Nil on Fire (14 page)

And with that, he left.

It occurred to him he should be more encouraging, but lately, he'd felt that reality was the better course of action. He had three months left to stay alive, to keep the others alive, and then in exactly three months' time, he'd have a second chance to try to correct his colossal failure.

But first, he had to get to the platform.

There was no time to waste.

 

CHAPTER

25

SKYE

SUMMER SOLSTICE, DAWN

“They're gone.” Rives stepped away from the trees, his hands empty.

“Gone?” I pawed through the brush, desperately hoping our canoes would magically appear. They didn't.

“Stolen. Taken. Confiscated. Commandeered.” The corner of his mouth quirked slightly. “Gone.”

“Got it.” I whirled away, fighting a scream of frustration.

“I know.” Rives's voice was soft. He looked around, already calculating, already one step ahead. “We need to secure another mode of transportation. Pronto.”

“And this is why we should've left last night,” I retorted.

He stopped his visual search. “Do you really want to waste time rehashing last night's argument?”

“No.” I glanced down the beach, desperately trying not to freak out.

I'd wanted to camp out on Spirit Island—the Death Twin housing the stationary gate—last night, but Rives refused to navigate the waters toward the Death Twins in the dark. He'd put his foot down, literally. I swear, he'd actually stomped. So, picking my battles, I'd opted out of that one, but now I wished I'd fought for it.

Black sand stretched in both directions, empty of people and all seaworthy transportation. In the distance, bathed in dawn's golden light, the Death Twins beckoned, frustratingly out of reach. An ocean swim was out of the question. We needed a boat,
now
.

The solstice clock was ticking.

I spun around and came face-to-face with Charley.

“We need to find a boat to borrow,” I told her.

“Commandeer,” Rives added helpfully.

“Whatever.” Thad's dour mood sliced through the moment. “Let's just find a boat that floats and get this thing done.”

For an island out in the middle of nowhere, oddly enough, all the personal watercraft had mysteriously gone missing. It took us three hours to acquire a pitiful-looking dinghy, and, with my dad's help, we finally managed to get it in the water.

“Go,” my dad said gruffly. “But please be careful. I love you, Skye.”

“Love you too, Dad. And don't worry. The four of us will stick together. We'll be back early afternoon.”

He waved, and gave a pointed nod to Rives. “Good luck.”

“Let's hustle,” Thad said, paddling ferociously. “The sooner we have our gateside chat, the sooner we're done. For all we know, the girl won't show.”

“That's the best-case scenario,” Rives said.

“Don't tell me the worst,” Thad warned. “Don't say it, don't think it. Just—don't.”

No one said a word. We fell into a steady rhythm as the four of us stroked directly toward the Death Twin. I wondered if we all had our worst-case scenarios. I wasn't sure what mine was, but I knew it involved failure.

Come
, the girl in my head—I still couldn't bring myself to call her Talla—urged.
Hurry.

I fought a rising sense of panic.

One hour
, I thought. One hour to get to Spirit Island, one hour to convince Maaka's cousin not to walk through that gate, one hour to break the gate. And as for that last one, I had absolutely no clue how to do it. I didn't even know if destroying a gate was possible.

“Time to bail,” Rives called.

“Bail?” His words wrenched me out of my head. Dark water crashed against unforgiving rock with a vengeance, spitting whitewater froth between the two islands. We weren't anywhere near close enough to swim. “Jump out? Are you crazy?”

“Yes, I'm crazy. It's why I'm doing this with you.” He handed me his paddle. “But I don't mean jump out. I mean bail, literally.” He pointed at my feet, where cold water wrapped my ankles in liquid shackles. “We're sinking. And we need to get through the channel between the islands in one piece.” The determined sea god Rives was back. “Thad and I'll bail while you two paddle.”

“Great,” I said.

“Just super,” Thad agreed, scooping up a frothy handful and tossing it overboard.

