Nil Unlocked (15 page)

I really needed more sleep.

CHAPTER

22

SKYE

DAY 1, AFTER MIDNIGHT

I came to, my ears ringing with unfamiliar voices. Angry voices.

“Why did you bring her here? Who is she?”

“I didn’t bring her! I don’t know who she is!”

“She obviously followed you.” The first voice. Furious, frustrated. And thoroughly disgusted.

“I’ve never seen her before, I swear.” The second voice. Scared.

Silence.

I kept my eyes closed, unwilling to alert anyone that I was awake and listening. I moved my toe a fraction, just to see if I was paralyzed.

I wasn’t. And the awful heat and cold were gone.

“I believe you. Truthfully, I did not expect you. I expected your brother.”

“He went to the mainland to school. It is my destiny now.” That boy’s voice sounded shaky.

Another pause, followed by a heavy sigh. The first voice rumbled through the air, deep and strong.

“Destiny or no destiny, you have changed things, Paulo. You brought a
haole
onto sacred ground. I cannot help you now.”

“What?” Paulo’s voice quaked with fear. “You can’t just leave me here!”

“I’m not just leaving you here,” the first voice said. Definitely disgusted. “You
are
here. And you must find your way. That is
our
way. The sun will rise; the clock is ticking.” Footsteps. “And you must deal with her. There is a place to take her.”

With that, I jumped to my feet. Several things registered: the skinny boy no longer wore his flower lei; his cargo shorts had been replaced by a tan loincloth; another boy with major muscles and intricate black tattoos stared at me with an open mouth; I was naked; the moon was high and the air pitch-black; the ground was equally black and hard, and steam rose on my right.

I sprinted left and hurdled the chicken.

“Wait!” The strong voice boomed over my shoulder.

I didn’t wait.

I ran.

Over black rock, down a slope peppered with steps, flying over the ground and expecting a hand to catch me from behind at any moment.

“Hey!” Paulo’s voice. Scared.

I ran faster. The rock sloped around to the left, like a spiral track down a mountain, and then spilled me into a wide field of grass, and my spirits sank.

The meadow
, I thought.

Uncle Scott’s journal said to avoid the meadow. But I couldn’t go back, not when the big guy’s order was to “
deal with her
.” Nothing good could come of that.

I’d chance the meadow.

I kept running, aware that I was a naked white streak in the night. Knowing you would show up naked is one thing, but actually showing up in a strange place naked? Terrible. Being prepared was no help at all. Ignoring my nakedness, I stayed at my sprint pace, running through the tall grass, determined to ditch the kid I’d worked so hard to track. The irony wasn’t lost on me.

Up ahead, stripes shifted in the dark, like living caution tape.

I skidded to a halt, my bare feet sliding on the slick grass and damp earth. When I got a clear look, fear coursed through me colder than the gate. Less than twenty feet ahead, a tiger paced the grasses like a feline guardian.

Turning toward me, the tiger stopped midstride.

The big cat’s eyes glinted in the night. They glittered, brilliant facets winking above a mouth lined with teeth that would sink into my flesh like hot knives through butter.

I stood stone still, struggling to remember the material I’d read on tiger confrontations and the optimal human response.

Look big? Or was that only for bears? Curl into a ball and look small? Or was
that
for bears? Stand still? Walk slowly away? Throw rocks?

Frozen in indecision, I did nothing.

The tiger stared at me for one endless moment, then he swung his huge head away from me and disappeared into the night.

He let me go.

There was no other explanation.

For a long moment, I didn’t move. I stood completely still, trying to process what had just happened. Then I gave up.

And I ran again.

CHAPTER

23

RIVES

DAY 277, DAWN

I’d decided Nil was more jacked than me.

All night on watch, I’d sensed the island. Listening, breathing,
watching
, but the weirdest part was that it didn’t feel like Nil was watching
me.
I was a sideshow, making me wonder about the main event.

If it involved the leopard, I’d take the Nil sideline any day. Hell, I’d take the Nil sideline
every
day; the spotlight was usually too painful.

Dawn broke as the sun stole the show.

Kiera cornered me after breakfast.

