Page 11 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

Ninety-four.

Ninety-one.

Eighty-eight.

Eighty-five.

On and on, I count down. Each inhalation is the sharpest of blades dragging over my tongue. I don't care. I keep listing the numbers, and I keep breathing. More shadows dart past, quick and silent. The only hint that they ever existed lies in the separation of the fog they leave behind for moments before the clouds go back together, forming the netting that cages me.

Soon, the heavy weight on my frame, shoulders, and back eases slightly. I open my eyes and look up. The chanting has stopped. Nothing but silence surrounds me. No, that's not quite right. Tilting my head to the side, I listen for any hint of other changes. In the distance, the sound of crashing waves—like the ocean—echo back to me in their natural, rhythmic pattern. I get to my feet and find that it's easier to move.

Is the fog lessening?

"Kalix?" I call out, licking dry cracked lips. "Ruen? Theos?"

There isn't a response, but a new shadow appears a few feet away. Unlike the others, this one doesn't dart away but remains still as if it's a statuesque guard. Then a second shadow anda third. More and more appear, cropping up in all shapes and sizes, but one thing is for sure—these shadows have neither claws nor horns.

"Kiera...?"

I turn and that voice is closer. It's familiar.

"Theos?" I reach out a hand and one of the shadows moves closer. It takes several minutes—a lifetime—until the dark shroud surrounding the body that approaches me dissipates and I can see the actual person.

Relief is a living thing inside my chest and I nearly throw myself at Theos as he blinks and slows to stop in front of me. How he seems to have walked a great distance when, before this started, we were standing right next to each other, I don't understand. In this moment, though, I don't care.

Theos' arms close around me and tighten. We stand there together for several more minutes, watching in shock and a strange sort of awe as the fog disappears completely in slow stages, revealing a completely new place than the one we'd been in before. Gone are the walls of the arena. Gone are the stands and the balcony and the ring of the Gods, holding their arms over our heads and chanting.

In its place is nothing but sand and ocean and ... a dark crown of brimstone hovering on the frothy sea waves.

Ortus Academy sits like a sea monster of old backdropped by a sky so gray that there's no hint of the sun hidden behind its clouds. Dark spikes of brimstone jut out from the island that houses the first-ever Mortal Gods Academy. All around us, more and more bodies appear. The fog rolling in from the ocean receding just as suddenly as it came with the students fading back into existence from whatever Divinity—or magic—had been used.

"Transportation Divinity," Theos murmurs. Yes, that must be it. The Veil Between had been used as a conduit to change ourplaces, to get the whole of Riviere Academy here in what felt like the blink of an eye.

As I stare across the churning waters and over disturbed sand, I come to the ultimate decision that yes, the Gods have something planned for us all. The Spring Equinox celebration they’ve claimed as their reason is just that—a reason, an excuse. Whatever they want from us, I have the impression that it's just as bloody and cruel as the fading memories I'd stolen from the God King.

Turning my head, I scan the length of the beach, searching ... searching ... there. I spot Niall and Maeryn several paces off, together with a few other female Mortal Gods and their Terra. A hand touches my shoulder, but the scent that invades my nostrils is a familiar rum and spice. Theos' body is warm against my side, and I find myself swaying towards him, wanting to steal some of that heat.

Catching the action at the last second, I straighten and force myself to remain planted firmly in place. The fog separates even more and I arch up, frowning as I spy a series of boats in the distance, bobbing along the ocean's surface. Fishing boats for the nearby city? No. My eyes widen and I thump back to the ground as they grow closer, their front bows slicing through the water.

The figureheads towards the front of the prows are long, carved wooden structures. I've seen them before, long ago, but nothing like this. The ship closest to the front has the most disturbing depiction of a woman with a fin for legs that I've ever seen. It would be almost beautiful were the woman not but a dissolved half-fish whose scales are gray with age and time, chipped and shriveled, and the female half nothing but a skull and bones. The long hair carved into the wood acts as a halo around what likely would have been a beautiful face. The boneslook real and not carved from the ship's frame. A shiver skates down my spine.

My throat goes dry. "If we get on those ships," I say. "We'll be trapped on that island." No way out. No other path but the one Caedmon laid at my feet all those weeks ago.

I know it as a truth deeper than any that has come before.

Theos' hand lifts away from my shoulder and drifts down. This time, when he touches me, I can't stop my response. His fingers twine with my own and he holds our palms against one another. "No matter what happens," he whispers back. "We will always have a way out."

Foolish. I want to tell him that being an idealist is sweet, but in the face of the harsh reality we're about to face, it's nothing but a dream. Dreams turn into nightmares. Nightmares can't be escaped.

Still, I clutch his hand in mine, squeezing until I'm afraid of breaking his bones. Out of the clouds still lifting from the beach's surface, two figures cut out and make their way towards us. Kalix and Ruen. They approach with rapid footsteps neither stopping until we're huddled into a circle. It's better Regis isn't here. If we're to do this then we'll need someone on the outside of the Academy, someone who can send information and gather ships.

Trapped. Locked in. Pinned down.

My nails turn in, digging into the back of Theos' hand. He doesn't even flinch. He just squeezes me back, letting me know that it's okay.

Staring beyond Ruen and Kalix, at the creature of brimstone and darkness that lingers amid those chaotic waters, I realize that this is where it all began. Ortus Island is the great brimstone mountain that even the Gods fear. We are at the edge of our world and we may not come back.

Chapter 5

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