“You heard that?” he asked. I cleared my throat awkwardly.
I heard you mention a few things about how hard you worked, growing up. Look, I don’t choose when to turn this connection on and off. The Ghost turned to the left, and Kane’s reply jumped a decibel in my brain.
“Fine.” He was exasperated but interested. “Once, Dorian nearly got his finger bitten off by a redbill because I tricked him into trying to steal one of their eggs. Redbills don’t have offspring very often, so they’re very protective of them.” He stifled a yawn as best he could, muttering something under his breath that I couldn’t make out. He sounded like he was fading, even though our connection was crystal clear.
What happened then?
“Halla was furious at me,” he mumbled. “She was always furious when I made trouble. It became a game of how much I could get away with while still being better than the other kids.”
My body burned with the feeling that something was about to happen. Something inside me shifted, and I knew that the creature was about to portal us. It was like the moment at the top of a rollercoaster before the cars dropped down.
The Ghost charged forward into the open space. Instead of sailing into more forest, Colin and I gasped as the woods fell away and we were greeted by weird translucent walls. The monster rushed through so fast that I could barely make out the presence of tunnels as it darted through. Here, the ride was much smoother, as the ground beneath us was strangely soft. I lifted my head to see an intersection of three tunnels. The Ghost headed for the left one, clearly certain of its path.
“I can’t even think about the past,” Kane grumbled. He was louder than ever, but he was fading.
Stay with me. I’m almost to you. At least, I thought that was the case. Kane, was Dorian angry at you? Was he ticked off that you almost got his fingers eaten by a redbill?
Kane let out a weak laugh. “Not for long… He was too nice, under everything. I always thought it was weakness… Now, I don’t know…”
Please. My heart slammed against my chest, fear and adrenaline pulsing through me. You can’t pass out on me. I need this monster to find you. Tell me about how hard you worked. Why?
Kane breathed heavily. “Why? What else could I do?” A long pause followed as I heard him catch his shallow breath. Our connection was strong, but I worried the Ghost would soon be unable to find him if he passed out from fatigue. “I had to, Roxy.”
Warmth surged through me at the sound of him saying my name.
I like when you say my name. Is that weird?
“No,” he fired back and let out a slow exhale. “That’s okay.”
I searched my brain for any topic that we could talk about, frantic for something to keep him engaged. These thoughts—my thoughts—how long have you been hearing them?
More silence greeted me, but it was filled with guilt this time. I snorted. Oh, so he’d been hearing them longer than he let on, from the sound of it.
“A while,” he confessed. “I didn’t realize it was you at first, because I thought I was hallucinating. You were on that terrible… date with that idiot.”
The Ghost could swallow me whole at this point. My embarrassment crashed over me as I frantically tried to recall what I had been thinking at the time, but I needed to push Kane to talk to me more. Yeah, he was some idiot my mother set me up with. Guess we both have quite the characters for maternal figures.
“I hated him too,” Kane said with a grunt. His edgy tone pleased me for some reason, but I could tell his energy was waning. He could barely get the words out. I took in a deep breath, trying to focus on his face and imagine him, maybe leaning against a tunnel somewhere and trying to stay awake. I can’t let this monster fail me.
“I can’t believe you got into its mouth…” Kane faded out.
The Ghost suddenly stopped at the entrance of a side tunnel. An abandoned building, ugly and clear and weirdly reminiscent of Jell-O, sat in front of us. Kane’s voice completely stopped.
“He’s gone,” I called to Colin, and then gave a startled cry as the Ghost gracefully dumped me out of its mouth. It stopped and sat back on its hind legs. Now, it looked like a weird, massive dog. The force threw Colin off it. He rolled down its back but held fast to the reins. The monster lay down, and Colin swung back onto his seat in the saddle.
“Try to keep it calm,” I told him and patted myself down to make sure I had all my weapons. “I’m going in. If I don’t come back out and the Ghost tries something, I need you to try to find the others.”
Colin nodded and patted the Ghost’s back. “It’s exhausted… I’m not sure it’s going anywhere anytime soon.”
I would have to trust his judgment on that. The entrance into the building was too small for the Ghost to get through. Was that why it had stopped here? I took a cautious step inside. I prayed Kane was in there, because I needed him to be.
The corridor was eerily empty. I stepped through quickly but quietly, wary of any other monsters lurking about. From what Lyra had told me, though, the only monster was the one outside the building with Colin.
“Kane?” I called out, growing braver.
A dark, slumped figure at the end of the next hallway made me instinctively gasp. I rushed toward Kane and threw myself down beside him. He was unconscious, his handsome face turned weakly to the side. I ran my hands over his face and looked over his body, checking for injuries, but he wasn’t wounded.
He was starving, though. His pale face made me terribly worried.
“Kane,” I cried. “I’m here.
