I did doze off and on while feeding on Cole; and once when I woke up, I saw that Cole was sitting up, his feet hanging over the side of the bed, his hands on the mattress on either side of him.
“Are you going somewhere?” I whispered.
“No,” he said without turning his head. “I just got to thinking about the band.”
“Do you remember them?” I said.
He shook his head. “No, but I feel . . . protective of them. If they’re in the accelerated Feed right now, will destroying the baetylus hurt them?”
Crap. I’d been so intent on destroying the Everneath and everyone responsible for its existence that I hadn’t thought about what it would do to the band if we were successful. Cole may have felt protective of them.
I didn’t.
But I felt protective of Cole. I couldn’t deny it anymore. I’d been so worried about letting go of my anger and my hate, but my mistake was thinking it was actually my choice. I had about as much choice in the matter as an ice sculpture on a sunny day. Drop by drop, without my permission, my anger and hate had melted away. Maybe I would get screwed because of it. But I no longer had a choice.
“I don’t think it will hurt the band. Since it would break the Shade network, it might simply end their accelerated Feed. And then they’d have time to get out before we destroyed the hearts. Because we don’t know how we’re going to do that. So there will be time.”
Cole nodded. “Thank you. I needed an out I could focus on.”
I smiled. “I am familiar with the need for a way out, no matter how implausible. It can give a hopeless situation hope.”
He sighed and lay back down.
There was no point in trying to sleep now.
When we got up, we packed our bags in silence. Maybe we were all focused on our shreds of hope. We hauled our bags to the car and drove up Parley’s Canyon.
At ten thirty we made our way to the back of the Shop-n-Go. We clasped hands and formed a tiny circle, Jack on my right, Cole on my left and Will straight across from me.
“Any second thoughts?” I said.
“Yes,” they all three said in unison.
“Um, too bad.”
We stood there for a moment.
I’d come to love each of them in his own way, but it was the boy holding my right hand, the one who had nearly beheaded me with a baseball when we were twelve, who would hold my heart for the rest of my life.
I think he felt the moment too. He stared at me and then tugged on my hand to pull me near and kissed me.
I’d always loved kissing him. I remembered fantasizing about it for the entire year before we started dating. I wanted to kiss him every day until the day I died . . . which might be in a short time.
The fingers in my left hand went limp. I pulled away from Jack and looked at Cole.
“Are you ready, Nik?” Cole said, his eyes tight.
I didn’t know what to say to him. So I just nodded.
This time Cole needed no prompting to get the traveling going. We were in the throes of the transfer from this world to the next. And soon we would try to destroy the baetylus.
We were quiet when we landed in Ouros. We had a purpose. Jack hung the Helmet of Hermes around his neck, and the excess energy that had been leaking out of him in a colorful mist immediately disappeared. The professor’s theory was right. The pendant would hide energy.
Jack led the way toward the secret entrance that Ashe had taken to get to the baetylus, and we all followed close behind. Cole stayed next to Will, whose excess energy was much more noticeable than Jack’s.
But we didn’t get very far before we saw the posters. One single word was printed in the middle of them.
FEAST
And underneath that word were three faces. Max’s, Oliver’s, and Gavin’s.
Jack, Will, and I came to a screeching halt. I turned toward Cole, who seemed confused. He looked from my face, which I’m sure had a horrified expression, to the poster, and then back to me.
“Do you know those three guys?” he asked.
I covered my mouth with my hand.
Jack stepped toward Cole. “They’re the rest of your band. It’s your band on the menu at the Feast.”
THIRTY
NOW
The Everneath. Ouros.
We’d been wrong. Our assumptions that Max, Oliver, and Gavin had taken their Forfeits to an accelerated Feed were completely wrong. I realized then how delusional we’d been. Maybe none of us had wanted to believe that if Cole had been taken from his home and tortured, the band would have been as well.
No one was preparing for war. Instead, the inhabitants of Ouros were gathering in the center square, crowding in to watch the horrific murder of three Everlivings.
Unless we could stop it.
“When was the Feast supposed to start?” I asked.
Cole’s face remained blank, as if he hadn’t heard the question. He didn’t take his eyes off the poster.
“Cole. Do you recognize their faces?”
He shook his head.
“When was the Feast supposed to start?” I said again.
Cole frowned. “I scheduled our arrival for right after the beginning of the Feast. So we wouldn’t have to deal with the crowds rushing to the square.”
Jack pulled at my arm. “We’re under a deadline here. This could be our one chance to destroy the baetylus. Even if we got to the square before the Feast, we’d never be able to rescue them.”
I put my hand on Cole’s shoulder. “Hey, look at me.”
He obeyed.
“What are you feeling right now?”
His mouth was slightly open, and he looked around him as if he were searching for what he was feeling.
“Cole. Look at me. What are you feeling?”
“I feel like I need to go home. But I don’t have a home.” He looked like a lost puppy.
I nodded and turned to Jack. “We have to try to save them,” I said.
“Because Cole wants to go home?”
“Because the band is the only home he knows. That’s what he’s feeling right now.” I couldn’t believe I’d suggested it, but I knew that if Cole had his memories, he’d do everything he could to save his band. His family. We’d tricked him into believing he wanted to destroy the Everneath as much as we did. The least I could do for him was try.
I started to run toward the square.
“Becks!” Jack called out, but I didn’t stop. I knew they would all follow.
I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going, but my previous trips to the Everneath had taught me that if I wanted to reach the center of the Ouros Common, I would go in the direction where the buildings got bigger, not smaller.
