Two days, Nil giggled in the midnight breeze.In two days, you can sleep all you want.
Desperate to shove Nil out of my head, I focused on Charley. On all that was good in my world. She lay curled against me, the one thing I wanted to live for more than anything else. And yet I couldn’t stop thinking about the end.Myend. It was coming like an avalanche, or maybe I was shooting toward it.
An old memory surfaced, one built on speed. I was seven. I loved skiing, the faster the better. I’d point my skis straight down the mountain, my only goal to get to the bottom faster. Frustrated by my apparent lack of caution, my dad had bought me a snowboard. He’d figured that if I had to go sideways, I’d have to slow down. That was when I’d discovered snowboard cross, and racing.
And now I was racing toward death.
Pictures of Nil’s victims flickered behind my eyes, a cruel mental montage. Li. Talla. Bart. Older visuals. Thomas and Sara. Uta.
Ramia.
You’ll Lead, she’d whispered, her eyes sharp, her fingers stroking that creepy bone cuff.But you’ll never leave.
You don’t know, I thought, my mental tone fierce.It’s up to Nil, not you.
Holy shit, now I’m talking to a dead person—in my head.
Trying not to lose it more than I already had, I told myself that Ramia was a freak, an island anomaly. So what if she predicted her own death and a few others? My destiny lay with Nil.
Life or Death. Door Number One or Door Number Two.
I’d never told anyone—partly because I didn’t care, partly because I refused to add fuel to the labyrinth fire—but for me, the number two on Ahmad’s sketch represented choice. Life or death. Two options,the ultimate choice. Only it’s Nil’s choice. Because the gates are always her call.
People die here, that’s a given. But if Nil chose death, the how was unclear, another Nil surprise.Will I just fade away? Or drop like a rag doll? Will it hurt? Burn like hell? Or will it be some fantastic ride?
I couldn’t shut down the mental rat race.
Charley had been asleep for at least an hour. I’d watched her the whole time, studying the curve of her shoulders, the set of her jaw, the bow of her lips. Nil’s cruelty was complete. She’d given me a taste of the good life, just to tear it away.
I couldn’t imagine a world without Charley. It was worse than a world without snow.
At some point, I obviously fell asleep, because Charley’s honey drawl woke me up.
“Thad,” she whispered, stretching my name into two syllables, “are you awake?” Charley lay beside me, one hand propping up her head, her dark hair falling around her shoulders like rain.
I blinked against the bright dawn light. “Yeah.” I tried to smile, but it came out a yawn.
“I’m sorry,” she said, looking guilty. “When I saw you move, I thought—”
“It’s okay. I’m glad you woke me.”
Now that I focused, Charley looked wide awake. Eyes clear, and worried.
“How long have you been up?” I asked.
“A while,” she said, smiling. But her smile faded before it ever took hold. “I was terrified that when I woke up today, you’d be gone. Promise me you won’t leave, not like Kevin left Natalie.” Charley paused, her eyes fierce. “Promise you won’t go renegade.”
I nodded.
I didn’t admit it, but Ihadthought about it. Not about leavingCharley, but about Kevin’s choice to leave Nat. I finally understood. I still didn’t agree with it, but now I understood it. And Kevin’s choice was not mine. I refused to leave Charley until Nil ripped us apart. Plus, I had Charley’s charts, a shot at winning that Kevin never had.
Charley was frowning at me.
I reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I give you my word. I promise I won’t leave you.”
She nodded, then twisted her hair into a thick roll. The act struck me as nervous. “Thad, I keep thinking. About the carvings and the labyrinths. I know you think the personal journey angle Macy talked about is a bunch of hogwash, but—” she paused, avoiding my eyes. “Maybe you’ve already thought about it, maybe you’ve figured it out. But if you haven’t, I want you to think about it. Really think. About whyyou’rehere. Because I agree with Macy, that we’re all here for a reason, and the reason is different for everyone.”
Wrong, I thought.We’re here for exactly thesamereason: Nil needed new contestants. End of story.“So why are you here?” I winced at the bitterness in my voice.
