“Dangerous,” I deadpan.
“I’ll bite you.”
Niko laughs again, then coughs. I’m next to him in an instant, but he waves me off with a weak flick of his fingers. “Don’t stop. You’re distracting me from dying.”
“You’re not dying,” I say with a little more force than necessary.
His smile fades. “Yet.” It’s his horrid attempt at joking, but I don’t find it funny.
Before I can answer, the door creaks open behind us. The shift in the air is instant. Finnick stops mid-grin, and even Niko straightens a little.
Lady Thalia enters the room, bringing an uneasiness with her. Her puffy eyes and the dark circles underneath tell me she hasn’t slept much. She’s in deep violet robes today, her silver hair braided tight over one shoulder, her expression carved from stone. In her arms is an old, worn book.
“Morning,” Finnick says, too cheerfully. “You look lovely, Mother.”
“Save it,” Thalia says sharply, and even Finnick winces. The curt tone is unusual coming from her, and even she realizes the coldness in it. “I’m sorry, my boy. I’m afraid I’m not in a great mood.”
She looks at Niko first, then at me, then gestures to the low table near the window. Without a word, she setsdown a heavy, leather-bound book. I recognize it—one of her private grimoires she keeps in her library.
She nods toward Niko. “Have you had any change?”
“He sat up on his own this morning,” Finnick says. “Color’s better. He laughed at my funny story. That has to count for something.”
Niko groans. “Can we not discuss me as if I’m already dead?”
Lady Thalia only frowns before turning her back to us. She opens the book instead. “Death waits for no one, my son.”
“Niko won’t die.” Evangeline’s voice drifts in from behind me, startling everyone in the room. I didn’t even hear her come in.
I turn. She’s wrapped in a blanket, looking more alert than she did last night. Dark circles remain under her eyes. She could benefit from a few more hours of sleep, but I doubt she’ll listen to reasoning.
“Have you found out any more information about the well?” she asks. “I can try to remember more from what I saw.”
“There’s no need for that, my dear,” Thalia replies. “I’ve been searching for this page since last night. It confirmed what I feared.”
Evangeline steps farther into the room. I catch her arm and steady her when she wobbles slightly. Her fingers squeeze mine once before falling away. Last night comes back to me, taking care of her in the bathtub. She appeared so small then. Breakable. The need to protect her burns strong inside me, giving me an outlet for my grief.
Lady Thalia’s gaze sweeps across all of us. “That well you saw—it isn’t just cursed. It’s a prison. A vault for magic older than even our ancestors. They locked spells inside it—things too dangerous to destroy, too powerful to leave loose. It was meant to stay hidden deep inside the earth forever, but it appears that is no longer the case.”
Niko’s breathing grows shallow. “The sickness… it came from that thing?”
His mother nods once. “The curse is rooted in the well. It bends to the will of the Nephilim because they are in possession of it. It’s how they are able to spread the sickness, I’m certain.”
Finnick mutters something under his breath that sounds like,“Of course it fucking is.”
“There has to be a way to undo it,” I say. Because there’s no damn way I'm living without Niko. He’s my future. Him and Evangeline.
“There is.” Thalia’s voice is grave. “But the cost is great and not one you’ll like.”
She lifts the book, turning it toward us. The illustration is old, sketched in ink and gold leaf, hard to decipher due to the age of the book. Miraculously, it held up, depicting a circular stone well with runes crawling up the sides like veins. My stomach turns—this can’t mean anything good.
“This magic was created with blood from our ancestors. Human ancestors,” she says. “To unmake it requires an equal sacrifice.”
“What kind of sacrifice?” Niko asks, though I think he already knows. The knot in my chest pulls taut, notwanting to hear Lady Thalia’s next words, but knowing we have no other choice and are quickly running out of time.
“An unselfish act of love. A willing one. Given freely.” She meets his eyes and then faces the rest of us. “I believe, a human sacrifice.”
Silence crashes over the room like thunder. Everyone wears similar expressions of shock. All except Evangeline, who seems resigned to the news. As if she had known this all along. For some reason, that only makes me angrier.
