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The taste of bile rose in my throat, and it took every ounce of energy I had to keep from throwing up. The revulsion must have registered on my face, because Charlie’s tone was sympathetic. “I know, kid. The smell’s hard to take. Why do you think I don’t make many trips across?”
“Why did it change? The river.” I couldn’t drag my eyes away from the waterlogged bodies. “I mean, it wasn’t like this before.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You just couldn’t see it. There are lots of things we choose not to see. Doesn’t mean they aren’t there, even if we wish they weren’t.”
“I’m tired of seeing everything. It was easier back when I didn’t know anything. I barely even knew I was alive.”
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Charlie nodded. “Yeah. So I hear.”
The wooden platform smacked against the opposite bank. “Thanks, Charlie.”
He leaned on the pole, his unnaturally blue, pupil-less eyes staring right through me. “Don’t mention it, kid. I hope you find that girl.”
I reached my hand out cautiously and scratched Dragon behind the ears. I was happy to see my hand didn’t burn off.
The huge dog barked at me.
“Maybe Penny will come back,” I said. “You never know.”
“The odds are against it.”
I stepped onto the bank. “Yeah, well. If you’re going to look at it that way, I guess you could say they’re against me, too.”
“You may be right. If you’re headed where I think.”
Did he know? Maybe this side of the river only led to one place, though I doubted it. The more I learned about the world I thought I knew and all the ones I didn’t, the more everything threaded together, leading everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
“I’m going to the Far Keep.” I didn’t think he’d get the chance to tell any of the Keepers, since he couldn’t leave this spot. Besides, there was something about Charlie I liked. And saying the words only made me feel more like they were true.
“Straight ahead. You can’t miss it.” He pointed into the distance. “But you have to get past the Gatekeeper.”
“I heard.” I had been thinking about it since my visit to Obidias’ house with Aunt Prue.
“Well, you tell him he owes me money,” Charlie said. “I won’t wait around forever.” I looked at him, and he sighed. “Well, say it anyway.”
“You know him?”
He nodded. “We go way back. There’s no telling how long it’s been, but I’d guess a lifetime or two.”
“What’s he like?” Maybe if I knew more about this guy, I would have a better chance of convincing him to let me into the Far Keep.
Charlie smiled, pushing off with the pole and sending the poor man’s ferry floating back into the sea of corpses.
“Not like me.”
CHAPTER 16
A Rock and a Crow
Once I left the river behind, I realized the road to the Gates of the Far Keep wasn’t a road at all. It was more of a crude, winding path, hidden within the walls of two towering black mountains that stood side by side, creating a natural gate more ominous than anything that could’ve been made by Mortals—or Keepers. The mountains were slick, with razor-sharp corners that reflected the sun, as if they were made of obsidian. They looked like they were cutting black slits into the sky.
Great.
The idea of navigating a path through those jagged knife-blade cliffs was a little more than intimidating. Whatever the Keepers were up to, they definitely didn’t want anyone to know about it.
Big surprise there.
