Page 48 of Delirium

We both knew more than we should, and while we each knew things about each other, we weren’t sure exactly what it meant. Nash rang the bell again, and the three of us hurried to see what he needed.

Nash had already killed the engine when we got to the wheelhouse, theCarpe Diemchugging a few final choking breaths as she reached the riverbank.

“What’s up?” I asked, trying to read Nash’s face for any clues I might be missing. Was it terrible? Had the authorities caught up to us?

Could boats even be pulled over?

I had never really considered such a thing before. To be fair, I hadn’t had a reason to.

But Nash only shook his head, pointing toward the riverbank to the side of us. “Look. I almost missed it. I’ve probably missed it a thousand times.”

I followed his finger, squinting against the bright sun to see what he was trying to point out to me. Trees, vines, more trees, and then… I realized what he was seeing.

At the base of a large tree, almost entirely covered by a fallen branch and cannibalistic vines, sat a perfectly round stone.

Too perfectly round to be natural at the size it was, too large for a smooth river rock, and nothing like the jagged formations that made up the waterfall we saw the day before. I could just about make out the faintest etching across the front of it.

“Is that…?” James’ voice was hushed, nearly reverent, a strange mixture from the stoic man.

“If I were a betting man, I’d say this is probably the best chance we have of finding your city.” Nash ran his hand through his hair. “It’s weird, though. I’ve been traveling this river for years. Never once seen that rock. Not like there’s much of a trail to mark it. But for me to see it now…”

Scarlett crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Maybe it’s just a case of right place, right time. Rains might have knocked that branch down, and moved some of the vines. There are a thousand reasons you might not have seen it. After all, there’s a good reason for the city being a legend with the locals, right?”

Scarlett’s logic made perfect sense, but it still didn’t stop a chill from running down my back, even in the humid air.

I wasn’t a superstitious man. Not in the slightest. I had no issues stepping on cracks or opening my umbrella indoors. There was too much science in the world to believe things like that.

But something was making me shift from foot to foot, unable to settle. I wanted to chalk it up to the sweating, but the chills trailing down my back said the exact opposite. “So what do we do?”

Nash shrugged, but I didn’t miss the same sense of discomfort flashing in his eyes. “What we came here to do, I guess. We go and see if there’s something to be discovered.”

There was a problem with searching for hidden things, though.

Not all of them wanted to be found.

Chapter

Eighteen

SCARLETT

Icouldn’t tell if it was excitement or nerves that made my hands shake while I changed out of my casual clothes and into an outfit more suitable for trekking through the rainforest. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer.

I’d wanted an adventure, didn’t I? I’d wanted something that gave my life a bit of excitement. Made me feel alive. Finding a city most of the locals whispered about, chalking up to an urban legend was exciting. Right?

Now I just needed my gut feeling to agree.

I was being ridiculous. There was nothing to be afraid of. We’d trekked through the rainforest the day before and nothing bad had happened. No poisonous spiders attacked us, no jaguars either. Except for James blabbing Nash’s secret and storming off, but I wasn’t sure that could really be counted as bad. Nothing the rainforest did was bad. I shook my head, grabbing my hiking boots and stuffing my feet into them with more courage than I felt.

It was all fine, wasn’t it? A little excitement. I just wasn’t used to excitement. Or was it fear?

Maybe the city was a legend for a reason…

I stormed to the small wardrobe in my room, and staring at my face in the mirror that hung inside. “You’re being ridiculous. Get over yourself. Let yourself go for once. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Jaguars, spiders, poisonous plants. Venomous frogs and toads. All sorts of things were waiting to kill me in the rainforest—Nash had told me so, explicitly.

The bell rang again from the wheelhouse, Nash’s way of politely telling us to “hurry the fuck up.” I pulled on my paper-thin athletic top, glared at my reflection, and slammed the wardrobe door shut. Ready, if not mentally, I stepped out my door and almost collided head on with James.

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