Page 95 of From Frost to Flame

It points to parts of her soul. It’s pointing to him!

“Silas! Silas!” He stomped through the viscous liquid as fast as he could. “I’m coming!”

Finally, out in the middle of the void, he spotted Silas's face disappearing beneath the tar.

“Silas!” Lex screamed, horrified as he watched him vanish.

Lex stumbled to a stop and looked down at the still tar that had swallowed Silas whole. The compass pointed downward like it had in the garden pool. The steady sound of shovels digging his grave echoed from his memories. But louder than that was Silas's voice telling him to breathe. He took a shaky breath and clenched his fist.

I can do this for him. I can do this.

He dove under the surface.

The deeper he swam through the tar, the denser and colder it became. It didn’t matter. He’d swim to the end of the world for Silas, even if it took all his dwindling strength.

Finally, the compass illuminated Silas's fingertips. Lex stretched his arm against the goo and gripped Silas’s wrist as tight as he could. With all his strength, he clawed his way through the ink and up to the surface.

Lex sputtered as he finally burst forth. Silas was still silent and limp as he dragged him up.

“Okay. It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Lex grunted as he pulled Silas into his arms. The sludge was already swallowing them again. He shook Silas lightly. “Please,” he begged, trying to hold back tears. He was pleading for so much, but most of all, he wanted Silas to tell him everything would be okay. “Please, wake up.”

Silas eyes flickered open, and he groaned. “You’re alive?”

“Seems that way,” he said, letting out a cross between a sob and a laugh of relief. All he wanted to do was throw his arms around him. He wanted to get lost in his skin. But he knew they had to escape this strange prison first. “I think I’m in your mind, maybe? It doesn’t matter. Your mother did something to you. You’re destroying Orion. You need to wake up before we sink again.”

“I can’t.” The sludge crept up and swallowed his legs inch by inch. His defeat fed its hunger for him. “I’m always going to be her, and all I’ll ever be able to do is hurt. You need to leave me behind.”

“I am absolutely not leaving you here.” He took his arm and pulled as hard as he could. Silas resisted, slipping further down into the black. “You can’t just give up.”

“Lex, I’m a vessel for her soul. You have to leave me here."

“You’re part of your mother. So what? I don’t care if you’re made up of the cruelest monsters from every shadowy realm.” He rested his forehead on Silas's. “If this is the end for you, it’s the end for me. I’d rather spend my next life trying to find you again than live a second in this one without you. We stay together. Like the stars intended. Like we should’ve from the start.”

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“Because I love you,” he said simply as the black creeped up to their waists now. “With every part of my soul, with every part of my being, I love you.”

Silas stared for a moment, then pulled him into his arms and hugged him tight. “I love you, too. Let’s get you home.”

Seeing Silas's little smile when he pulled away made Lex believe this hopeless situation could get better. The connection between them that had been fading started to bloom again. The low thump of Silas’s heart soothed his limbs like a lullaby. The sticky ink thinned to water and became shallower. They got to their feet.

“Any idea how I can wake you up from this place?” Lex asked, still holding him tight. All at once, Silas was torn from his arms toward the water.

Lex’s eyes widened in horror as he spotted a tentacle that rose from the deep. It wound around Silas's forearm so tight it looked as if it were fusing to his skin. It was dragging Silas back down into the depths.

Lex rushed over and gripped his waist. They pulled and yanked until the tension fell and Silas stumbled back into his arms. Lex expected a giant octopus or The Ravenous One’s cruel face to appear. Instead, a ten-year-old, tear-stained Silas emerged wrapped in black fabric made of inky water. The child tumbled forward onto his hands and knees. His tentacles dripped with ink and curled anxiously as he looked up at them from the ground.

Lex’s heart broke seeing this adolescent version of Silas again. He seemed even smaller, and his skin was so pale, like it had never felt the warmth of the sun. He snarled at them, but his body trembled with fear. “Poor thing looks terrified,” he said as he held Silas's arm.

“He is...I know he is,” Silas said mournfully as he took in the child’s distressed face.

“What do we do with him?”

“I think he’s the key to waking up.”

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