Nil Unlocked (42 page)

“You’re welcome,” Rives said, his eyes on mine, my hand in his. “Happy birthday, my Skye.”

My Skye.

I leaned forward and kissed him, happier than I had any right to be. It was the best birthday gift ever, even if I couldn’t keep it. I’d never forget it, or this night.

Please let Rives make it. I can’t lose him. I can’t.

It was my last thought as I fell asleep that night, and the first when I woke.

My second was Paulo, because when I went to check on him, he was gone.

CHAPTER

64

RIVES

DAY 335, BREAKING DAWN

The insomnia jinx was back.

I’d hardly slept since Nikolai’s death. His broken body, lying still on Nil ground, his blood leaching into Nil dirt. That could be me in exactly one month. Hell, it
would
be me if that equinox gate didn’t show.

The clock in my head pulsed like an alarm. Ticking with incessant regularity, mourning the loss of another minute. Another hour. Another day.

Another noon.

Tick-tock.

My Nil clock.

I had thirty days left.

A familiar voice I hadn’t heard in weeks drifted into my hut. Easing outside without waking Skye, I saw Uri talking with Zane.

“Morning, Chief.” Zane nodded.

“Morning.” I looked at Uri. “How’s everybody doing?”

“Leila’s gone. She took a gate. Sy”—Uri shook his head—“is worthless. He’s terrified. Cho’s taken over. Michael is considering coming back.”

“What about you?”

He shook his head. “I came to tell you something. Michael and I decided you should know. Two days ago I heard two boys at the Cove’s cavern, fighting. One accused the other of betraying his people, of sharing too many secrets. The other said the first one had betrayed him. They shouted back and forth. The first one demanded that the second one honor the peace of the crescent moon. ‘Do not share it!’ the first one shouted. The second one said, ‘I’ll think about it. But I won’t promise.’ And the first one told the other he’d destroy us all.”

Uri looked at me. “What do they mean?”

“I don’t know about the crescent moon,” I said. “But here’s what we’re up to.” I filled him in on the equinox plan. “Go tell Michael and your crew. Tell them they’re welcome to come back, that we’re going after that gate. Tell him it appears in thirty days, and we know where.”

Uri nodded and left, heading toward the Cove.

The peace of the crescent moon.

I almost laughed. Peace was tough to come by here. Peace on Nil came in fleeting moments that vanished like mist. It came at dawn before the day; it came in the calm before a noon. It came in the absolute stillness before a gate flashed. Even still, peace on Nil was always weighted, like the calm before the storm.

And then it hit me.

The last piece fell into place. The last
peace.

I’d figured out Nil after all.

CHAPTER

65

SKYE

DAY 59, BREAKING DAWN

Rives woke me with a gentle kiss. I opened my eyes, to find his burning like Nil’s sun. With hope and excitement and an intensity that made me instantly awake.

“What is it?”

“I think I know how to make sure everyone gets off the island. Uri just told me about a conversation he overhead between Maaka and Paulo in the Looking Glass cavern.”

“Wait.” I frowned, clearly still groggy. “Who’s Uri?”

Rives waved his hand. “He went with Michael. Anyway, Maaka was demanding Paulo keep the peace of the crescent moon a secret. It got me thinking. Peace here is fleeting, right? And the most peace—I’m talking total stillness—comes right before a gate, in that moment before an incoming appears. So why wouldn’t the island have a few
days
of peace before the equinox gate? The wild gates are still linked to the equinox gate, I mean they were born of it, right? So I’m thinking the island conserves all the energy before the fixed portal opens, maybe it
needs
all the energy to open that doorway. The fixed portal is stronger, bigger, and brighter than the wild portals from what you said.” Rives spoke so fast I had to work to keep up. “So I’m thinking the fixed doorway needs more fuel. More energy. From the sun, from us. To open and stay open. I think the island might go into a rest status to gear up. And if it does, that’s the cue. We can sweep the island from one coast to the other, converging on the doorway at noon, knowing we’ve picked up everyone along the way.”

“Wow,” I said. “That’s brilliant. It totally makes sense. But—” I stopped.

