Unremembered (Unremembered #1)(82)

I immediately press my lips to his, kissing him hard. He falls into it and I feel our bodies joining. Melting together. The kiss is just as delicious as it was in my stolen memory. Just as consuming. Just as perfect. And for a moment, everything around us disappears. Nothing else exists in the world but this.

This one amazing, lifesaving kiss.

I have been yearning for this sensation – this beautiful moment – for longer than I can even remember. But the truth is, I have another motivation for this kiss. With our hands tied behind our backs, this is the only way we can touch.

And Alixter said it himself . . . You have to be in direct contact.

I squeeze my eyes shut and repeat the same phrase over and over again in my mind, focusing all of my thoughts, all of my energy on this one, simple salvation.

Get us out of here. Get us out of here. Get us out of here.

As I feel the ground start to disintegrate beneath us and the soft hum of our bodies converging with the air, I can hear Alixter’s voice growing further and further away.

‘Damn it!’ he screams.

But it’s too late. We’re already gone.





46


FAITH


When I open my eyes we’re standing at the mouth of the cave, looking over the edge into the abyss. I try to tear the chains from my hands but they don’t break easily. Alixter was right. They seem to be just out of my reach.

But after a few seconds, combined with the force of my adrenalin, I’m able to contort the metal enough to squeeze my hands through.

Apparently I’m stronger than he thought.

In more ways than he could imagine.

I turn to Zen. His hands are tied together with a thin piece of rope. I rip through it effortlessly. He rubs his wrists and looks at me, a huge grin spreading across his face. ‘How did you do it?’

‘It was Rio,’ I tell him breathlessly. ‘He told me he was going to create a way to deactivate my gene. As a safety precaution. And I figured there was only one place he could have put it. I only had one thing on me when I arrived here.’ I open my clenched palm and reveal the necklace.

‘But how does it work?’ Zen asks.

‘Well, at first I wasn’t sure,’ I admit, ‘but then I remembered you telling me that you put a pebble inside the locket. But it was empty when I got here, which means it must have fallen out. And the only way it could have fallen out—’

‘Is if the locket was open.’ Zen finishes the thought.

I nod eagerly. ‘He put the deactivator in my locket. It has to be open for the gene to work.’

Zen glances around, taking in our surroundings. ‘But how did you get us here?’

I shrug. ‘I don’t know. I just focused all of my energy on getting out of the cave. So I guess –’ I giggle – ‘we got out of the cave.’

He laughs too, his smile brighter than I’ve ever seen it before.

He slides the locket from my palm, reaches up and clasps the chain around my neck. Then he leans in and kisses me again, gently touching his lips to mine. I’m instantly pulled into him. Craving him like oxygen. I can no longer feel the ground beneath my feet. But then again, I no longer need it to be there.

I hear a noise. Feet pounding against rock. We break apart and I glance behind us, into the dark tunnel that leads back to the chamber. I listen intently. The footsteps are coming fast.

‘He’ll be here in less than fifteen seconds,’ I calculate.

Simultaneously we both lean forward and peer over the edge again. Into the great black void. Into eternity.

‘There’s only one place we can go,’ he says, looking hopefully into my eyes.

I nod and gently touch the open locket that rests against my chest. ‘Only one place where we can be together.’

The footsteps get louder. Alixter’s agent is getting closer. A voice behind us yells, ‘Don’t move!’

Zen reaches down and slips his hand into mine. ‘Do you trust me?’

I smile. ‘With all my heart.’

‘Don’t let go,’ he tells me.

I interlace my fingers with his, squeezing tightly. ‘Never,’ I vow.

We take one step towards the edge and then, together, we leap.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Memory is a tricky thing. At least when it comes to my own. But regardless of how much I manage to unremember (and it’s a shocking amount!), the following people can never be forgotten.

Janine O’Malley, my editor. You have put up with me for four books now. That might be a bigger accomplishment than physically writing the books. I know how I can get.

Bill Contardi, my agent. This book would not be in existence without those three little words you wrote to me: ‘very cool idea’.

Simon Boughton, Joy Peskin, Kate Lied, Angus Killick, Elizabeth Fithian, Kathryn Little, Karen Frangipane, Ksenia Winnicki, Lucy Del Priore, Holly Hunnicutt, Jon Yaged, Lauren Burniac, Vannessa Cronin, Courtney Griffin, Jean Feiwel, Caitlyn Sweeny and all the fantastic people at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Thank you for continuing to support me, pamper me and make my books look good. I’m grateful to be working with such a dynamic group of book enthusiasts.

And thanks to Elizabeth Wood, who couldn’t have designed a more perfect cover for this book!

Ruth Alltimes, Polly Nolan and all the simply marvellous people at Macmillan Children’s Books UK who believed in this story from the beginning – before I even finished it. Now that’s faith!