I went into the tent without so much as a good night. I threw back the top of the sleeping bag and crawled in. Who was I fooling though? Greer had never said he cared for me. I was playing head games because he saved me, and we had spent so much time alone together and then the train and the waves and everything. God, I was so stupid.
This was so much more. I kept the crying down, I did, but things got ugly fast. Greer heard me, but he didn’t come in. He knew I was crying, but he didn’t comfort me, and the realization of this made the tears even worse.
Greer didn’t sleep in the tent that night. He never came in to get his sleeping bag.
Chapter 35
Find the Words
The next morning, I woke up alone in the tent. We had hiking to do, but I couldn’t get out of my sleeping bag. I refused to cry anymore, so I concentrated on the necklace. I had to. If I thought only of the necklace, I didn’t have room in my mind to mourn the fact that Greer was so ready to leave me or the fact that he still hadn’t come in that morning.
I had a long conversation with the stupid thing and calmly explained everything I thought of to the necklace. Nothing.
I touched the ring to the pendant. I tapped it again. I knocked on it, like figuring out a secret code. Nothing. I cried again because, stupid crying makes for more stupid crying. Tears falling on the necklace.
Nothing.
I said every word or combination I could think of, but nothing happened. Nothing I did worked, just like that whole stupid, stupid summer. Like every stupid thing I’d ever done. I was a loser. No wonder Greer didn’t love me. I didn’t deserve love.
I had nothing. I was nothing.
No. I had to figure this out. I needed this win.
This was all useless. Greer was leaving me in a few days. I’d never see him again.
“Please,” I begged the necklace, but nothing happened. I wanted to unzip the tent and throw the stupid thing into the forest like I had thrown Greer’s favorite book in the library.
Greer’s favorite book. The only line I remembered from it came from the inscription in the front.
“There’s only one way through the vipers,” I said, and like magic, like beautiful happenstance when you need a win, the jewel split in two.
A piece of paper fell out into my shaking hands. My eyes barely focused.
The wind changes, weak at first and growing.
The words. I’d found the words!
“Greer!”
I rushed out of the tent. “Greer!”
Greer was leaning on the same log I’d leaned against last night. He stood up to face me. He looked exhausted, and his eyes were red.
“Greer! Look. Look!” I ran to him and forced the paper in his hands. He read the words to himself, muttering the last line out loud. “Death will die again. You found it!”
He picked me up and swung me in the air. “I can’t believe you found it.”
“I know,” I said, and we both sat down to reread it.
The wind changes, weak at first and growing. Marked by shadows, a tornado to purify the land. Leaves quake, the greatest smites an opposing world, securing the crown. Rise like blazes, set like frost, the silver cord is cut. The pearls cascade free from the poisoned well. Unruly night, unruly land stomped to dust. Death will die again.
“What does it mean?” I asked.
He laughed. “I have no clue. Do you?”
“None.”
“Ah. We’ve got to get this to the professor,” he said.
“Call him. Call him!”
“He needs to see it, and this stupid thing doesn’t have a camera for safety reasons.”
“What do we do?”
“I’ve got to get a copy of this to the professor.”
“Are we going back to the ocean?”
“No. There is a town close to here.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“It won’t take long, and then we can be on our way to meet with the Galvantry.”
“Galvantry? I thought finding the words altered the plan. I thought it would change everything.”
“It… can’t.”
“Why not? Why can’t you stay with me?”
“I can’t.”
Packing up the camp was painful. The walk was silent. A few times, Greer turned around and looked like he wanted to tell me something but each time, he stopped himself.
Hours later, we arrived at the inn. The walls were white, but the lack of windows and natural light made it dark and cave-like. I shivered. People sat scattered through the room. I wasn’t confident in us not getting caught, but I was considerably more comfortable going into public than I had been before. I’d have felt loads better if I was back in my dress, but all I had was the stupid uniform again.
Greer put an order in for something as I sat down at the table furthest away from everyone else. True, I needed to remain far away and safe, but it was more than that. I resisted the temptation to play with the necklace or the ring like I had a habit of doing. I still wore it even though Greer had the paper. The thrill of finding the words had worn off when Greer said he would explain the words to the Galvantry before he left me. So I sat there like a lump. I couldn’t say goodbye to him tomorrow or the next day or the next. I’d refuse to go. I’d demand Greer stay with me, but that wasn’t what he wanted and that wasn’t fair.
I’d have to say goodbye to him. Just thinking about it made me feel sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t help it.
While Greer sent
