Page 106 of In Between Darkness
A moment passes, and the clicking of a latch enables the door to swing open. Miss Worthington and the mystery man from the dining hall that night at Sun Sovereign stand with a smaller army of people behind them. The taps of her heels stop at the unconscious body in front of me.
“Number fifty-six failed the transition.”
She crouches beside him and inspects further by using the end of a pen to prod at his face, then writes something down on her notepad. She fumbles in her pocket and pulls out a smooth, transparent pebble, which she holds close to the creature’s skin. It glows blue briefly before ebbing out, which makes her look frustrated.
“The dosage is wrong, try again,” she orders and shares a look with the man in the long black coat.
“The creature is impressive, but too unpredictable.”
His lips loosen into a smirk. “At least these aren’t dying like the others. We are getting closer.”
Miss Worthington nods her head and signals to the army, who rush to the side of the body and drag him out of the room. I see him as they take him, a far cry from the distorted beast I saw minutes earlier. The face of a boy I have only seen in a two-dimensional image…a missing Moon.
Chapter Forty-One
I wake up with Ryder shaking me violently.
“Thank the Gods!” He breathes a sigh of relief.
I sit up, still shocked by what I have just seen, and struggle to catch my breath.
“You wouldn’t wake up,” he says, looking as disturbed as I’m feeling.
I slow my breathing as he leans over me with the flames from the small fire behind him, giving him an orange glow.
“I went there.” These are the only words I can stomach.
“Went where?” Ryder stares at me with a mixture of worry and confusion.
“The mountain.” That’s all I have to mutter for him to know exactly what I saw.
We climb onto Versivius’ back and trail down his long spine, wedging ourselves between the spikes and saddling him. We are held by invisible tethers to keep us from falling to our demise. I told Ryder everything that I saw in the mountain… the armed guards, the bolted rooms and how the terrifying creatures chained within them turned out to be the one thing we were searching for. We are still sticking to our original plan and staking it out so Ryder can see it for himself.
I give Versivius the rough coordinates of the facility, and he leaps into the air, spiralling gracefully around the volcano andout of its open mouth. My mind whirls again at his speed, but soon stabilises when his long and windy vessel slithers out of the exit and into the open air. Versivius’ skin changes from opaque to transparent in a matter of seconds, and I watch as my hands start to do the same, absorbing his camouflage shield and taking it on as my own. It’s not completely invisible, but the way it mimics the surroundings perfectly, it might as well be. Thank the Gods I can still see the rough outline and shape of my extremities because otherwise I would have convinced myself I was fading away into the unknown. When Ryder said his camouflage would be advantageous, I didn’t realise we would be able to use it too.
We soar upwards through the sky completely unnoticed, blending into the pale blue sky and dusty white clouds. The impulsive thought of falling to my death creeps up on me and makes me feel queasy, so I shut my eyes and place all of my trust in Versivius. My ears begin to pop when we reach the space so high we are above the clouds, where it is just us and the brightening sun, its rays beam over the clouds, making them appear like a golden lake shimmering beneath us. Versivius uncloaks his camouflage, and I let out a breath I did not know I was holding. I forgot how much higher sky serpents can fly than elions; no other creature can reach this altitude, which must be why Versivius can drop his cape of protection.
I can’t imagine it will be long until we land because of the rapid rate at which Versivius flies through the open sky. My hair was drawn up into a loose ponytail, but the force of the wind ripped out my hair tie, sending it on an elastic descent through the clouds below. Now, each curl attacks my face as the strong gusts pummel it. Versivius makes a dive, and my stomach dives with him. We must be nearing the location because the jagged edges of snowy mountaintops come into view as he cloaks himself again. He keeps close to the mountains, making sharpturns, weaving in and out of them, dodging them by what seems like millimetres, whilst the unforgiving terrain stares back at us and threatens to pierce our hearts on its rocks below. Versivius perches himself on the top of a neighbouring rock face, giving us a clear view of the mountain of secrets, still wearing his cloak.
The sound of Ryder’s leather jacket rustles as he stands to offer me his hand to begin the dismount onto the snowy blanket below us. It is hard to make a descent when you cannot see the surface you are walking on, but we make it down, nevertheless.
“As long as a part of your body remains touching him, you will stay camouflaged,” Ryder states, pointing to where Versivius would be if we could see him properly. It’s funny; the only way I can tell he is there is from the piercing yellow of his eyes that blink every so often.
We lay army-style amongst the cold snow, gripping binoculars, our eyes fixed on any movement outside the mountain. We decided not to use Versivius’ camouflage, as we are a safe enough distance away, and it is actually nice to be able to see each other. Every gust of icy wind feels like a shard of glass against my cheeks, and I have to tense my jaw to prevent my teeth from chattering. Ryder notices my shivers and moves in closer to me, wrapping his jacket around my shaking shoulders.
“I can’t take that; you’ll be cold,” I whimper.
“I spend my life in moonlight. I’m used to the cold.” He sends me a quick smile and peers back down through the lens of his black binoculars. “Plus, it looks better on you than it does on me,” he flirts, making my icy cheeks go warm as heat rushes to them, and I have to remind myself we are on a mission.
“Fine, but only because the view is better for me as well.” I chuckle at him as I wrap my fingers around his biceps and give them a squeeze. Ryder laughs and flexes them some more for me, the sun’s glow making his dark features more prominent. “But you’ll tell me as soon as you need it back,” I add in allseriousness, hating the thought of him freezing for me even though I know he wouldn’t dare take it back off me.
My shoulders warm in the shelter of his jacket, and I feel more content in the environment. I look to Ryder to make sure he isn’t shivering, and I don’t see a single goosebump on his body or a tremble claim his lips. I suppose it helps that the sun is shining directly onto us and there is a large rock beside us that is blocking out most of the wind. My arm keeps brushing against his, setting off tiny fireworks in my nerve endings, but I ignore the feeling as best as I can. The mountain has been quiet since we got here, and we have not seen much at all. I do my best to recall to Ryder the number of armed guards and people I saw entering and exiting the building, but I am starting to doubt myself the more time that passes. The mountain looks just like any other. Maybe it was just a dream. A very vivid and realistic one at that.
“Are you sure this is the right mountain?” Ryder asks, raising a bushy brow my way.
I nod my head. “Yes, I’m sure…see that road there.” I point to the gravel road that winds up the mountain face, and his eyes follow the tip of my finger. “That’s where I saw the van stop, and that’s where I saw Maddox fall out of that box.”
“What time was this?” Ryder replies, glueing his eyes back to the mountain.
