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But instead, I sit silently and wait for him to make the first move. When his fingers gingerly find mine, my breath catches in my chest. They curl around my hand and squeeze. “I was in hell,” he whispers. “I mean, I think I was. I think I was in hell.”

I stare down at our hands.

“I saw him. The Shadow King.” He falters over his words and clutches his stomach with his free hand. “He showed me the worst parts of my life. Again, and again, and again. I thought I’d never escape.” Fat, heavy tears roll down Sam’s cheeks. I leave the tree trunk, kneel in front of him, and cup his face with my hands.

“You’re safe now. You’re here with us.”

Sam stares down at me. “None of us are safe, Nova,” he says, turning to look at Luther.

“What do you mean?” Luther asks, moving out from the shadow of the pine tree.

“Eve opened a portal. Her hand was there, right in front of me. She cut herself, and the blood allowed these beasts to cross over. Huge, gray things. Like wolves, but not wolves.”

“The hellhounds,” I say, locking eyes with Luther.

“It sounds like it,” he replies. “Sam, what else did you see? You saw The King? Did he show you how is he planning to return to Earth?” There’s a note of hopefulness in Luther’s voice. We’ve always known what the King wants, we’ve just never known how he intends to get it. Perhaps this is why Sam needed to return—so he can tell us how to beat The King and fulfill the prophecy.

Sam flinches when Luther says The King. He shakes his head. “That was all I saw,” he says. “We were in some kind of hall. The King was there. He summoned the hounds, then opened the portal.” He pauses and meets my gaze. “When the hounds jumped through, he said their job was to—” He trails off, scraping his fingers through his hair. He rolls his tongue around his mouth like he’s fighting the urge to vomit.

“What? Their job is to what?” Luther asks, even though I’m pretty sure we both know the answer.

Sam closes his eyes and then quietly says, “He sent them to kill Nova. He told me she’d be joining me soon.”

30

KOLE

“I don’t trust this.” Mack puts his hands into his pockets and shakes his head. “I don’t trust him.”

Tanner still looks shaken. Every so often, he glances furtively around the cave like he’s expecting monsters to jump out at him. When he saw Sam, it was as if he’d seen a ghost.

“Tanner?” I ask, putting my hand firmly on his shoulder, hoping it might ground him. “Did you see anything when you jumped that made you think you’d pulled Sam back out with you?”

For the first time in a long time, when Tanner looks at me, his eyes are swimming with vulnerability. “No,” he says quietly. “I couldn’t even say for certain where he was.” His head ticks to the side. He screws his eyes shut, then swallows hard. “He looks normal, though, doesn’t he? He looks okay?”

I glance at Mack. “He looks okay but—like the professor said—I’m not sure I trust it. It seems too easy. Too fast.”

“We should go out there.” Mack gestures to the cave’s entrance, then strides outside while Tanner and I follow behind him.

On the beach, Nova, Sam, and Luther are talking in hushed voices. Seeing us approaching, Luther leaves the others and walks over. His hands are in his pockets, his expression pinched with concern. Looking at each of us in turn, he says darkly, “He’s seen The King. He’s been in his presence.”

Mack is staring at Sam. He sniffs the air and isn’t even subtle about it. “He smells different,” he says. Then with no warning at all, he shifts. Nova realizes what’s happening and looks around as if something terrible must be approaching through the woods and Mack is preparing to fight it off.

Snow’s shoulders ripple as he huffs out large snorts of air and stalks toward Sam. Nova stands up slowly and reaches for Snow. “It’s okay, it’s Sam.”

Snow ignores her. Actually, he barges past and nudges her out of the way. She pulls at his shoulder, but he doesn’t move an inch. He is staring at Sam, his huge bear snout hardly a millimeter away from Sam’s face.

He sniffs, drawing air deep into his flared black nostrils.

“What is he doing?” Sam asks, leaning back, staring at Nova. “Can you tell him to stop?”

Pushing Sam out of the way, Nova swaps places with him so she’s directly in front of Snow. “Snow, stop it,” she barks, as if she’s reprimanding a naughty dog.

Snow refuses to look at her.

“He thinks Sam smells different,” I explain, watching with slight admiration as Nova stands face-to-face with a polar bear and doesn’t even flinch. Of course, he’d never hurt her but he’s still intimidating as hell.

“Of course, he smells different,” she says, pressing her palms against Snow’s chest but failing to move him. “He’s been trapped in another dimension.”