LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

she saw Octal. So he wasn’t dead.

      As the group gained on them, Scarlet saw that half of Octal’s face was badly burned. He must have been in significant pain and yet he still wanted to harm her and Sage. It made Scarlet so sad to think that the love between her and Sage outraged the Immortalists so much.

      Suddenly, an almighty crash made Scarlet leap, and a sudden spray of icy water soaked her. She looked over her left shoulder to find that the whole side of the castle had crumbled into the sea, causing a mighty wave to crash over them.

      She heard screaming and looked back to see the Immortalists tumbling into the sea. They fell so quickly they didn’t even have time to fly to safety, and as soon as they hit the waves, the angry ocean swallowed them up.

      As the tiles began to give way beneath her feet, Scarlet slammed her back against the wall of the corridor and pushed Sage back with her arm. The black water churned several feet below them. Scarlet suddenly felt as though she were balancing precariously on the ledge of a mountain.

      The only person left standing, on the other side of a wide chasm, was Octal. Scarlet knew that it would take him no more than a few seconds to fly across the gap between them. But instead, he decided to watch.

      He thinks it’s hopeless. He thinks we’re going to die.

      “Quick,” she said to Sage. “Before we fall into the sea.”

      Cold ocean spray hit her face as she led him across the ledge. With every step, more of the flooring broke off and tumbled into the ocean. Scarlet’s heart raced with anguish. She prayed that they would make it out of the castle and to safety.

      “There,” she said to Sage. “Just a few more steps.”

      But no sooner had the words left her lips than the tiles beneath Sage’s feet cracked. He just had time to look up into her eyes before the floor gave way and he plummeted down into the blackness.

      “Sage!” Scarlet screamed, her hand outstretched, reaching for him.

      But he was gone.

      Scarlet glanced up at the other side of the chasm and saw a smile spread across Octal’s horrifically disfigured face.

      Without a second of hesitation, Scarlet leapt off the ledge like a diver from a diving board, and soared downward toward Sage’s falling figure. Seconds before he hit the ocean she swept him up into her arms.

      “I’ve got you,” she whispered, holding him to her chest.

      Sage was heavy. Scarlet was only able to hover. They were barely inches above the treacherous water. She knew she couldn’t fly up because that would reveal to Octal that they had survived and he would launch an attack on them right away.

      It was then that she saw caves to her right. They were naturally made, eroded into the solid rock by the ocean over centuries. The castle must have been built on top of them.

      Scarlet wasted no time. She flew into the cave, Sage in her arms, and set him down on the floor. He flopped back and groaned.

      “We’re okay,” Scarlet said to him. “We made it.”

      But she was soaking wet and shivering. Her teeth chattered as she spoke. When she held Sage’s hand, she realized he was trembling too.

      “We didn’t make it,” he finally said. “I’ve been telling you all along, I am going to die. Tonight.”

      Scarlet shook her head, making her tears fly from her cheeks.

      “No,” she said.

      But she realized then it was no use. Sage was dying. It was really true.

      She held him in her arms and let the tears fall freely. They rolled down her cheeks and onto her neck. She didn’t bother to wipe them away.

      Scarlet was about to utter her goodbyes when she noticed a strange glow coming from beneath her T-shirt, just where her heart was. She shook her head, thinking at first she must be hallucinating. But the glow got stronger.

      She looked down and realized it was her necklace that was aglow, white light spilling through the hinges. She reached inside her top and pulled it out. She had never before been able to open the necklace but something told her this time would be different. As she slid a fingernail into the latch, she realized that her tears had been dripping onto it. Perhaps they had somehow unlocked the pendant.

      The two halves folded open and white light burst into the cave, illuminating Scarlet’s and Sage’s figures. In the middle of the glowing light was an image. Scarlet studied it. It was a castle in the middle of the sea, but not Boldt Castle. This one was taller and thinner, more like an elaborate tower than an actual castle.

      Scarlet shook Sage by the shoulder.

      “Look,” she instructed him.

      Sage managed to half open a weary eye.

      Scarlet heard him take a sharp intake of breath.

      “You know where it is?” she asked.

      Sage nodded. “I do.”

      Then he slumped his head back into her lap, exhausted.

      Something inside Scarlet told her that wherever this place was, it was important. And if Sage knew of it, then it was significant to the Immortalists. Why would her necklace show her such a place? And why would it only open when her tears fell on it? Surely it was a clue.

      Scarlet snapped the necklace shut and the white glow disappeared, taking with it the image of a crooked castle in the middle of a raging ocean. Somehow she knew deep inside of her that if she got Sage to this castle, he would live. But she was running out of time.

      She heaved the unconscious Sage onto her back. He was heavy, but this time Scarlet was more determined than ever, and more certain that there was hope. She took to the sky.

      She would save him. No matter what it took.

      CHAPTER SEVEN

      Caitlin struggled to catch her breath as she fell though the night sky. One moment Caleb had hit the eject button, and the next, the plane was suddenly no longer around her. She was in the black air, falling toward the raging ocean.

      She glanced right, looking for Caleb. He wasn’t there. Feeling anguished, she looked about her – and finally, she spotted Caleb above her, his parachute deployed. He was pointing to his parachute cord. She couldn’t hear him over the sound of the roaring air.

      Then she realized: he was trying to tell her to pull her cord. She did and all at once the plummeting stopped as her body snapped. All was suddenly peaceful. She was hovering, floating, the white parachute spread open above her like angel’s wings.

      Caitlin took some deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She looked back up at Caleb and saw him giving her two thumbs up. Caleb, who had far more experience with this sort of thing, managed to maneuver himself so that they were almost level.

      “It’s going to be cold!” he shouted to her.

      Caitlin looked down. The water was looming, and before she had a chance to think about the frozen waves hitting her, an enormous explosion made the whole world shudder.

      Panicking, Caitlin looked to her right to see that the plane had crashed into something. She realized with a sinking sensation that it was the building she’d seen on the horizon, the one her senses had told her was where Scarlet was to be found.

      “No!” she screamed.

      Flames and bits of burning fuselage tumbled into the sea as a huge plume of black smoke billowed into the air.

      Then Caitlin hit the ocean.

      Caitlin gasped as she hit the freezing water. It was so cold, it felt as though her bones had turned to ice.

      But the sharp sting caused by the frigid ocean paled in comparison to the anguish in her heart. Just ahead, the building Caitlin was certain her daughter was in was ablaze. She watched, as though in a daze, as the ceiling caved in. A moment later, the whole sea-facing wall crumbled into the ocean, leaving a deep wound in the exterior.

      “Caitlin!”

Скачать книгу