“Morning, Rives.” She smiled. “The Arches. Have you been there?”

I nodded as I fought a yawn. “Many times. Why?”

“Macy says the original carving is there.”

“I don’t know if it’s the original one, but yeah, there’s a carving. The Man in the Maze.”

“Can you take me to see it?”

I hesitated.

“Please?” she asked softly. She rested her hand on my forearm.

I did my best not to flinch.

“Macy talks about the carvings constantly,” Kiera said. “The one framed in the Arches. She says it’s the most important.”

Was
the Man in the Maze the most important carving? The urge to uncover Nil’s secrets coursed through my veins like the sea, churning and relentless.

Suddenly a trip to the Arches sounded like exactly where this day should start.

“Let’s do it.”

Kiera squeezed my arm and smiled. Her hand lingered long enough for me to pull away.

“Where are y’all fixin’ to go?” Brittney asked as Kiera and I left the firepit.

“The Arches. South of the City. Have you been there yet?”

She shook her head.

“C’mon, then.” I waved her over. “Time for a tour, Brittney. You haven’t experienced Nil until you’ve seen the Arches.”

Disappointment flickered across Kiera’s face, but she recovered quickly. But anything she could ask me in private she could just as well ask in public. I had nothing to hide.

Liar
, the sea crooned.
You show what you want to be seen. I’ve seen the real you.

For a moment I rethought my decision to head to the Arches, where the sea crashed high enough against the rocks to touch skin. Then I kept walking. Because Talla’s ghost lurked everywhere. By the water, in the City, near the Flower Field. I wondered if it would follow me from Nil.

If I left.

I’m leaving
, I thought fiercely.

“You’re quiet this morning, Rives,” Kiera said. We’d gotten all the way out of the City while I was lost in my own head.

“Just have a lot on my mind,” I said easily. Which revealed absolutely nothing.

“It must be hard to be the Leader,” she said softly. “Do you ever regret saying yes?”

I thought of Thad and Natalie. Both strong, both experienced. Both selfless. Both better Leaders than me.

“No,” I said, “I don’t regret it.”
I’m still trying to live up to it.
“For me, it’s an honor.”

I left it at that.

I glanced sideways at Brittney, who was as quiet as I was. Only she was looking around, her eyes wide as always.

“You okay, Brittney?” I asked.

She touched the bark of a tree as we passed. “This place is so pretty I can’t believe I’m here. It’s like I won one of them free vacations you get those phone calls about, only this is real, you know?”

“It’s pretty,” I said carefully, “but Nil’s not a vacation, Brittney, no matter what it looks like, okay?”

Brittney didn’t reply. Her rookie status glared as bright as her new City threads. With a start, I realized that the marks I’d first seen on her biceps weren’t dirt; they were bruises. Fading to green, the bruises came to Nil with her.

Maybe Nil
was
a vacation for her. A scary thought. And a sad one.

At the City’s edge, we cut through the cliff, passing through the Crystal Cavern. It was nearly as beautiful as the Arches.

“Wow.” Kiera turned in a slow circle near the exit. Facets winked at us floor to ceiling, the morning light bouncing off the walls. “So beautiful.”

“No doubt. They’re diamonds. Rough and uncut. But definitely diamonds.”

“Diamonds?” Brittney’s slow drawl was full of wonder. “Oh my gawd, my mama would go hog wild with this.” She ran her hands over the walls.

“Be careful. They’re sharp,” I said. The last thing she needed was a cut and an infection.

Brittney jerked her hands away. Her face looked wistful.

“C’mon, you two. Let’s go see the Man. He’s waiting in his Maze.”

Twenty minutes later, we climbed around the edge of Black Bay, and the Arches came into view. Five black rock arches in varying sizes, all carved from the volcanic black rock by water or forces I couldn’t even comprehend, all framing a piece of Nil sky. Water crashed against the bases, white and frothy.

I led the girls to the biggest arch, where the Man in the Maze lived.

“That’s it?” Kiera asked. She stared at the carving, hands on hips.

