The Dark Calling (The Arcana Chronicles #5)(60)

He and I were alive because of his hardships.

He studied my face. “What you thinking about, ma belle?”

“Remember how much envy there was in high school? I envied Mel because she had two parents. Grace Anne envied me because I lived in a big house. I wish I could go back and tell everyone: the more perfect your life is, the less prepared you’ll be for the future. If you don’t have bullshit to deal with, you’re about to get hosed.”

“You believe that?”

I held his gaze. “My mother once told me that diamonds were born of pressure, but I never understood what she meant until I met you.”

His brows drew together, and his voice roughened. “For true?”

“Jack, your past—and how you handled it—is why we’re both still breathing.”

A flush tinged his broad cheekbones. Uncomfortable with the praise, he coughed into his fist, then said, “Let’s get goan. Like a shadow, you.” He pointed to the sand. “Doan want you to step on a surprise.”

“Bagmines,” I muttered, and we began to climb.

When we crested the dune to take in the lightning-lit view, my heart sank. There was nothing. Not a drop of water. “Jack?”

“It’s okay. I didn’t figure the ocean had risen to its normal levels yet.”

“Circe told me to go to the coast and then keep going. But I’d assumed there’d be another target to shoot for. Not this”—I waved at the horizon—“nothingness.”

“Guess the question is: how much do you trust her?”

“With my life, now that I’m pregnant. But she’s been unwell.” Who hadn’t been? Hello, bottomless pit. “Maybe she got things confused.”

“One of Kentarch’s maps showed a shelf of land that used to be under the sea, dozens of miles wide. It drops off into a trench. My bet? We got ourselves a new coastline.”

I tried to wrap my head around that.

“The Beast has enough gas to get us to the edge of that shelf, but not back. So do we try to scare up some more fuel and food?” We’d found nothing on the way here. “Or do we take our chances out there?”

I thought of Aric, pacing his lonely castle. I pictured Finn’s grin on his last night alive. I thought of how vulnerable Lark was under Paul’s rule.

I might not blindly trust that Aric and I could regain what we’d lost, but I would still fight to free him. “Let’s take the leap.”





27


Day 557 A.F.





“Would you look at that?” Jack murmured at our surroundings.

We’d driven miles and miles past the last of the burned-out high-rise condos into an undersea landscape that was no longer under the sea.

The going was slow, the shelf teeming with debris—anchors, traps, sunken wrecks, and even crashed planes. Enormous whale skeletons stood as big as houses. Every now and then we would pass a Bagger, emerging from the sand, scrambling to catch us.

According to Kentarch’s elevation gauge, we should’ve been well beneath the surface. I wished Aric could witness this surreal scene with me. How would I ever describe it to him?

The fog thickened the further we descended, slowing us even more. Lightning illuminated the gray cloud deck. I rotated the spotlight, picking out wrecks through the eerie mist.

From the back, Joules said, “This place makes me bollocks shrivel.”

Kentarch made a sound of agreement, his gaze alert.

Jack tapped the fuel gauge. “We just passed the point of no return.”

I swallowed. “Are you sure we’re going the right way?”

He pointed to the map screen. “Due east.”

We continued on in anxious silence, descending another hill, chugging around a pair of whale skeletons . . . .

Suddenly a flare lit up the sky over the horizon.

“Who could’ve shot that?” And why? Matthew had warned me to beware of lures, like a light in darkness.

“It’s coming from the direction of the trench.” Jack rolled down his window and slowed the Beast to a stop. An engine revved somewhere in the night. Another followed, and another. He killed the headlights. “Company from the northwest.” For my benefit, he added, “North of where we first hit the shelf.”

The darkened mist grew brighter. Bouncing beams of light shot into the sky. “Are those headlights?”

“No way,” Joules said. “There’s too many of ’em.”

Jack eased the Beast over a rise of sand. Stunned quiet reigned.

Finally I said, “Am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

Jack nodded. “Traffic.”

Not far in the distance, dozens of trucks and dune buggies hauled ass past us on what looked like a cleared sand road. Whereas we’d spent a day inching our way around debris, they were charging across the shelf. “Why are they racing?”

“No idea, me. They’re heading toward that light.”

Joules slapped Jack’s shoulder. “Back in Oirland, me ole mam said, ‘Whenever you see a mysterious line, Patty, you best hie your arse into it.’”

“Even with what you guys are packing, that many survivors could pose a threat to Evie and Tee.” His new nickname for my kid, short for p’tee gar?on. Baby boy.