Page 44 of Till Death

The others stared at me in horror. Absolute gut-wrenching horror.

I whirled around and grabbed at Eli. “Do something. You’ve got to go out and get her! You can’t let her suffer.”

“Don’t think you can have your little Guardian boy toy fly out there and get here, either,” Amon whispered. “If he tries to fly, tries to grab her, then the entire thing goes down. Crash. She dies. The bridge has been magicked so that only one person is allowed to step onto it to save your friend. I think you know who that person is, Jade.”

Ohshit.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

At once my old fear of heights reared its ugly head and hit me with the strength of a semi. I lost my breath and careened forward, holding on to my stomach trying to get my breath back. My eyes squeezed shut.

Through the whirlwind of terror, I thought about Kay. I thought about the Trial and what I’d done then to overcome it.

I couldn’t consider any of this reality. I had to pretend this was another Trial without the real stakes.

Eli called out to me and I felt his hand on my arms, my face, trying to find a way to reach me.

“Hey, it’s going to be all right, Jade. We’re going to get her,” he was saying. He drew me up to his chest and wrapped his arms around me to hold me tight. Steady.

To ground me.

Were we, though? Were we going to be able to fight against this and rescue Kay?

Amon wouldn’t make it easy.

It took me way too long to get my breath back to the point where I could speak.

“Don’t worry,” I called out to Kay, making damn sure my voice didn’t tremble the way it wanted to. “I’m going to get you out of there.”

“Please hurry!”

I tapped Eli to get him to let me go and turned to the edge of the cliff, lightheaded.

“I can go if you want,” Lisa offered. Proving Amon’s voice hadn’t just been in my head.

“It has to be me. I’m the only one he’ll allow out there.”

My head began to pound with a combination of dread and guilt. Because Kay shouldn’t have been in this position. She had a baby to take care of. She tried so hard to keep her family safe, and every terrible thing that had happened to Kay up until this point…they were all my fault.

“I’m coming. Don’t move,” I told her.

“It’s a trap,” Eli supplied unnecessarily. He remained right there at my side. “If you go out there, Amon is never going to let either one of you go.”

He’d seen what happened during my Trial, hadn’t he? So he already knew what I’d do for Kay. I’d proven it time and again. And the worst thing? I’d promised Kay I’d never put her in another dangerous or crazy situation. I’dpromised.

“I don’t care what I have to do. I’m going after her. I have to get her,” I told Eli.

“I’m sorry,” Kay was saying. “I should have been prepared for this. This is my fault.”

“You hush now! This is not your fault.”It’s mine. “You just hold on.”

The terror in her tone scraped against my nerves and pushed me to the edge of the bridge. Nope, nope, nope. Unconsciousness threatened to take me under. Or maybe, over the rope and right down to the bottom of the bottomless pit.

The first step I took saw the cords holding the rope sides in place fraying. The entire thing swayed underneath me and I lost my breath, going down on my knees already.

Wow, it was a long drop.

I’ve been here before.It’s just like the last time.I made it out then, right?

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