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River rose from the ground, his shadow taking shape. She gasped as he pressed his hand to her cheek, running his thumb across her bottom lip. He then knelt, writing in the dirt. You wouldn’t have left anyway, and selfishly, that pleases me.
Sadie sat on the futon beside River’s shadow, tapping her feet, waiting for midnight to arrive. After the bloody animals turned into moth silhouettes, and River’s last message, she’d gone inside with him following behind her. He’d returned to his shadowy form, and although he hadn’t written anything else, he lingered beside her on the futon as if it were a first date, too shy to touch one another. But she knew he was trying to distance himself still, even though he couldn’t, just as she couldn’t.
“It’s almost time,” Sadie said softly, wondering if once midnight came if he would vanish from here and appear below ground.
Her eyelids fell shut, then opened. River’s form was no longer beside her, so she knew she was already sleeping.
Outside, the wind howled against the windows, the same haunting music as the other nights thrashed along with it. Grabbing her flashlight, she ventured into the night, the trees lit with lanterns, guiding her way. The whispering in the trees was even louder, the screams clearer, raspy.
She set aside any fear bursting within her and darted straight through the woods. The fiends slipped out from the trees as she ran—the white moths swarmed around her, more of them than before. And she knew why.
The goat-skulled fiend held the vines up for her so she could easily slip inside. “Hello, and thank you,” Sadie said.
The fiend bowed its head, motioning her toward the entrance to River. As soon as she stepped to the edge of the opening, the trees whispered, folding together, creating a barrier once more. The fiends were no longer with her, and she couldn’t see even a sliver of an opening this time.
But Sadie didn’t hesitate before rushing down the steps. She glanced at the symbols, the engraving of the eye reminding her of what Kalina had said about Sadie’s marking.
River stood, waiting for her, lifeless. As she skirted around him and reached to touch him, she wondered if he could hear in this state or if he was dead to the world.
His skin was cool to the touch—then it warmed as he took his first breath, his chest heaving as his gaze met hers. “I want you here, badly, even though I shouldn’t,” River said, handing her the dagger. “Keep it away from me.”
“Whatever has us marked is making you want to do this to me.”
He nodded, cupping her cheek before trailing his fingers down the crook of her neck. “You’re getting very hot. I don’t know everything, but I know why the animals became what they did. Are you certain you want to uncover the wickedness behind it?”
“No more vagueness. I want to know the truth.” She grasped the front of his shirt.
“I haven’t told you because I wanted you safe from this, and if you uncovered it, then it would’ve been on your own, not by my selfish words of wanting you here.” He bit his lip. “Do you still want to know the truth? There is no turning back once it’s done.”
“Yes.”
A look of concern crossed his face, yet he led her to the room with the glass boxes. She studied one of the mirrors on the wall, her image reflecting as it had in the bathroom the other night with the same woman from before. Only, instead of a black gown, she wore a crimson one with a high collar and buttons lining the front.
“Who is she?” Sadie asked.
“Come,” River said, lifting a lid on one of the glass boxes, then motioned her inside.
Sadie shifted beside him, peering into the box. A black silk pillow rested inside, along with a matching black cushion to lay on. “You want me to go in there?” She wrinkled her nose. “Why can’t you just tell me?”
“I can, but you won’t understand unless you see it.” He gestured at the box once more. “Go in and close your eyes. If you don’t do it soon, you may wake again.”
Sadie didn’t know how much time she had left, so she would take the chance. Heart pounding, she stepped into the glass and lay back on the silk pillow. It was soft, so soft, but she forgot about the feel of it when River started to close the lid.
“Wait!” she shouted, pushing up. “What are you doing?”
“You’re safer from me behind the glass. I love you, my sweet nightmare,” he said softly. “I’m not even entirely certain this will work as it once did. Just focus on wanting to know the truth.”
The lid fell shut, and she watched him leave her. An anxious feeling stirred within her as she stared at the obsidian ceiling through the glass. Dropping the dagger, she pressed her hands against the lid, then pushed—it didn’t budge. She was sealed inside. Had she been that foolish? To trust so easily, to not even be forced inside a mysterious box.
“River! Let me out!” Sadie screamed, her fists pounding against the glass, and she expected it to shatter, wanted it to shatter as pure anger, so unlike her, stormed through her. Yet not a single marred line fractured it.
But then a blue light flickered on top of the glass, giving shape to something—two symbols that looked like eyes. And as the eyes closed, exhaustion swept over her, her arms falling limply to her sides, her lids closing. All she could do was think of River’s last words, focusing on learning the truth.
Like a crack of lightning, the first vision struck.
Chapter Sixteen
“Vicious dreams or sweet nightmares … which do you prefer?”
