“But I’m the reason Aryll screwed with Stan in the first place!” I break free of her hold, and I’m shouting again. “When the Marad surrounded us, I recognized Aryll, and I called him by his name! I should have realized how Stan would react. If he hadn’t known it was Aryll, he wouldn’t have attacked—”
“Rho, your brother attacked Aryll because he grabbed your mom!” Nishi’s voice rises to match mine. “And if a different soldier had taken her, he would have jumped in just as fast! Stop taking credit for Stan’s death. He died the way he lived—on his own terms—and the only choice you have now is to accept that!”
Lines suddenly start spiderwebbing across the solarium’s glass walls, like they did in the crystal dome on the day of our concert, and we leap to our feet just as the window shatters.
Neither of us has a helmet on, so my next breath never comes. Shards of glass slice shallow cuts along my skin and suit as I’m sucked out of the compound and onto the moon’s soundless surface.
And the instant I leave the solarium, the nightmare changes.
I’m in a familiar gray room, sitting in a chair, and when I try to move, I realize my wrists and ankles are cuffed. There’s an empty hospital bed before me, stained with pools of blood.
A woman in white healer’s scrubs has her back to me while she sorts through medical tools on a table.
“Where are we?” asks a familiar voice.
I swing my face around in shock to see Nishi sitting next to me. She’s also tied to a chair, and a sense of dread blooms in my stomach, keeping me from answering her.
The healer turns around, and I start struggling, desperately fighting against my shackles.
“Rho, what’s wrong?” asks Nishi because she doesn’t know this Riser wears my face now.
“Welcome back.”
Nishi snaps her gaze to the healer, and whether it’s the raspy voice or the leering smile, somehow I know she recognizes Corinthe.
This can’t be happening.
I can’t bring Nishi into this nightmare.
“Our time together being almost over,” says Corinthe, holding up an even larger and sharper knife than before, “I wanted one more moment with you to say goodbye.”
Our time is almost over?
Suddenly the room begins to shake around us, and Corinthe’s image flickers, like I’m streaming a holo-show through a poor connection.
This doesn’t seem to be happening within the dream—it’s happening without.
“One of us is waking up,” says Nishi, our minds arriving at the same realization. “It’s you.”
“Yes, but you also have a choice,” injects Corinthe, bending over us so we’re eye-level. Her knife is inches from me, reflecting back my terrified face. “You can choose to stay.”
“Ignore her,” snarls Nishi.
“Or you can do that,” concedes Corinthe, shrugging. “But if you go . . . she replaces you.”
Darkness flashes in her familiar pale green eyes. “I’ll take out every moment of your absence on her. Every cut, every wound, every nightmare she suffers will be because of you.”
My whole body is shivering, and I wish my hands were free so I could punch Corinthe again.
“Rho, don’t even think—”
“I’m not going,” I say to Nishi, ignoring Corinthe’s presence beside us. “I’m sorry, I can’t—”
“You’re playing right into the Sumber’s game!”
Since I know Nishi won’t let me stay for her, I reach for another reason. “Crompton could have custody of my body right now! The last thing I remember is shooting him at the same time that I got shot, and if he’s still alive, he’s not going to be happy with me—”
“And if that’s the case, you’ll face it,” she says, speaking over me. “He’s already outed himself, so who knows what his next move will be? You’re needed. And whatever you find when you get back, you’ll be ready for it. I know you will.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill her,” says Corinthe, looking at me like I’m being paranoid. “I’ll just bring her right up to the point of death. Every time. That way I can keep her with me forever.”
The walls around us start to shake again, and this time I feel a forceful pull on my mind, like my thoughts are being vacuumed out of my head.
“Tick, tock, tick, tock, crab,” taunts Corinthe as the quaking intensifies.
“I’m staying,” I say out loud, hoping it helps me hang on.
“Excellent,” says Corinthe as the air settles, and she returns to rooting through the tools on the table, giving us space. Nishi leans closer to me, and I wish our hands were free so I could comfort her.
“Rho, I don’t have any siblings—Helios, I barely have parents. But you’re more than a sister . . . you’re a part of me. I can’t picture my life without you in it.”
“I feel the same way—”
“Before we found each other in the nightmare,” she goes on, her features drawing together like she’s admitting something shameful, “I had given up. I thought I’d be better off in here, where the nightmares aren’t real.”
She takes a loud breath. “After a while, without the dream of hope, it got harder and harder to hang on to my sanity—on to me. I was alone, and tormented, and tired, and afraid—and then you rescued me.”
She leans over as far as she can and presses a soft, slow kiss on my forehead. Tears sprout from my eyes. “You reminded me of who I am. Of who we are, and why we’ve committed our lives to this war. For House Cancer. For our classmates. For Deke. We can’t give up.”
The room shakes for the third time, more violently than before, and Nishi and I press into each other to keep steady. I know my best friend is right—but I also know nothing awaits me in a world without Stanton or Nishi.
“I swear I’m going to get you out of here, Nish,” I say as we pull apart, my voice sounding strong to me for the first time. “Just hang on a little longer—and if this place starts to feel like too much again, know that I won’t rest until I find you.”
Her face softens with relief. “I know you won’t, Rho.”
Corinthe cuts over to us as she realizes what’s happening, and everything begins to flicker like the Sumber is running out of power. “Who’s the monster now?” she shouts as I quit resisting reality, and I feel myself being pulled to the surface.
“You’ll abandon your best friend to save yourself?” she keeps shouting. “So much for martyrdom, right, Rho? Just remember that for every minute you’re up there breathing your free air, she’s down here drowning in your nightmares!”
A dizziness engulfs me, and my surroundings begin to fracture. As the room starts to fade, I hear Nishi cry out in agony.
“NO!”
I want to hang on, but I’m too close to consciousness to stall the process, and I try calling out to her, but my voice is gone. The whole scene is slipping through my thoughts, like trying to hold water in my hands.
I don’t know who, or what, will be waiting for me when I awaken.
All I know is I have to save Nishi from my nightmares.
And I have to do it now.
6
TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK, CRAB.
I open my eyes to find four unfamiliar faces peering down at me. All are wearing white healer’s scrubs.