Page 119 of Into the Dark, We Go
Nick rubbed his eyes, too tired to argue with him, and turned to face all of us. If there was one thing I’d learned about Nick, it was that he hated explaining his thoughts before he had a plan. And clearly, that was the case now. He was gambling with my life.
"What about the book?" June asked timidly, "Did you find something there?"
The grimoire was now filled with bookmarks. Nick opened it to one of the pages and pointed to a symbol.
"See this? It’s part of Nellie’s sigil. And this…" He flipped a few more pages, stopping at another symbol. "Is another piece."
"So?" June asked, her brow furrowing.
"Her sigil is a compound one. It’s made up of different parts scattered throughout the book, plus some things that aren’t even here. And we don’t know what else." He looked up, meeting Mitchell’s eyes. "Basically, it’s like defusing a bomb. You’ve got a bunch of wires, and you have to figure out which one to cut without setting it off. Our best chance is to go back to the clearing where the sigil was created and try to destroy it there."
June folded her arms. "How do you know Robert will be there?"
Nick hesitated for a moment before answering. "I don’t. But if he shows up, it’ll confirm my theory that there’s a way to cancel this. And he’ll try to stop us."
I closed my eyes. What angered me the most was my own inability to do anything. I relied on Nick, Mitchell, and even June to fix things for me. I was a helpless spectator, always waiting to be saved by someone. But what could I do? I was too tired to even feel anger. All my emotions had drained away, leaving me an empty shell. The electronic clock on the nightstand flickered, and its red digits changed, counting downthe hours I had left. The monster might as well come and take me now.
"Are you sure about this?" Mitchell asked for what felt like the hundredth time. "Because if we go, and Robert and his men are there, we’d be putting ourselves in even more danger. Shouldn’t we just wait?"
"Wait for what?" Nick snapped, his patience at breaking point. "You want to risk it? It’s Nellie’s life we’re talking about."
Once again, I understood Mitchell’s doubts, his struggle to believe in something he couldn’t see, his desperate need to protect his sister, to keep her safe from harm. Still, it stung, especially since he’d been the one to insist I come with them in the first place.
Nick let out a weary sigh, closed the book, and said, "You know what? If you want to wait, then wait somewhere else. Nell and I will go there alone."
32
Chapter Thirty-Two
September, 2020
For the fewhours we had left, Nick stayed awake, never dozing off for even a minute. I slept fitfully, tossing and turning, my back throbbing and my ribs aching. It was my life at stake, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open, which was painfully ironic. He didn’t try to comfort me, and oddly, I was grateful for it. Hollow reassurances would only have made me feel worse.
We drove off in my Dodge, just the two of us, before the sun had fully set, the grimoire buried deep inside his raincoat. A deserted strip mall was our first stop. I waited in the car, staring at the washed-out storefronts while Nick ran his errand. He’d been gone for over half an hour, but I didn’t ask what he had been doing there. He wasn’t in the mood for questions, and I figured he’d tell me only what he thought I needed to know.
Besides, I was only half-present, reality coming in pieces, shifting and uneven.
I wondered if death row inmates ever truly grasped what was coming. How does anyone comprehend the world withoutthemselves in it? My brain couldn’t wrap around the thought. In a few hours, I might be gone. Would I really just... end?
I held on to every shred of control I had, keeping my panic at bay. But as we neared the trailhead, my breathing turned shallow, and my pulse spiked. This was it. We were doing this.
We’d parked farther down the road to keep the car out of sight.
"You okay to walk?" Nick asked, as if I had a choice. I gave a tight nod, and we stepped into the woods.
Veering off the main path at night was dangerous, but remaining on it posed a bigger threat. Robert and his people were probably nearby.
The canopy above absorbed what little daylight remained. We set out while the sun still peered over the mountains, but now the forest had grown murky and still. The humidity clung to me, sticky and suffocating. Sweat slid down my back, but I zipped my raincoat up, trapping the heat inside. I didn’t dare take it off. It was the only thing separating me from the world around us.
"Let’s not use the flashlights unless we absolutely have to," Nick said.
It seemed like the perfect time to turn one on—I could barely see ten feet in front of me. But he was right—a moving light would give us away, and as long as the sky stayed clear, we had just enough visibility.
Nick checked the route on his watch and moved forward. I stayed close behind.
Every so often, I brushed against rough bark or slipped on rocks, my heart skipping with each stumble. Occasionally, a branch cracked somewhere off the path, probably an animal, but the sounds stayed distant, never drawing closer. I kept reminding myself that if Robert or his men meant to stopus, they would have done so already. We were only two, and unarmed.
But a part of me wasn’t afraid anymore.
