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Was I me? I wasn't completely sure.
I started to prop myself up on my elbows, and I felt a hand on my shoulder, gently helping me up. I glanced over. Green eyes. He had such nice green eyes.
"Thank you," Luca said, looking amused.
I felt my face heat up. "Did I say that out loud?"
"Unicorn, at this point, I'll take it," Theo said. He reached over and took my hand. "That was a bad one."
But I was staring at Julian. I'd never seen his face before this afternoon. But that wasn't right, was it? He was familiar. I knew him. I knew him. "You," I said.
I expected him to meet my gaze belligerently, as he had when he'd first stepped out of the cabin, but instead he looked away.
I got to my feet, wobbling slightly on the grass, and pointed at Julian. I felt so strange—where did this sudden rage come from, this fury? I felt like a pot left to boil too long on the stove. A thin cord of fire had ignited in my belly and it was dancing, threatening to spark to life.
"You," I said again, and my voice wasn't quite my own. My left hand crackled with pain, the skin around the ring hot enough that I was afraid it might catch fire. "You did this to us."
"River!" Luca's hand was on my arm.
Abruptly the fury evaporated. I looked at Luca, then down at my hand, then at Theo. Then, finally, at Julian, who was staring at me as though he'd seen a ghost.
I pulled my arm out of Luca's grasp.
"Luca," I said, keeping my tone carefully controlled. "I need you to tell me something right now."
His pupils were dilated. His nostrils flared, ever so slightly, with the breath that came just a little bit quicker than normal. He, too, looked rapt. "Yes," he said.
There was a name floating in my head, half-formed, familiar and unfamiliar, the same as Julian's face. I took a deep breath.
"Who is Abigor?"
It was as though I had lowered my head and bull-rushed him.
Luca staggered backwards, two stumbling steps, his hands clutching his chest as though his heart was trying to claw its way out. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out besides an agonized groan.
Then Julian was there, standing at Luca's side, one hand keeping Luca upright.
"You see, old friend?" he said, his tone oddly gentle. "This is the end of the story, at last."
Luca was shaking his head. "No, no—"
"What's happened to her?" Theo said beside me, his voice quiet with shock. "What is she talking about?"
"Luca," I said again, sharper this time.
Luca met my gaze, his expression caught between anguish and terror.
The words were acrid on my tongue. "Who is Abigor?"
Julian's hand tightened on Luca's arm. "Don't," he said.
Luca looked at Julian. His voice was so low I could barely hear his words. "I have to tell her. Don't you see? A part of her already knows."
"Don't," Julian repeated, louder this time, but Luca was straightening, pulling away from Julian's iron grip. I watched, fascinated, as he spread his hands, his arms seeming to lengthen in the moonlight, seeming to embrace the darkness around him.
I was dimly aware of Theo beside me, but I was focused on Luca—the face that was both his and wasn't, that was both there and not there. He closed his eyes.
"Luca," I whispered.
