Page 104 of Strange Lights

“All you have to do is make it to Reggie and secure her to yourself. I can haul you both up from there.” The technical instructions he continues murmuring under his breath are more to steady himself than me, I think, but his voice calms me too.

Luca braces himself, hands on the rope, as I step backward away from him and lean back over the edge of the void. For a moment, paralyzing fear sweeps over me. Luca and I lock eyes.

“That first step is the hardest. It gets easier, I promise.”

“Don’t drop me.”

“I’ve got you.”

I push off the cliff edge and descend into the darkness.

44

Stare into the Abyss & Watch It Stare Back

Down, down, down we fall, my mother and I.

The first thing I do is drop that awful sword, let it tumble from my fingertips. Adele screams in rage and betrayal, but I cling to her anyway. I struggle for a hold with my free hand, instinct to survive overriding any plan I had. I manage to slow us, my hand grasping at the darkness swirling around us. Blind panic fills my head the farther we fall without stopping.

Finally, finally, my hand catches something, a handhold. My surroundings take shape. My feet scrabble for purchase, one foot finding a crack to wedge inside. I’m clinging to the side of a massive, endless vertical wall. Stone maybe, illuminated by flashes of lightning, beginning to rage as Adele curses me. The side of a great cavernous void. I recognize it. I’ve been here before. But no, I only stood at the edge, peering in, resisting temptation to jump. I wasn’t the one who fell in here and survived this once. That was Adele. She vowed never to return here. She fights, struggles against my hold, senseless in her rage and pain.

“Stop!” I scream at her. “You’ll destroy us both.”

She’s beyond reason, but I try anyway. Her eyes are depthless, filling with the magic of this place. There’s a dark swirl of storm clouds and sparkling magic⁠—beautiful but terrible. I can’t understand why she fights me. The strain on my other arm clinging to the mountain is nearly unbearable.

“I can still save us. I can still save you.”

It’s all right. Let go.

A voice, my own, maybe? Or this place. Magic come alive. But I hear it as clear as day.

Let go.

“What have you done?” shrieks Adele.

“You’re too heavy,” I pant. “Drop the Gauntlet.”

“No,” Adele says decisively.

“Please, let it go,” I beg her.

“I can’t.”

“Please, Mom, please.” Her fingers are slipping from mine.

Adele gasps, stops struggling against my hold. “I don’t know how, Reggie.”

Let go.

I’m not imagining the voice. I’m not the only one who hears it.

“You’re here,” Adele says.

“Who’s there?” I whisper.

Let her go. The voice is more insistent now, forceful.

“I can’t. I’m afraid,” Adele gasps.