Page 58 of Poison Sun

“Of course I saved you.”

“You could have fallen in with me.”

“You’re the one who dragged me on this crazy quest in the first place,” he says, as if the fact that he saved my life is no big deal. “It would have been pretty annoying if you died on me before we could really get started.”

I can’t help but laugh—a sound that feels oddly out of place in the eerie silence following the bridge’s collapse.

“Yeah, I suppose that would have been inconvenient.” I roll my eyes and reach for my phone, which is thankfully still secured in my pack.

Unfortunately—and unsurprisingly—there’s no service. There’s not even a hint of service. There’s only that SOS warning on the part of the screen where the bars usually show.

“Anything important?” Blaze asks, amused.

“No signal.” I tuck my phone back into my pack, the reality of our isolation sinking in.

It’s just me, Blaze, and whatever waits for us in the Valley of the Vanished.

“Well, there goes my plan to livestream the adventure.” He stands up, brushing dirt off his hands and snapping me back into focus. “I suppose the world will just have to anxiously wait for our triumphant return.”

I smile a bit, which makes him smile right back.

For a second, it doesn’t feel like we just narrowly escaped falling to our watery deaths.

He reaches down to help me up, and when I take his hand, warmth travels from my fingers all the way to my chest. The air crackles between us, the starbursts in his eyes holding me captive. The fire in my veins urges me to move closer to him, to pull him to me to make sure he’s really here, with me, by my side for this crazy ride.

From the way he’s looking at me, I can’t help wondering if he’s feeling the same way.

But no. We’re not here to get lost in each other’s eyes… or whatever’s going on here.

We’re here to find the witch’s cottage, where she’s guarding the Crimson Quill.

To bring the quill back to our realm, and to get that potion out of Amber’s body.

To reclaim the city from the darkness threatening to swallow it whole.

So, I shake off the way my body’s reacting to Blaze’s touch and refocus on the current situation: navigating these mountains with no cell service to speak of.

Luckily, we prepared for this.

I rummage through my pack, pulling out the compass we picked up in town. It’s a regular, human compass—nothing as extravagant as the Astral Compass Viktor stole from Damien in the subway—but it’s enough to give us the help we need.

Now, it’s time to put it to use.

I smile at Blaze, even though it’s clear he’s just as shaken from that moment between us as I am. “Anyway…” I say, hoping to break the tension. “I guess it’s good thing we don’t need Google Maps for directions.”

With that, I rotate around before he can reply, using the compass to point us southeast. Into the heart of the Alps and deeper into the Valley of the Vanished, where the Crimson Quill hopefully awaits.

Amber

I pace back and forth in my room, glancing out at the final rays of twilight leaving the city skyline, with my phone in hand.

The Shadow Lord didn’t bother me after I pushed him out of my dream last night, so I was able to get in some good sleep after that.

I’m going to need it for what’s coming next.

In the meantime, I’ve lost count of the number of texts I sent to Morgan. Each time I bring up our messages on the screen, none of them show as delivered. Every call goes straight to voicemail. I rebooted my phone, hoping the issue is on my end, but have had no luck. Either she turned off her phone, blocked me, or is somewhere with no service.

A knock on my door pulls me from my thoughts.

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