We ran for a long time, the adrenaline powering my legs. If we could make it before the Feast . . . maybe there would be other Everlivings who were on the menu to be sacrificed first. Maybe the queen would save the band for last.
Maybe that would buy us some time. Jack could create a diversion. Knock over a building or something to distract everyone in the square, and then Cole, Will, and I would rush the stage and try to free the band.
The buildings lining the streets were more than four stories now, and I knew we had to be close. I could hear the crowds cheering.
One more corner and we were there. The square. It was filled with Everlivings, all focused on the stage. The swell of the noise rattled my chest.
I stood on my tiptoes, trying to get a good view of the platform, when suddenly two hands—Jack’s hands—grabbed my waist and hoisted me up above the crowd.
And there they were. Max, Oliver, and Gavin. Center stage. A line of other Everliving sacrifices off to the side.
The queen was starting the Feast with the band.
Cole stood on top of the half wall I’d stood on so long ago. His mouth hung open as he watched. An army of Shades had already converged together above the platform.
“No!” I screamed.
A few confused Everlivings turned my way at the noise, but otherwise my scream seemed to get lost like a cheer at a football stadium. Except Max looked up from where he stood. He scanned the crowd as if searching for the person who had screamed. Finally, his eyes landed on mine. For a split second I thought I saw a glimmer of hope in them.
Then the Shades swirled together, forming a long spear as they had at the last Feed; and with no preamble whatsoever, the aggregation of Shades dived for the stage and shot through Oliver first, then through Gavin, and finally through Max.
In what seemed like slow motion, I turned to Cole. Jack released me, and I scrambled up the half wall and wrapped my arms around Cole, trying to interrupt his line of sight to the stage. I held him tightly as what sounded like a muffled explosion reached my ears. A pink mist appeared in the air.
“Don’t breathe in,” I whispered to Cole.
We held our breaths together as the entire crowd took a collective gasp and ingested the Dead Elvises.
When the pink mist had disappeared, I put my lips to Cole’s ear again. “You can breathe now,” I said.
He took one gasp of air and crumpled to the ground.
The rest of the sacrifices began to take the stage, one by one. Jack crouched down by Cole, grabbed an arm and a leg, and hoisted him over his shoulder. “We have to move if we want any hope of destroying the network before the end of the Feast.”
I nodded, unable to form words. Maybe it was good we had a destination and a goal, because if we didn’t, I wasn’t sure how I would react.
In fact, I didn’t know how to feel about the band dying. They wouldn’t have hesitated to force me to take over the throne, but did that mean they deserved to be blown to bits? Not even to bits, but to tiny droplets? I was having a hard time processing my feelings, which was okay, because there was no time.
Again, we ran through the streets, away from the square and toward the hidden entrance to the Shade passageway. By the time we got there, Cole had woken up. Jack set him on the ground, and then we all dropped to our knees, panting.
The band. Slaughtered before our eyes. I’d known them for a long time, but for Cole . . . they were like brothers. I put my hand on Cole’s cheek.
“Cole? Are you okay?”
His face was blank, but he nodded.
“Do you remember the band?”
He shook his head and put his hand on his chest. “But there’s a hole right here.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m missing something. I’ve lost it. But I don’t know what it is I’ve lost.”
I dropped my hand and leaned back against the wall. Jack shook his head. “Did that really just happen?” he said.
I closed my eyes, and for a long moment we all just sat there.
Jack moved next to me, and I opened my eyes. He stood up in front of us. “We can’t waste any more time. This is our chance. Your second shackle is nearly indistinguishable from the first. The Feast is almost over. This is it. Are we doing this?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Jack opened the door to the snake belly tunnel. I put my hands on Cole’s cheeks. “Look at me, Cole. We’re going to be okay. We have to destroy the network, and we have to do it now. Are you with me?”
He closed his mouth—it had been hanging open—and nodded. “I’m always with you, Nik.”
Nik. No matter what he’d forgotten, he’d always remembered his nickname for me. The guilt weighed heavy in my chest for a moment. How I’d tricked him into getting to this point. How I still wasn’t telling him the truth—that he never wanted to destroy the Everneath. He wanted to rule it. With me by his side.
“Everyone remember where we’re meeting if we get separated?” Jack asked.
We all nodded.
“Let’s go!” Jack said.
Jack pulled the door open and ushered all of us inside. He followed last, shutting the door behind him.
The throat-like tube lay just in front of us, contracting and expanding in that same swallowing motion, but unlike last time, there was no echoing noise coming from deep inside. There was no noise at all.
“The clock is ticking,” Jack said. This time there was no trembling, no blood draining from his face. He was the first to the mouth of the tube. “Me first. Then Becks. You have the sickle?”
I nodded. We had decided I should be the one to stab the baetylus since I supposedly had the power down here.
“Good.” Jack grabbed Cole by the shoulders. “Cole, you come after Becks. She needs you. Make sure nothing gets to her. Will, you bring up the end.”
Will raised his eyebrows. “You mean the most dangerous spot? Got it.”
“Some people might say the front is the most dangerous,” Jack said. Then he looked at the rest of us. “Ready?”
We all nodded.
The journey through the tube seemed longer than before, probably because our window of opportunity was limited and finite. The farther we got, the more I expected us to see a dim light coming from the end of the tube where the Shade network should be, but there was no light.
“What does it mean that there’s no light?” I said to Cole behind me.
“I don’t know,” he said.
From up ahead, Jack turned slightly. “Maybe the end is blocked by something.”