Rives and Thad were a silent bailing machine while Charley maneuvered us into the slough between the islands. Massive black walls sloped away from us, glistening with water, not unlike the walls of the Crystal Cove back on Nil. Just when I thought
It's taking too long
, we popped out from the narrow passage, bursting into brighter light as the current slacked. The narrow beach where I landed after following Paulo so many months ago waited thirty feet away. There were no canoes in sight, no boats of any sort. And no people.

“Looks like a ghost town,” Thad murmured.

Rives said nothing, his face chiseled stone.

Hurry, Skye!
the girl begged without break; it was a deafening chorus of one.

“Faster!” I cried, digging my paddle deep into the water.

The dinghy jerked to an abrupt halt; wood splintered with a resounding
crack
near my feet as the boat ran aground on a rock. Water rushed in through the floorboard like a geyser, filling quickly. The four of us spilled into the breakwater. Half walking, half bodysurfing, we made for shore. The boat sank behind us without a trace.

We staggered onto the beach, panting and soaking wet. The weakest swimmer, I was dead last.

Ahead, the tree line beckoned. Beyond it, the foliage thickened, too dense to peer through.

Skye!

“We need to hurry,” I said, moving toward the trees without stopping.

“Skye.” Rives touched my arm, his jaw working as he fought to stay in control. “Stay close to me. Please?”

“You stay with
me
.” I pulled his hand reassuringly. “C'mon.”

Thad fell into step beside me. “Skye, tell me you've got the words ready.”

I started to smile, to adopt a fake-it-till-you-make-it sort of confidence, then I switched to brutal honesty and my ghost of a smile vanished. “Thad,
I
have to do this. I hear Nil every day; I hear the island right now. Like a shout in my head. It's screaming for me to come. Like Charley said, it's closure. The island wants us here, to stop the gate from taking another.”

Thad didn't look convinced.

“You don't have to come.” Impatience gave my words unintended bite. “You can stay right here, Thad. On this beach. No judgment from me.” I started jogging toward the trees. I didn't wait to see if Thad followed; I could barely think with the noise in my head.

Come
, she begged.

CHOOSE ME.

Her words filled all the space in my head, pleas bathed in blood and hope and life and emotion as I jogged along; an invisible thread tugged me down the path I could have walked blindfolded. The leafy canopy shrank as we neared the center of the small island. Rives hadn't left my side. Thad and Charley kept pace on our heels.

“Someone's already there,” I said.

“Who?” Rives asked. “Lana?”

Was it Lana?
I didn't answer, because I didn't know. I just
felt
.

“I think it's a girl,” I murmured. “But I'm not sure who.” And I felt the presence of a boy, which made no sense at all.

Apparently I still hovered on the edge of crazy.

Abruptly the trees ended; a black rock clearing sprawled before us like a small stage, one with a single player. A crisp memory rushed back, the past mixing with the present. Paulo, kneeling on the black rock, tracing lines on the ground in the dark. Only this time it was a girl kneeling in the light. Her long brown hair fell around her shoulders; she wore a ring of white flowers around her head. More white blossoms were strewn around the platform. Sand as white as sugar filled the rings and lines cut into the ground. The juxtaposition of white on black was stunning, highlighted by the pure light filtering down through the trees.

I stepped onto the black rock, my bare toes brushing the outermost circle filled with white sand. Instantly, the invisible voice fell silent; the mental barrage stopped. I was blissfully alone in my head.

I could
think
.

“Lana.” I spoke softly.

Her head snapped up, her mouth open in surprise. It was the girl I'd seen yesterday with Maaka. Her gaze swept across us and fell on Rives. Her eyes narrowed as she pointed at him. “This is
my
time, my gate, not yours. Wait your turn like the rest of us.” I realized she thought Rives was an islander, like her.

He looked taken aback.

“Lana, it's not what you think.” Rives raised his hands. “No one is here to take your gate or your turn. But you don't want to go. I promise you don't want to go to that island. We've all been there and it's not the place you think it is.”

“He's right,” I said. “The island has changed, Lana. And not for the better.”