“But what?” The light in his eyes dimmed. “Nothing good ever follows the word
but
, at least not here.” He almost smiled.

“The absolute calm before a wild gate is mere minutes. How do we know it’s days, not hours before the equinox gate?”

“I thought about that. The crescent moon. It’s a moon phase, which actually is an instant, but to us appears as days, right?”

“Right. My dad taught me that.”

“So,” Rives said slowly, “I think the crescent moon represents the time period of the peace. It’s symbolic.”

I sighed. “We still need Paulo.”

“I know.” Rives was quiet. “He’s more likely to tell us than Maaka.”

I thought about Paulo.
I’ll think about it
, he’d told me.

“C’mon.” I hopped up. “I have a pretty good guess where he’d go to think. And definitely to survive.”

Ten minutes later, I looked around the Crystal Cavern’s ledge in dismay. No people, and no sign that anyone would be back.

“I really thought Paulo would be here. I thought he’d feel safe here since he left, maybe even camp out here.” I sighed, frustrated and worried. “We’d come here to talk.”

Rives lifted my chin, his eyes full of heat. “Don’t doubt yourself. Maybe today’s not the day.”

But you only have thirty left.

Pulling Rives down with me, I sat on the ledge, leaning back against his chest as I faced the Crystal Cavern. For a few minutes, neither of us spoke.

“Is this your version of a stakeout?” Rives teased. “Because if it is, I can think of a better way to pass the time rather than staring at the dark.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, then lifted my hair and kissed the back of my neck.

I shivered.

“Cold?” The teasing in his voice grew.

“Hmmm,” I said. “I don’t think so, but I think you should do that again so I can be sure.”

“As you wish, my Skye.” As gently as he had the first time, Rives kissed the back of my neck, then the side, then he trailed kisses down my collarbone, making me feel anything but cold.

“How was that?” he whispered.

“Amazing. Your stakeouts are definitely better than mine.”

With a low laugh, he wrapped his arms around me, cocooning me in his warmth. He was so real, so solid. So alive.

Mine
, I thought, smiling. Our equinox plan
had
to work.

Up ahead, the Cavern glistened like a mirror, like a riderless gate.

As I was tucked against Rives, a languid feeling seeped into my bones, a peace that was all mine—until it wasn’t. An odd feeling tugged at my chest, begging me to sleep.

Forever.

And then it vanished.

I turned around so fast Rives looked startled.

“Rives, I just had the creepiest feeling. Like the island was trying to tell me something. I’ve felt it before, but never as strong, and I think I know why.” I took a deep breath and held his hands tight. “I think the island is tired. I know that sounds strange, but every time I think about our islandwide escape plan, I’ve felt relief. Bone-deep relief, like an exhale, but it’s not mine. I think it’s Nil’s. Like the island has had enough. I think the island knows its purpose has changed, and not in a positive way. I think Nil is ready to go. To let go. And to let
us
go. All of us.”

I paused. “And I think maybe that’s why there are fewer animals coming. More inbounds with no riders. And more people leaving.”

“And more people dying,” he said grimly.

I nodded, struck by another thought and feeling its truth. “I think the island
wants
to rest,” I said quietly. “And that maybe it’s why I’m here. Do you remember what that girl told my uncle?
Your destiny
, she told him,
it wraps the island from beginning to end; I feel it.
” I looked at Rives. “I think I’m part of that, of his destiny. Like ours are entwined, mine and my uncle’s. And we’re nearing the end. The
island’s
end.”

Paulo stepped out of the tunnel. He held a cane and still favored his injured leg. He was frowning—not in anger. More like in bewildered disbelief.

“Who told your uncle that? Someone on the island?”

“Eavesdropper,” Rives muttered.

“Hi, Paulo.” I smiled. “How’s your leg?”

“Better, thanks,” Paulo said, distracted. “Skye, who told your uncle about his destiny?”

“A girl. Here, on the island. Someone who didn’t join the City or put her name on the Wall. Her name was Rika.”

The blood drained from Paulo’s face.

