Page 106 of The Narrow

Agreeing to Oster’s deal so I didn’t have to confront my parents.

Avoiding Veronica and the others.

Inviting Maeve to crawl inside my skin, even knowing it would change me—end themethat exists now.

There were countless small moments of surrender.

Jumping into the water, though, hadn’t been surrender. She was wrong about that.Thatwas a chance to save Del—and to save Grace from an eternity in the Narrow’s grip, and Maeve’s.

But what about now?

Waiting for the lights to go out. For the river to rise. Waiting for time to catch up with me and my death to find me. Thisissurrender.

The Narrow drowns all it takes. I don’t for a moment believe that I am an exception. But I’m done surrendering. If the Narrow wants me, I will die fighting.

Fighting for myself.

I turn away from Maeve. Away from the ratty couch, the whitepills that have turned to knuckle bones on the coffee table. With water sloshing around my calves, I stride toward the darkness.

Every time I’ve had this dream, I walk and walk and never get any farther away from the light, the room. As soon as I turn back, it’s there.

So this time I don’t turn back. I walk blindly ahead into the empty dark. The water rises. I wade through knee-deep water, then thrash my way along as it swells to my thighs.

You will die anyway, I think, and keep moving.You already took that lungful of water into your body. You are dying or you are dead. You are circling around in the last seconds of your life, and it is too late to do anything about it.

I keep walking. A sob rises in my chest and I let it out—and then I scream, raw rage and fear and hurt.

I want to live, I try to shout, but my voice has failed and the dark is all around me. Why did I waste so much time? Why did I let myself sink so deep and never let anyone see that I was drowning?

I fall to one knee. I shut my eyes, which changes nothing, since there’s nothing to see. All of this is a dream, anyway.

Why fight now, when it won’t matter? It won’t change anything. No one will know.

Because now it’s the only thing that matters. The last thing. Not if I die but how I die. It matters to me.

I open my eyes and I stand. I keep moving. I don’t turn back.

And then, all at once, the empty dark isn’t empty. I stagger to a halt, staring at the girl in front of me. She has light brown hair that falls to her shoulders, brown eyes a touch too big for her face.

“Grace,” I say, staring.

“Eden.” She smiles—a bright, genuine smile that crinkles the corners of her eyes. “There you are.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask, confusion and apprehension stealing the last warmth from my blood.

“Looking for you, of course.” She stretches out a hand. The water has gone still around us. My hand trembling, I take hers, and she pulls me lightly but firmly toward her, until we’re inches apart. She runs the fingers of her other hand down my cheek in a tender gesture. “Eden, I’m so sorry. I had two lives to find you, and I still only managed to steal a few days for us to spend together.”

“How are you here?” I ask her, my voice shaking. If she’s here, that means—

“Hush,” she says, and kisses me. It isn’t like kissing Del—not quite. And yet it is the kiss of a girl who knows me, and I know her—know the taste of her lips and the touch of her hands. There is love in that kiss, and grief. Hers and mine, because her being here can only mean one thing.

“Grace,” I breathe.

She touches her fingertips to my lips. “Don’t. It’s too late. I made my choice.” She takes hold of my arm, fingers wrapping tight around my wrist. “Don’t let go.”

The ground beneath my feet vanishes, and we plunge beneath the water.

The dark does not relent, but suddenly my lungs are empty, burning. My body is alight with pain.

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