Page 68 of In Between Darkness

Gods. I cannot believe I fell for it again. I am such an idiot. I fight the urge to groan in frustration and rearrange my thoughts to catch my breath.

“You know, I’m not some kind of toy that you can pick up and play with whenever you feel like it. I have feelings,” I say, and he smirks that smirk that makes me want to drop my panties right there and then.

“Then you shouldn’t make it so easy.” He chuckles again, but his laughter is short-lived, and seriousness takes over his face. “I see him. Over there.”

He points at River, who is lying on his back, floating in the ether. I race towards him, and Ryder follows slightly behind. I stop when I reach his body and place my hands on his face to check for warmth. I sigh with relief when I know he’s alive.

“River?” I say, lightly shaking him, but he doesn’t respond. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Looks like he’s in some sort of trance,” Ryder says as he walks around his body, examining it.

‘Astra Nova renders Sun and Moonkind unconscious. The magnetic field disrupts the signals to their brain causing it to shut down,’Oriah answers. ‘Ryder is an exception.’

We share a look at his arm, the venom spidering up the length of his forearm all the way to his collarbone.

“Because of the serpent venom,” I say, more as a statement than a question.

‘That is correct,’Oriah’s voice echoes through my head. I look at Ryder, who is gearing up to lift River fireman style. He lifts him up like a rag doll with his ink-like arm and makes him look light as a feather.

“How did you…?” I ask, bewildered by his strength.

“The venom. I’m stronger in this arm.” He flexes and smirks as River flops over his shoulder.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere fades into a deep shade of purple. Both of us spin around trying to discover the source of the colour. As I turn back towards him, I notice that his arm is glowing. My jaw drops, and he looks at me with concern.

“Your arm…it’s glowing!” I say, pointing towards the now bright purple veins that race up and down his arm.

He places River down gently to study his arm, but the glow fades.

How strange? He reaches down to pick River up again, and the glow reappears.

“Do you think it might have something to do with River?” I ask.

“Surely not. It’s probably just something to do with this fucked-up place, like the magnetic field or something.” He shrugs his shoulders as if trying to brush off the possibility. I nodmy head, but the pit in my stomach tells me something is not as it seems.

He adjusts River to a comfier position on his shoulder, his arm still glowing.

“Shouldn’t you summon the portal thingy now?” He says, shooting me a discerning look.

“Oh, right, yeah.” I shake my head as if snapping back to reality and focus on conjuring the portal.

I shut my eyes and embrace the tingles, resulting in the orb resurfacing. Only it’s no longer black; the orb is now shimmering with small speckles of an orange glow. I pool all my energy to enlarge the image, and the orange specks take form as the lanterns hanging from the trees around Moon forest. I can see the twisted trees staring back at me, back to the place we started this journey. I nod my head, gesturing for Ryder to go through first, that way he is less likely to become trapped. He walks through with ease, and I see him sit River up on a nearby tree. I follow through the void, and it shuts behind me. I crouch beside River, who is still unconscious, and stare up at Ryder. “What’s the plan now?”

“I suppose we wake him up,” Ryder says, standing over him.

I lightly shake River again and simultaneously say his name. He groans and his face twitches.

“It’s working,” Ryder says, taking a few steps back and crossing his arms.

Oh, really, now he’s going to act all bravado. I send him a look as if to tell him he’s being stupid. I mean, the boy’s been unconscious, cut him some slack. I turn my attention back to River.

“River?” I say quietly as he starts coming to. He opens his eyes, but they are still squinting slightly. “Asha?” He rubs the sleep out of his eyes and looks back at me with a confused lookon his face. “What happened?” he says, his voice sounds weak and croaky.

“Ermm, you had too much to drink and hit your head,” I say kind of unconvincingly, but I don’t think he notices. His eyes snap shut again, and when he opens them, he looks like he has seen a ghost.

“N-no, that didn’t happen? The darkness.”

Oh no, he’s remembering. I’m an idiot for thinking he would just forget.