“Sure, there's fish and shrimp and gorgeous black sand beaches where you can meditate to find your inner chi or personal path or whatever,” Rives said blandly. “But there's a dark side, and it's not pretty. Ask any one of us. All four of us went there, and we're here to convince you that it's a bad idea. I promise you, Lana, you don't want to go.”

A small goat bleated from the edge of the clearing, followed by the snap of a branch. Zane trotted out from the trees, his bleached-blond hair falling into his eyes. Seeing us, he stopped and broke into a wide grin. “Whoa. What is this, old home week?”

“Zane!” I ran over and hugged him. I hadn't seen him since our group Nil reunion six weeks ago, and his sudden appearance
here
made no sense. He squeezed me back, then slapped Rives on the back.

“Damn good to see you, man, but these are strange circumstances,” Rives said. He stared at Zane, and I couldn't help thinking Rives was cataloging the circles under Zane's eyes and the hollows of his cheeks.

Did I look as exhausted as Zane?

“What are you doing here?” Rives asked him.

“Can't stop dreaming about Nil, Chief.” Zane swallowed. “Actually, I pretty much dream about Sy. Every night. He stands there, covered in blood. And he talks to me. Good times.” He shook his head. “I see dead people,” Zane whispered in a childlike voice. Dropping back into his normal tone, he laughed without smiling. “It's like
The Sixth Sense
, only it's not as cool when it's really happening to you.”

“I'm so sorry,” I said with feeling. “I don't dream of Sy, but I dream of Nil. It's why we're here too. But how'd you find this place?”

“I've been here before, remember? Three months ago?” Zane grinned. “But I would've found it anyway. It's like the island called me here, called me
back
. It's like I followed Sy's voice in my head like a GPS. I know”—he held up both hands—“it sounds crazy. Lately I've felt a little whacked.”

“Probably because you're seeing dead people,” Lana said not-so-sweetly.

Zane's eyes whipped to Lana. In one glance, he took in the skimpy white dress, band of white flowers in her hair, the fluffy white kitten in a basket by her feet, and the goat tethered to a nearby tree. Understanding flashed across his face like a shadow. “Looks like you cats were ready to start this party without me.”

“It's not your party, it's
mine
,” Lana shot back.

Just like Paulo
, I thought.

“Happy birthday, Lana,” I said quietly.

Her head whipped to me. Vulnerability flickered across her face before she flashed a cool smile. “It's not my birthday. Yet.”

“So when is it?” Zane looked curious.

“Why do you care?” Lana crossed her arms.

Before Zane could answer, Michael exited the trees. He pointed at Zane and said, “You walk fast, my friend.” Then he broke into a rare Michael smile.

Zane burst into laughter as Lana threw her hands into the air. “Is there anyone you didn't invite?”

“I was invited by the island,” Michael said, turning to her. “It called me here.”

“Same as me.” Zane nodded. “We both got a little island invite to go along with our hellacious dreams of Sy. My mom thinks I'm on a surf trip.” He shrugged. “Michael and I've been camped out here for almost a week. My dad's picking us up tomorrow if his boat makes good time.”

Lana was staring at them with a slightly open mouth. Then she clamped her mouth closed, her expression clearly irritated.

“So glad I could have such a nice turnout for my bon voyage party,” she said sarcastically. “But it's supposed to be a solitary exit. A quiet reflective moment as we shed the old self en route to the new.”

“Gee, so Maaka of you,” Rives observed. His crossed arms matched hers. “It seems like he gave you the traditional send-off, but left out the good parts. Did he bother mentioning that the island is home to hippos and leopards and other fun beasts that will eat you for lunch?” He tilted his head toward the snowy kitten in the basket by her feet. “That cat won't stand a chance on Nil. It'll be a midnight snack for a hyena. And the island likes to play with its food now, Lana. And that's you.”

She glared at Rives, saying nothing.

“Lana, listen to him,” I urged. “Listen to
me
. The island has changed, I promise you. You don't want to go.”

“She's right,” Thad said. Charley was nodding.

Lana's eyes stayed on me.

“If it's so bad, then why did Paulo stay?”