Page 451 of Coal Hearts

No more blowholes or rockpools.

The beach and its sea glass sand were gone.

I’d swum to the treeline and hauled myself out of the sea.

And then, I’d started to climb.

I’d left Charles’ paintball gun behind.

I’d lost the axe when I’d gotten trapped in a dead end—

Another scream.

This one cut short with a heart-ripping gurgle.

The trees thinned; the ground opened wide.

I almost fell into an open-top cave.

Skidding to a stop, I grabbed a gnarly branch for balance and peered down.

Someone had rested a cellphone against a boulder, shining its torch at a corner of the cave and casting huge shadows on the walls. He loomed over his prey, looking like a twelve-foot-high demon.

Beneath him, I barely made out the bare legs of a jewel.

A jewel covered head to toe in scarlet red.

Blood.

Her blood—

Everything switched off.

Every longing.

Every loneliness.

Every need for love.

That was the moment.

The last moment.

The final moment of my humanity.

I dropped over the lip of the cave and descended into hell.

Chapter Seven

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Ily

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GOD, EVERYTHING HURT.

So, so much.