“That’s it,” I said crisply. She’d looked more impressed with the raw diamonds than with this carving, never mind the fact that someone had carved a perfectly symmetrical goddamn labyrinth into unforgiving black lava rock, by hand.
No wonder so much info gets lost here
, I thought, abruptly furious.
First you have to care.

I took a slow breath, dialing down my temper. I wasn’t sure why I was so annoyed. Probably because I was freaking exhausted.

“There are three other carvings,” I told Kiera. “Not identical, but similar. They all have the number twelve at the top.”

“I’ve seen the rubbings,” Kiera said. Still unimpressed. “I just thought in person it’d be different.” She shrugged. “Bigger.”

Classic.

Brittney touched the carving, one finger reverently tracing the circular lines. “Who did this?” Unlike Kiera, her face read
awestruck.

“I don’t know,” I told Brittney. “Someone here long before us.”

“I couldn’t do this in a million years,” she said, her voice full of wonder. “I could draw the stick figure, though.”

I stared at the stick figure, at the Man
in
the Maze.

Was
this carving more important than the others? If so, why?

“We’re going back,” Kiera announced. “Are you ready?”

I shook my head. “I’m going to stay. Do you know the way back?”

“Yeah. It’s easy,” Brittney answered.

Disappointment flickered across Kiera’s face—again.

A flash of purple made me turn.

Kiera’s flower—the one she constantly kept tucked behind her ear—was in her hand. Three petals were falling into the water below the Arch, dropped by Kiera herself. She looked up, her eyes meeting mine.

“I thought I should leave something.” She shrugged. I nodded, impressed. Maybe Kiera had figured out that disrespecting Nil was a seriously bad call.

Maybe there was more to Kiera than I realized.

“Thanks for the tour.” Kiera tucked the rest of her flower back behind her ear, a smooth move that hid the missing petals beneath her hair. Self-aware, and calculated. Like Nil, but not.

Maybe Kiera was exactly as I suspected.

“Anytime.” I smiled.

Kiera smiled back and turned away, linking her arm through Brittney’s.

I turned back to the carving. I squatted down, about four meters back from the Arch. Mount Nil sat perfectly framed. I’d never noticed it before. From this angle, the twelve on the carving pointed toward Mount Nil, the highest island point.

Watching us, are you, Nil?
I thought.

Fine,
I thought fiercely, my fist tightening.
Two can play this game
.
Because I’m watching you
too. Watching, listening, taking notes and numbers. And I’m getting closer; I feel it. I hope you do, too.

A hissing on my right made me turn. A black cat with frosted white paws sat on the nearby rock, flicking his tail.

“Well, hello, Burton. Good to see you’re not puppy chow.” I grinned.

I couldn’t help thinking that Nil picked this precise moment for Burton to resurface. A sign of benevolence, a sign that Nil had heard me. A sign that Nil didn’t kill everything it touched.

But Nil wasn’t in the friend column yet.

Or ever.

CHAPTER

24

SKYE

DAY 1, DAWN

I never stopped running, never stopped moving, and by the time the sun rose, I found myself surrounded by lush trees. Vibrant green leaves canopied overhead; fruit hung from branches for easy picking. Water coated leaves on the ground. I licked a dozen leaves, lapping up every speck of water. Then I carefully studied the trees and fruit, recognizing guava.

Choosing ripe ones, I ate a handful and felt better.

In the early light, the Sharpie on my wrist stood out like a cheap tattoo: TFPL.
Think first, panic later.

I snorted.

Maybe I hadn’t fully panicked—
as if there are degrees of panic
, my mind admonished.
Even partial panic is, by definition, panic
—but I sure hadn’t done a great job of thinking. It was more like act first, think later; I’d been reactive rather than proactive. And with the tiger, I hadn’t acted at all. I was lucky to be alive. I’d barely given my follow-the-strange-kid plan any thought at all.

Great job, Skye.
I brushed aside the nagging thought that landing here had been my plan all along, that on some level I’d known the boy with the lei would lead me here.

Be careful what you wish for
, Charley had warned.
Because you just might get it.

I’d managed to get myself stuck on Nil, like my uncle, the same uncle who died base jumping off the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Apparently the reckless gene ran strong in our family. I just hoped the survival one ran stronger.