Unremembered (Unremembered #1)(74)

I run as fast and as hard as I can. Although the map is still displayed on the cellphone in my pocket, I don’t need to look at it. I already memorized it. Plus it’s almost as though my mind knows exactly where to go anyway. As though I have some kind of internal GPS system working as well. My body steers itself.

I reach the base of a towering rock formation and slow to a stop. The facade is spectacular. Painted in thick stripes of burnt red, grey and sandy white. Large turrets seem to be carved right into the face. Like hundreds of miniature castles stacked side by side. The result is both magnificent and creepy at the same time.

I glance up at the peak. Looming ominously. Rising several hundred feet in the air. Made even more daunting by the dark night and the faint moonlight reflecting off the top.

From how far I’ve run and what direction I’m facing I know that the coordinates are leading me right there. To that summit.

That’s where the two numbers meet: 35.35101 and -117.999523.

Where they intersect.

Collide.

Where everything collides.

My past and my future.

The one I love and the one I despise.

His freedom and my imprisonment.

It’s the memory of Zen’s face that pushes me forward. The feeling of his arms wrapped around me, his lips pressed against mine, the sweet sound of his voice as he promises that they will never be able to take him away from me.

As I find a groove in the rock and position my foot to take my first step upward, I know that he was right.

No matter what happens next, no matter what they do to me, he will always be there. Even if I can’t remember him.

The ascent is difficult. At times I’m forced to scale the side of the butte using only small indents in the cliff to place my hands and feet. My strength proves advantageous several times. I slip more than once, nearly plummeting to the ground hundreds of feet below. But I still reach the top in less than twenty minutes.

I pull myself up with my hands and throw my legs over.

I’m not sure what I expect to see when I stand up and brush the red dust from my clothes, but the sight still surprises me.

It’s empty.

There’s absolutely nothing here apart from a miraculous view of the stars and a brilliant red-rock mountain range.

I walk in a small circle, taking in every square inch of the summit, but can find no sign of life.

Was it a trick?

Are they not even coming?

But then why lead me all the way up here for nothing? If it’s really me they want, why wouldn’t they be here to apprehend me?

I walk to the other side of the peak and glimpse over the edge. There’s nothing but sharp, jagged, rust-coloured rock as far as I can see. The drop down into what I suppose must be Red Rock Canyon looks infinite. As though there’s no bottom. It just keeps going until you fall out the other side of the earth.

But it’s not the depth of the canyon that catches my attention.

It’s the large crevice that seems to be cut out of the side of the wall directly below me. It looks like the mouth of a cave.

I take the phone out of my pocket and check my location. Just as I suspected, I’m standing right on top of the blinking blue dot. And then it hits me. GPS coordinates are only two numbers. Two dimensions. Longitude and latitude, X and Y. There’s no Z.

And because there’s nothing right here, it can mean only one thing.

The actual destination must be below me.

Inside that cavern.

I glance over the side again. The entrance to the cave is about ten feet down. And the opening has a lip that protrudes a few inches from the rest of the canyon wall. If I hang off this edge and allow myself to drop, I will theoretically end up right on that rim. That’s if I can manage to land on the tips of my toes and keep my balance long enough to duck forward into the cave.

I return the cellphone to my pocket and unclasp the locket from around my neck. I wrap the chain around my arm a few times, until only the smooth black-and-silver heart-shaped emblem is dangling under my wrist.

As soon as I’m safely on that ledge, I’m going to drop it into the canyon.

Diotech will surely confiscate it if they find it on me and I can’t stand the thought of it in their possession. It’s too valuable.

If I can’t be with Zen, then the locket has no real purpose.

And I’d rather it be at the bottom of this void than in the hands of the people who tore us apart.

I take a deep breath as I drop to my knees and slowly crawl backwards. My left foot finds the edge first, slipping over the side and dangling precariously. I feel for any kind of rock or uneven surface to use as a foothold but find nothing.

A few pebbles tumble over the side and I wait to hear the sound of them hitting the ground but it never comes.

The canyon is too deep. Even for my ears.

I push my right foot over next, strengthening my grip on the rugged ground. I continue to slither backwards on my stomach until I’m hanging completely over the edge of the canyon wall.

I don’t want to look down but I have to in order to align myself with the opening of the cave so that I can make sure to drop right on to the protruding ledge.

The sight of the infinite abyss below me sends tremors of terror through my body, tensing my muscles and numbing my brain.

I breathe in and out, fighting to maintain my composure.

I only have one chance to make this. I need to stay calm.