Page 55 of Delirium

And yet everything was out of the ordinary.

Nash sighed. “Okay, well, it was worth a shot. Maybe Camp and James found something.”

Something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. “Wait.” A small brown book, half hidden by the pillow.

I pulled it out, flipping through the pages. “It’s a diary. I don’t know how much it will help us, but it looks like he kept it up fairly regularly.”

A shiver shook my back. There was a strong possibility I was holding a dead man’s diary, and something about that sat uncomfortably in my belly.

“Bring it. It might have at least something worthwhile in there.”

I snapped the book shut, stuffing it into my backpack and following Nash out of the tent. We made quick work of the tidy perimeter of the city, seeing nothing out of the ordinary besides the same smooth marker rock we’d seen on the riverbank.

There was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on though. Something so entirely wrong about this situation I couldn’t figure out what it was.

Small windows into the mud houses showed living quarters barely touched by time, similar to the tents. The city was filled with everything I wanted to explore and discover, mark down in my journal, see what fell into place with what I knew and what didn’t. And yet, I didn’t like it. It bore an eerie resemblance to a cemetery, frozen in time.

I didn’t want to explore.

I wanted to get out.

Nash and I walked in silence, meeting up with an also silent Camp and James at the trailhead.

“Anything?” I asked.

James shook his head, shoulders tense. “Absolutely nothing. They were working here. We found the tools, and gear I know was Clancy’s. But as for where they might have gone…nothing. They just disappeared into thin air.”

I shivered again, closing my eyes. “Okay.”

“Everyone good to head back?” Nash asked. “I think I’ve had enough of exploring for one day.”

We all turned, and stepped back onto the trail. As soon as I swept through the wall of vines I realized what was bothering me. “Wait.”

The men paused.

“Do you hear that?” I asked.

James shook his head. “I hear the birds, Scarlett. That’s it.”

“Exactly.” Beneath the natural ceiling of the rainforest, the symphony of birds was overwhelmingly loud. But, when I took one step off the trail, back into the clearing of the city, silence reigned. “There’s no bird call out here. There’s nothing.”

One by one they each stepped out, and back in. In the clearing there was nothing but dead silence, and the crack of the fabric as it blew in the wind. The forest was filled with noises that made it come alive.

It was like there was a barrier surrounding the city, an invisible wall we couldn’t see.

I had no idea what we had stepped into when we went looking for James’ crew. I didn’t think any of them did.

It terrified me to think we were about to find out.

Chapter

Twenty

NASH

The walk back to theCarpe Diemwas as silent as the ghost town had been. I had dozens of words spinning around in my head, the main ones being “what the fuck?” I just couldn’t bring myself to utter them out loud.

I wanted to go to bed. Pretend today never existed. I didn’t want to acknowledge the weird city James had bribed me into finding.

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