Chapter 41

  “Titus?” Snow asked in disbelief.

  A sharp crack rocked the chamber and brought Snow to his feet. He immediately looked back the way they had come, but the noise couldn’t have been any lingering ice. It didn’t sound right. He then noticed a new dripping sound. It brought his attention to the crystal lens ceiling above where he found a new hairline crack was visible above Sage’s head… and it was growing.

  “You will follow him,” Ilone seemed uninterested in the new threat above them.

  “What’s happening?!” Snow asked as he turned back to her and gestured to the ceiling.

  “Few spaces can tolerate our presence for very long,” Ilone replied. Above her head the crack continued to spread like haphazard spider webs. More drips echoed in the chamber as the lake above started to seep in.

  “And Sage? Can she tolerate you?” Snow couldn’t help the question sounding like an accusation.

  “No. I must leave her,” Ilone then reached a hand out to run tender fingers along Snow’s jaw. “Call me if you have need. I will listen.”

  Another violent crack tore Snow’s attention back to the ceiling. He almost didn’t catch Sage as she collapsed to the floor. Ilone seemed to have vanished, leaving Sage looking exhausted. She groaned as Snow caught her. At least he knew she was alive, but this was the worst timing.

  “Sage? Sage!” Snow called her name as he gave her shoulders a gentle shake. She only groaned again as if asleep.

  “Fuck.” He looked back at the ceiling and wondered if he dared try to hold it up or exit through the opening that’s about to happen. The only other way was back through the passage that was now filled with water. There wouldn’t be enough time to push it all back with a new ice tunnel.

  Above him, the ceiling was ready to crash in. Snow scooped Sage up in his arms and went back for the passageway. He knew anything would be better than being in this open pocket when the ceiling gave way. At least under the water they might be spared the worst of the impact.

  He brought Sage over to the steps and stepped down into the frigid water until they were up to their necks. Sage started to shudder in his arms as he turned his eyes back to the main chamber. Behind him the cracks were coming faster.

  “Hold your breath,” he whispered before he dragged Sage under the water with him. Behind him, the ceiling must have gone because a sudden current shoved them back as water rushed through the passageway to fill the pocket. Snow’s head hit the ceiling repeatedly as he swam against it with one arm out in front with the other tight around Sage’s body.

  It took longer than expected to get clear of the stone archway. Snow’s lungs were burning when he shot straight up towards the dim light of the lake surface. There he erupted with a desperate breath and then tried to pull Sage’s face up from the water.

  “Sage!” Max’s voice could be heard in the distance before a sudden splash.

  Snow was too focused on Sage’s pale face to notice Max swimming over to take her. He handed her over to him in a brief, dazed moment before following them to shore. Max was the better swimmer though and hurried Sage up the steps and out of the water. He already had her laid out on the grass by the time Snow was pulling himself up the last of the underwater steps.

  “She’s not breathing!” Max yelled, the fear evident on his face.

  Snow came over and turned her on her side. He patted her back urgently.

  “Com’on Sage,” he whispered to her.

  Nothing, and she was growing paler by the moment.

  Damn it, Ilone. Bring her back. Please.

  Snow turned her on her back again and started compressions. When he bent down to breathe air into her lungs Max leapt up.

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  “What the fuck are you-” Max’s protest was cut off by Titus taking him by the shoulder.

  “Let him work,” Titus said.

  “I swear to Ilone-” Max’s sharp rebuke was cut off by the sound of Sage violently coughing up watery mouthfuls. Snow immediately turned her on her side again where her eyes began to open as shivers took over her body. If she could see, she would have found all three of them hovering over her with utter relief on their faces.

  Max immediately rushed a blanket over to her and bundled her up protectively in his arms.

  “Sage?” His voice was soft and pleading. “Are you alright?”

  Sage nodded weakly with her head against him. Max held her close for a moment before scooping her up into his arms and heading back towards the house at a brisk pace.

  Snow remained on the grass a moment in exhaustion. He didn’t want to admit he was shivering too until a blanket landed on his shoulders. He turned and found Titus standing there with a sympathetic look and a hand to help him up.

  “I hope whatever was down there was worth that close call,” he said as he helped Snow to his numb feet.

  “I hope so too,” Snow replied. He soon found himself staring at Titus wondering why Ilone would make him his guide. The ridiculousness of it continued to rattle him. Him… of all people. A novice. A savior. A…

  “Com’on, Snowflake… you’re going to turn to ice out here,” Titus gestured back towards the house with a half-hearted smile.

  Snow sighed. A friend.

  Max had a fire going by the time they walked in. Sage sat before it bundled in new blankets with her eyes cast down on the flames. She didn’t look up when Snow and Titus came in, nor did she look ready to talk when Snow changed into dry clothes and came to sat down next to her before the hearth.

  Around them, Max had only a sharp scowl for Snow, and it was understandable. Snow had promised nothing would happen to Sage. He thought he had everything sorted and then Ilone herself decided to throw a wrench in the works. It had been a long time since he had learned such a hard lesson, and he only wished Sage hadn’t been there to learn it with him. He wondered what she thought of her goddess now, if the experience was a moment of transcendence or of trauma.

  “Sage?” he called her name gently.

  “What did she say to you?” she asked as if she had been waiting for him to start this conversation all along.

  “You don’t remember?” Snow had thought she was present for everything.

  “She was talking to me too… She was… showing me things while talking to you.”

  Snow sat up. “What did you see?”

  “I asked you first, Kori.” Sage was starting to sound like her old self and more relief washed over him.

  “She warned me about this ‘Devourer’… she said it was born with us but now seeks his singular horizon. Whatever that means,” Snow explained.

  “Is that all?”

  “No,” Snow’s voice trailed as he looked back over his shoulder to see where Titus had drifted off to. He was debating cooking techniques with Max in the kitchen, though from what he could hear, neither seemed to have a grasp of the basics.

  “Well?” Sage prodded.

  Snow lowered his voice to a whisper. “She told me I’m her champion, if you could believe that, … and that she wants me to follow Titus.”

  Sage smiled. Snow rolled his eyes at it.

  “I saw that,” she said.

  “You did not. You just know me so well,” Snow grumbled.

  “I do,” Sage’s voice had warmed briefly before her voice turned solemn again, “she told me it will come for us… this Devourer. It’s coming for everyone.”

  “She didn’t tell you exactly what this thing is, did she?”

  “No,” Sage grimaced in disappointment.

  Snow huffed. “Why does it always have to be fucking riddles with gods?”

  Sage sighed. “This isn’t something straightforward like a recipe for biscuits. This is bigger… and with each choice there will be changes, new avenues open… others close. Ilone can’t give us specific directions for every moment, every minute. We’d never be able to accomplish it.”

  “She could at least tell us what this thing is.”

  “I don’t think she can. This Devourer is a kind of shapeshifter or phantom creature. But it is old, powerful, and its name is apt. If it has its way… it will be the only thing left in this world.”

  “Great.” Snow’s sarcasm was heavy.

  “But I do know one thing.” Sage turned to him with a serious face.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s got it’s hooks in the saviors.”