Page 13

Sarah slams her hand over her mouth and lets out a muffled cry.

“Sam and Nico are both gone.” I look from Rev to Sarah. I expect tears to come again, to wrack my body and make me fold in on myself but this time they don’t. Perhaps I have no more left.

“We felt it,” Rev says quietly. “We felt something change in the air last night. The entire town grew cold.” She meets my eyes then stands and walks to the window that looks down onto the street. “It was like evil arrived, and we could all sense it. The bars closed. Everyone went home, and this morning?” She gestures to the window. “There’s no one around. It’s as if everyone is hiding but has no idea what they’re hiding from.”

I rub my thighs and try to remember the moments before Snow took me away. “Eve—Ragnor’s witch—conjured a swarm of flies from her mouth. The flies chased Luther, Kole, and Tanner then stopped on the edge of the woods.”

“And The Shadow King?” Rev’s voice catches in her throat. She presses her lips together and folds her arms. “Did he rise?”

“I don’t think so. I think it was just the beginning. I think this was all about Ragnor and Elena—”

“Gone where?” Sarah cuts off my question, reaching for my hand and grasping it with hers. “You said Sam is gone, but where has he gone? He can’t have just disappeared. He wasn’t hurt. You said Ragnor stabbed Nico, not Sam. So, Sam must be somewhere.” Sarah is squeezing my hand so hard that my fingers are turning white with the pressure. “We just have to find a way to get him back.” She meets my eyes, nodding at me. “Right? We have to find a way to get Sam back?”

“Sarah,” Rev says darkly, “if Sam’s in The Shadow King’s domain, there is no way to get him back.”

Standing up quickly, Sarah shakes her head at us. “I don’t believe that,” she says. “There has to be a way.” She pulls her sleeves down over her hands and starts worrying the cuffs with her fingers. “I’d know if he was dead. All the years he was missing, I knew he was alive. I felt it.” She strides into the center of the room. “I feel the same way now. Sam is still out there.” She waves her finger at us like a schoolteacher telling off a pair of unruly pupils. “I’m not giving up on him.” And then she spins around and disappears back into her bedroom, leaving Rev and I alone.

“Do you really think…?” I trail off. Something dangerously close to hope is flickering in my belly. “Do you really think Sam could be alive?” I stand up slowly and brace my hands on the table. “Rev? Is it possible? Could he be out there somewhere? Waiting for me to find him?”

Rev closes her eyes and takes a deep, slow breath. When she opens them again, she says, “Nova, it’s possible but—“

A smile flickers on my lips. That’s all I needed to hear. “If he’s out there,” I tell her, “I’ll find him. No matter what it takes, I will find him.”

10

KOLE

The sun is creeping up over the horizon. We’ve been talking for at least two hours, but I’m still almost shaking with anger. “How can you even consider it?” I grunt, pacing back and forth on the jetty with the sun at my back.

“Tanner…” This time, my tone softens as he looks at me. “You’ve jumped twice in the past few weeks. Both times, it fucked with your head. Last night, you came into contact with maybe a tenth of The Shadow King’s power and it’s left you—” I wave my arms at him. “Damaged.”

“I am not damaged,” he snaps back through gritted teeth. “I’m recalibrating. I’ll be fine.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Even if you are… what you’re talking about is completely different. It’s another level. It’s dangerous.”

Rising up to his full height, he fixes his gaze on me. “Look me in the eyes,” he says, “and tell me she’s not worth it. Tell me you wouldn’t do anything in your power to stop her from hurting the way she is right now. Tell me you wouldn’t do anything in your power to give her Sam back.”

My ears are throbbing. The sensation of my blood thickening in my veins is almost impossible to ignore. There are too many things in my head. The way I want Nova, the blood bond, the urge to get high, the urge to use Nova to get high, the thought of Tanner sinking his teeth into her pale skin. I let out a guttural roar and kick the post at the end of the jetty. It doesn’t budge and leaves my toes throbbing. This time, Tanner doesn’t come to my aid; he’s already stalking back to the cabin.

“Tanner,” I call after him. “Where the fuck are you going?”

“I’m going to talk to the others,” he yells back. “We vote. As a group. Like we always have.”

I’m about to run and catch him up when I stop myself. Am I scared for Tanner or Nova? Am I scared Tanner’s plan won’t work? Or that it will?

I’m at the steps, about to take them two at a time and convince the others this is a terrible idea, when the door clatters open. “She’s gone.” Mack strides out onto the veranda. In a flash, he’s Snow and he’s sniffing the air. He barrels past me before I can ask what’s happened.

Luther appears next, looking half awake and worried as hell. “She’s gone.” He repeats what Mack said. “We woke up and she was gone.” He’s about to run after Snow when I catch his arm. “Papa Bear will find her. We need to talk.”

Frowning at me, Luther gestures to the trees. “Kole, she could be in trouble—”

I shake my head. “She’ll be fine.”

“Something else you know but can’t tell us?” Tanner’s voice drifts toward me from the doorway of the cabin. He’s leaning against the doorframe.

“I don’t know where she is,” I tell him. “I just know she’s okay. She’s not in danger. I’d feel it.”

Tanner rolls his eyes at me and disappears back inside.