Sarven steps closer. He places a cool hand on my burning forehead and my shoulders slump.
It’s the sickness. The stress. My brain misfiring.
“Just… a play with the light,” I whisper.
But I don’t step away from the edge. I stay there, bathed in the light, staring up at the empty crack.
Because even if my eyes are lying, the feeling of being watched, of cold, pale intent boring into the top of my head, isn’t going away.
I swallow hard and try to steady my feet on the slick stone.
“Okay,” I murmur. “Okay. Just a play with the light.”
But I don’t look down.
Chapter 16
ISAAC NEWTON CAN BITE ME
MIKAELA
Iforce my eyes away from the crack in the ceiling.
Just the light playing tricks on my fever brain that’s been running on adrenaline fumes and not enough water.
Focus, I command my hands. Just get an idea of what we’re working with here, then we leave.
I look down at my feet. The stone shelf is wide here, but it glistens constantly with the warm steam rising from the pool. A thin, red-black film of algae coats the rock right where I need to place my knees.
“Okay,” I breathe. “You can do this.”
Sarven stands at my elbow, a steady wall of strength. He reaches his hand toward mine. “Mih-kay-lah. Step.”
I lift my own hand to meet his.
But before our fingers touch, a prickle crawls down my spine.
I freeze again.
It’s not the fever. It’s that sixth sense.
The sense of being watched. Hunted.
I shouldn’t look. I told myself I wouldn’t look.
My head snaps up anyway.
Back to the shaft of light.
And there it is.
It wasn’t a trick of the angle. It wasn’t a smudge in my vision.
It’s back.
A face. Staring right at me.
“What the?—”