“Rika?” he whispered. “What else did she say?”

I thought carefully.

“My uncle asked her if she was leaving, meaning leaving the City. Her exact words to my uncle were: ‘
Yes. But like you, my journey does not end here. My end stretches beyond, I have seen it
.’”

If possible, Paulo’s face paled even further.

“There are seers in our culture. Rika was one.” He looked at Rives. “I heard what you said. About the crescent moon.” He paused, then seemed to make a snap decision. “It’s three days. Two nights. Where the island is at peace.”

“Three days, two nights, one gate to get home,” I murmured. “Three-two-one-four.”

Rives squeezed my hand.

“And I heard what you said about the island being tired. I feel it too, Skye. Like a warm breeze that wraps around me. Sometimes it weighs on me; sometimes it pushes me. It pushed me away from that gate, the one in the field when I fell. And it pushed me into this tunnel today. Pushed me here.” He blinked slowly. “It won’t leave me alone.”

He looked at me,
only
at me.

“I won’t see you until the equinox, Skye. I promise to see you then, to say good-bye. Beyond that, I can’t promise anything except that I will think.”

As he turned away, I said, “Wait! Paulo, why did you tell us about the peace? About the three days?”

He stared at me. He held a cane but no longer seemed broken.

“Because we’re friends,” he said finally. “And because Rika was my aunt.”

CHAPTER

66

SKYE

DAY 59, LATE NIGHT

Paulo’s aunt knew my uncle. My uncle knew Paulo’s aunt.

Talk about a shock.

The web of Nil linked Paulo and me, a fluid net cast through time, capturing the past and the present and wrapping the island in the
now.
We’d arrived together, and I couldn’t stop thinking that we were meant to leave together, too, bringing our families’ destinies full circle. We had a chance for closure, for our families—and maybe even for the island.

You always have a choice,
I’d told Paulo once.

I hoped he chose well.

In thirty days I’d find out.

CHAPTER

67

RIVES

DAY 340, DAWN

I floated past the whitewater, trying to get my head straight.

My cerebral clock blared without break. My personal hourglass had twenty-five grains left, and the loss of each one felt more acute. More cutting, more stark. Me, bleeding time.

I had twenty-four cuts left to endure.

Twenty-five days until the equinox.

Twenty-two days until we left the City.

At least we had a plan.

Before we left, Skye and Julio would sweep the island in gliders to look for people and predators. Eyeball any raiders or rookies from the air, and identify any animals that might pose trouble to the sweep teams.

Then the next morning we’d leave. Bail on the City with no plans to return. Broken into teams, we’d sweep across the island, covering all quadrants in grids. We’d carry torches, unlit, and each person would be outfitted with a bamboo whistle. The whistles were Dex’s brilliant idea, a way to increase communication across large distances.

Twenty-five days to go.

Tick.

Twenty-five days left with Skye.

Twenty-five days weren’t nearly enough. Not even close.

I wanted
more
.

Watch out, Nil,
I thought fiercely.

In twenty-five days, I’m coming for you.

I’m chasing that gate with everything I’ve got. Because I’m chasing it for me, for Skye. For
us
. I’m chasing it for a future that I can finally see, and you’re sure as hell not in it.

And then I smiled. Because if Skye had her way, Nil wouldn’t be in anyone else’s, either.

Fear hit me like a tsunami, rolling over me from behind.

I whipped my head around, watching my back, seeing Mount Nil watching from a distance. If we
could
destroy Nil, I’d yet to decipher the cost. It was the last piece of the puzzle.

An island finale.

The truth was, I didn’t really care, as long as Skye wasn’t the one who’d burn.

CHAPTER

68

SKYE

DAY 74, EARLY MORNING

Of course everyone was talking about the equinox plan. It was all anyone ever talked about, and it was making me crazy.

Literally.

For the past few weeks, I felt like I was tearing in two. Not torn between the past and the present, but torn between the island and me.

I never heard Nil, but I felt it: The island clung to me like a weight, begging to be released, threatening to drag me under, making my ultimate end match my uncle’s.