Page 127 of The Heart Trials

“They’re being abandoned here. They’re going to die, Caelus! Just for being related to a contestant?”

“It’s an impossible choice. On purpose. He’s making us—”

“Desperate.”

“I refuse to choose between saving each other and her.” I cling to Serafina as Dorian eases himself over the edge and gestures for Mae to join him. She blows me a kiss as she turns and climbs down, careful with each of her steps. When she’s suspended, hanging, she reaches for the frail woman, who timidly steps off the edge, lowering herself.

“Of course we won’t do that to Serafina,” Caelus says. “I’m going to carry her down strapped against me. She’s not very heavy.” He hands me the antidote, nudging my elbow. “Take it.”

But I can’t tear my eyes away from Mae’s sister, who is struggling with her footing. She squats on the cliff’s edge, taking one foot over at a time.

Then, she slips.

She tumbles over the edge.

Mae screams, a gut-wrenching cry.

The coil of rope is eaten up inch by inch as the woman falls through the air.

“Hold on,” Dorian shouts. But when her sister’s rope pulls taut, it tugs so hard on Mae’s, it unwedges her hook from the rock. She plummets too. My shrieks fill the air. I lose all feeling in my body.

Dorian’s lost all his color. His eyes are wide with horror, and his knuckles go white on the cliff face. The weight of two people is about to tug like an anchor on his cord.

“He can’t hold all three on just his hook,” Caelus says. “It’s going to pull him too.”

When Dorian’s cord pulls taut, I shut my eyes.

The loud screams fade, growing farther and farther away.

Serafina cries.

I hear a distant wail, an animalistic wail, and it shreds my insides.

Then, there’s silence. The kind that feels like death in the bones.

Caelus presses my head to his chest.

“No!” I break, a cry tearing its way through me so violently I shudder. I can’t open my eyes. I can’t bear to see if Dorian’s cord snapped or if he was pulled off the mountainside with them. Serafina cries harder, and I fumble to cover her mouth before realizing there is no one here to hurt her. I pick her up and hold her tightly against me. She’s stiff at first, never having been hugged before. But I press her head against me, hoping she feels how much she means to me. Hoping she feels safe. I place her tiny arms around my neck, and she begins to hold on to me tightly. I plant a defiant kiss in her hair.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Caelus presses his forehead against mine. “But we have to move.”

I nod, unable to find words, still not willing to look back. I feel numb, hollow, and empty as I set Serafina down. She refuses to let go of me.

“It’s alright. We’re going to make it down,” I promise her. The words come out slurred, the exhaustion getting harder to fight.

“Take the other antidote,” Caelus says, removing the stopper on the first one. He guzzles it down. “Give her to me.”

I shake my head. “No. We hike down the long way.” The words sound absurd as they come out of my mouth. That will take forever. We don’t have enough provisions and Serafina is so hot. She needs to see a medic soon.

“Axira, we don’t have the rations or the time to hike two dozen miles. We have to go down the cliffs. And you have to take the antidote so you have a clear head. It, too, will be intense.”

Still, I can’t. “Serafina gets the antidote,” I say. “Her body is smaller, the Heartfillers are too powerful for her. How do we know the sedative won’t make it impossible to wake her up? How do we know it won’t slowly kill her?”

Caelus doesn’t respond.

“We don’t.” I grab the antidote and unstopper it. “Fina.”

Caelus grabs my wrist. “Axira, you need the antidote.”