated calm. “It’s going to be okay.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Thad said, his tone skeptical.

  Me too, I thought.

  Thad turned toward Rives. “So tell me. Besides this little detour, what’s been happening?”

  The two boys fell into a familiar rhythm, a relaxed back-and-forth about our recent Europe trip and Thad’s current training schedule.

  “This is going to be awesome.�
�� Charley’s voice was confident. “An island road trip with you and Rives to stop Nil once and for all.” She glanced at Thad, watching him laugh with Rives, her smile fading as her expression turned pensive.

  “Charley, what is it?”

  “Thad doesn’t get it.” Her golden eyes flashed. “He thinks this trip is optional, like it’s a whim. It’s not. Not for me.” She paused. “I think because he was there a full year, he feels done. But I left early, without planning on it. I’m not saying I want to go back to Nil, not at all—for the record, I don’t. But, I still have this weird sense of unfinished business; I’ve felt this way since I left, and it’s only getting worse. Like I left Nil before I was ready, before the island was ready to let me go.”

  “But the island did let you go.” My statement sounded like a question.

  “Maybe. Sometimes I’m not sure.” She chewed her lip, then glanced at me. “I don’t know if you know, but Thad threw me into that gate. There was no going back. But I’m still not sure it was my time. So I’m totally on board with your block-the-gate plan. Maybe even destroy-the-gate plan. I can’t help but think I’m supposed to help you do this, whatever this is.”

  She tilted her head slightly. “Did you know you and I were on Nil about the same amount of time?”

  I nodded.

  “And you know how many more days I spent on Nil than you?” She studied me.

  “No.”

  “Ten,” she said. “I was on Nil for ten more days than you were. I don’t know what that means, but it means something; it must. I know you and Rives figured out the numbers, the ones that add up to ten: three, two, one, four. You were there eighty-nine days, me ninety-nine. And Thad and Rives were there for a full three hundred sixty-five. Ten,” she repeated. She shook her head and sighed. “Maybe I’m looking for something that doesn’t exist. But I can’t help but feel that this trip is important, that you and I are here together, right now, for a reason. I can’t help thinking that my role with Nil isn’t done yet. But something big is going to happen.” She looked at me. “Don’t you feel it, Skye?”