Rives gave me a long look. “You sure, bro? I’ll wait.”
“Thanks, but I’m out. I promised Natalie I’d do sweeps.”
There was no way Rives would argue with that. As he walked away, I called, “Rives!”
He turned. “Yeah?”
“Be safe. Watch your back, eh?”
“Always.” Grinning again, he threw me a quick salute.
Rives vanished into the trees. The sky was clear, and the clean air smelled like salt. It was like every other morning for the past 266 days—and yet it wasn’t. A cagey vibe hung in the air. More than just the anticipation of the verdict on Kevin, it was something else. Something new, something I couldn’t quite nail. But it was there; I felt it. And it was something to do with me.
What are you cooking up now, Nil?I wondered, stifling a twinge of dread. Looking around, I saw nothing but leaves shifting in the wind.
Nil says wait, she giggled in the breeze.
Like I had a choice.
CHAPTER
3
CHARLEY
DAY 1, TIME UNKNOWN
A sharp pain in my hip woke me. When I opened my eyes, I saw red.
Literally.
Jagged rocks the color of rust stretched as far as I could see. Boulders as big as buses, small chunks like cars, and a million smaller rocks the size of balls—golf balls, baseballs, volleyballs, you name it. All were uneven, with weird serrated edges, and all were the same exact shade of burnt red. I lay on a raised outcropping, on my side.
And I wasnaked.
Outside, in a creepy rock field I’d never laid eyes on before in my life.
I scrambled to my feet, and brushing off grit, I stumbled toward the edge. Spiky gravel covered the rock like sprinkles on a cupcake.That explains the pain in my hip, I thought randomly. I slipped twice but didn’t fall.
My rock, shaped like a mushroom with a fat stem, was mashed against a clump of smaller rocks masquerading as petrified red cauliflower. Using the smaller rocks as stairs, I worked my way down, moving as fast as the prickly rock would allow. At the bottom, I scrunched into the wisp of shade.
Frozen against the rock, I listened.
The only noise came from me. Air whistling in and out of my lungs, blood slamming against the chambers of my heart. The surrounding silence was so vast, so complete, it had a presence all its own: it was eerie, almost otherworldly. And with the desolate red landscape stretching for miles, I felt like I’d woken on an alien planet.
An. Alien. Planet.
I began shaking, violently, with the kind of icy fear I’d felt only once before, when Em and I were T-boned by a drunk driver and I’d seen Em sandwiched behind the wheel, bright red blood running down her forehead into her closed eyes. She’d turned out to be fine. I couldn’t say the same for myself right now. Stark naked, goodness knows where, whereverherewas. My last memory was of scalding heat, burning cold, and pain.
Jerking my head down, I expected my skin to be fried, but it looked fine. All of it, which I could see, because I wasnaked.
Slowly, I pressed my head back against the rock. The red rock landscape stayed silent, and still. At least the sky was blue. Brilliant, clear blue.
Maybe I’m dead.
I thought I’d passed out, but maybe I had actuallypassed. Did that awful heat mark the entrance into death? Absorbing my God-forsaken surroundings, I abruptly thought,Hell. Hell was a red rock desert, where you woke up naked and alone. I’d always thought Hell was an underground cavern teeming with the moaning damned, but maybe we all got our own personal Hell, crafted just for us, because mine sure looked a lot like this: no clothes, no people, and definitely no clue.
But it didn’t feel like Hell. And even though I’d skipped church lately, I was a pretty good kid. Sneaking out at night to drink beer on the local golf course with Em was the worst thing I’d ever done, and that really wasn’t so bad. Not bad enough to wind up in Hell anyway. My gut told me I was alive, then my gut told me I should be afraid. Very afraid.
