Erebus nodded. A swath of darkness pulled itself from the sky, moving to rest atop my shoulders, too. It felt warm. Comforting, even. I leaned into my new mantle, savoring its touch.
“I’m sorry for saying I imagined you.” He smiled then. His expression held sorrow, but amazement, too. “You just seemed too good to be true, is all.”
Erebus held out his hand. I took it.
And the globe cracked in two, bursting with the light of a million stars.
Am I dead?
For a time, there was nothing but stark, blinding light. It surrounded me with its fullness, swallowing my screams. I searched for a shape, a shadow, a movement,anything. But the light persisted, overwhelming despite its emptiness. My hair floated to the sides of my face, fluttering along the edge of my cloak. Slowly, I began to feel weightless. Free, even.
But everything was wrong. It was suffocating, this light. Thissilence.
I glanced at my hands. They were empty, missing the boy’s brave, reassuring grip. He had wanted us to escape the pit together. A terrible thought slammed into me: Maybe I hadn’t made it. Maybe I was dead or lost, stuck in some eternal Dream Realm afterlife when all I wanted was to be alive on earth and safe with Elliot.
The thought sickened me.
Vaguely, I felt something brush my fingertips. I reached through the ripple of light, grasping for what I had felt. If it was Erebus, I wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone. But as I stretched, the light expanded outward, drowning my face and crawling into my nose. I squeezed my eyes shut.
My throat was full, bubbling over.
I’m dying.
The light stilled, dampening into gray. Just as something—someone—finally reached for me. Their hands were armored and as cold as ice, but they held on. My eyes flew open.
And for a moment, the world stood still.
The Shadow Bringer, more statue than man, was suspended in a pool of silvery water. His eyes were closed, lashes resting atop frozen cheeks, and his hair pooled about him in a ghostly crown. Gone was the lifeblood from his skin; he was pallid as a corpse, lips drawn together in a colorless line. It struck me again how beautiful he was. Even with a helm drawn over most of his face, his beauty rivaled the moon’s. But the Shadow Bringer had once been just a child. A mortal—aboy—with fear, hope, and dreams in his bones. And he had a name.
Erebus.
My eyes drifted to his chest. The demon’s horn had been thrust through his ribs, pinning him to the bottom of the pond. I shuddered, imagining how it would feel to be impaled like that. To be left to die, speared to the mud like an insect. I pulled on the horn, hoping that I could dislodge it from his chest. Death and life in the Realm were mysterious, fickle things. The Bringer looked dead, but he also never had a heartbeat. And neither did I. My chest was empty, motionless as his.
It was then I realized I hadn’t been breathing. And I didn’t need to.
When I felt I was drowning in the Shadow Bringer’s cavern, perhaps it was only because IbelievedI was drowning. Maybe there really was hope after all.
Gritting my teeth, I held the horn and pulled hard. I groaned at the weight of it; bubbles poured from my mouth. But my effort was useless. The horn was too heavy—too slippery under my hands. I couldn’t lift it, even as I tried to imagine it as light, weightless, and brittle.
A large, misshapen body moved through the water. A thing that looked very much like the red-eyed demon.
I wrapped my arms under the Shadow Bringer’s shoulders, movingcloser to him than I had ever dared. His hair, silky and ticklish, brushed against my face. If I couldn’t lift the horn, maybe I could lift the Shadow Bringer off it. I just had to angle him correctly, pull him up before the—
I froze, panicking.
The demon was close—too close. It kicked up sediment from the bottom of the pond, clouding the water and obscuring my view of its body. Just a few seconds more and it would be upon us.
Holding the Bringer tight and trying to ignore how cold and empty his body felt, I swam up with all my strength.
The demon lunged toward us, stretching its mouth wide.
Too late—it’s too late.
Its body circled us, breaking through the sediment. I looked on, horrified. We were weak. Powerless.
We’dfailed. And the cost was devastating.
Because of this demon, I would be imprisoned in the Dream Realm forever, never able to return home. Never again would I see a real sunrise, enjoy real food, or watch real people living real lives. Because of this demon, I’d never get to hug Elliot or watch him grow up. I’d never even see him again. I buried my face in the Shadow Bringer’s chest, shutting my eyes as the demon’s teeth closed around us. The Shadow Bringer wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t some creature in the dark worthy of being hated and feared. Not like this demon was.
