Page 150 of Starside

“You need to jump, Aris,” Raker says, his voice harder now, like he can hear them coming. “I’ll catch you.”

I shake my head. No. I can’t trust him at all. I can’t trust anything in this place. Especially when he’s saying my name like it’s something to savor. The Raker I know would never be this patient. Maybe Raker left. Or maybe he’s dead, in a heap below. Maybe this is an entirely different beast speaking to me. I’m reaching for any excuse I can not to jump into that dark hole as I say, “How do I know you’re not a demon? Or a creature like that man in the mists?”

A pause. “You saw the man in the mist?”

I blink, momentarily distracted from the approaching steps. The yells as they find the remnants of our fire. “Did you?”

I think about what the Gardener said. That he had only ever met one other person with as much suffering … just now.

He couldn’t have been talking about Raker. Heartless, cold Raker.

He doesn’t answer.

Instead, he says, in a frustrated growl, “You snore in your sleep.”

I rear back, shock melting away some of my fear. “What?”

“When you’re not waking up half the world with your fucking nightmares, you’re keeping me up with your snoring.”

Do I?

“That doesn’t prove anything,” I say.

“Why would a demon care about your sleep habits?” he demands.

“Why do you?” I hurl back.

“Aris, just fucking jump,” he says.

Just as a boot echoes right behind me—I do.

And he catches me, just like he promised. Before dropping me right on my ass. “Fucking hell, Aris,” he snaps, before he drags me back into the shadows.

There’s murmuring above. I don’t dare breathe. I don’t dare move.

Then there are steps as the warriors keep going, right past the hole. They’ll find it eventually. I hear calls for torches.

It’s more than we have.

I tense, fear like ice in my veins as I realize we are beneath a mountain. In pure and utter darkness.

My breath hitches. I feel around for anything I can, which is mostly Raker. I get close to his hood, and he rears back.

“Your fear, Aris?” he says, that cutting voice back. Any hint of patience is gone, like it never existed in the first place. “Get over it.”

It’s said like an order, a general telling his warrior to do something, without any room to argue.

I swallow.

He’s right. I’m not going to make it out of here if I can’t even get a full breath.

I remember what I did in the forest when I encountered that screaming woman. My memories were a tether. A light through the darkness. I can do this. I have no choice.

“I will,” I say.

“Good.” He turns. I hear his steps, getting farther away. Desperately, I stumble forward, trying to follow in the direction he’s moving, not wanting to be left alone again. My pulse picks up when I can’t reach him, when I don’t know where he’s turned. I hear a deep, rumbling sigh before he grabs my arm.

Together, we walk through the darkness.