The Mountain, Page 2

  “We should go back,” Henry called to her. “What if our people survived? What if they escaped and need our help?”

  “They weren’t my people,” Julietta snapped.

  “They might be the only people left in the world,” he said.

  Julietta nearly told him to go back but stopped herself. “Your guilt won’t change facts,” she said. “We both saw the Dome collapse into that hole.”

  “I saw you disappear into a hole, too, but I was able to pull you out,” Henry said. “Maybe I could do the same for them.”

  “You can barely save yourself,” she said.

  As if proving her point, Henry collapsed to his knees again. This time, he buried his face in his hands. Julietta wanted to kick him, or scream, or run into the distance so he could never catch up, but she didn’t have the energy for any of those. Instead, she trudged back to him. She no sooner stood next to him than a high-pitched hissing grew louder and closer. Julietta looked behind them and saw an explosion of steam rip through the snow less than fifty feet away. Another explosion followed a few seconds later and a few feet closer.

  “You have to suck it up and move,” Julietta yelled at him. “I’m as cold as you are.”

  “It’s not just the cold,” Henry said with a grimace.

  He muttered something about ‘the avalanche,’ annoying Julietta since she knew that couldn’t happen in the middle of the Nothingness. But with steam explosions happening faster and faster—and seeming to head in their direction—she had no time for lengthy explanations. That was especially true when she saw the steam-blasted holes collapsing deeper into themselves, merging together to form a fissure on the surface rushing straight at them.

  Julietta grabbed Henry and yanked him to his feet. Hooking her arm through his, she dragged him across the snow. They moved slowly at first, but Julietta’s screams of warning spurred Henry to forget whatever discomfort he felt. When she glanced back and saw the steam bursts splitting up into several lines—the large fissure joined by a second one running parallel to it—Julietta didn’t know which way to go.

  She hurried to one side, feeling the snow sliding away and Henry slipping from her grasp. The ground was disappearing beneath her and she raced to avoid plunging deep into the fissure. She felt the ground solidify but didn’t have time to sigh in relief. A blast of steam erupted a few feet in front of her, the heat knocking her and Henry back, nearly tossing them into the fissure behind them. She hauled Henry to his feet and ran forward, staying between the first fissure and the second one on the other side of them. If Julietta would’ve had a moment to stop and think, she surely would’ve worried about the two fissures widening so much that they might merge together and swallow her and Henry whole.

  But she had no time to do anything but run, fall, get back up and drag Henry behind her. The steamy explosions came closer and closer, spraying them with snow and water and hot air, until Julietta no longer saw the point of running. She tackled Henry to the ground. He moaned, his body going limp beneath hers as she draped herself over him. She buried her head in his pelt and tried to remain perfectly still, waiting to feel the slightest shift of snow drawing them toward one fissure or another, waiting to feel a burst of burning steam rip through them or toss them into the sky.

  The longest minute of her life passed, and the hissing of steamy explosions faded. Julietta finally raised her head. The twin fissures and steam bursts raced into the distance, leaving a thin strip of snowy land between them. A misstep on one side or the other could prove fatal, but Julietta was relieved to keep walking forward, one slow step after another, forced to support more of Henry’s weight with each step they ventured into the unknown…

  The snowy ground swayed beneath Isaac’s feet, intense shaking coming in waves. It started soon after he’d stepped onto the surface for the first time in months. He’d pushed forward despite the unknown dangers in the world, though he couldn’t help but glance back at Old Minkus’s ISU and the opened entrance to the supply bunker. He couldn’t help but consider rushing back to the safety of shelter. His guilt about watching Artie being taken by the strange family of intruders nearly overwhelmed him. But he kept heading into danger by thinking of the one thing—the one person—that pushed him during months of torture in the bunker and in the Dome’s barracks.

  Julietta. He didn’t know if she’d moved on from him, if she’d given up on him; he didn’t know if she was still alive or where she could possibly be. The City Below… back in King Edmond’s evil clutches… Maybe she even paid the ultimate price for my sins…

  He walked faster across the snow, suddenly feeling more panic for Julietta than he had in months. The ground shook harder. Cracks began to form across the pristine blanket of white covering the world in front of him. Some cracks cut deeper than others. Isaac soon found himself wending his way around them. As focused as he was on the ground, it was a blur of movement above that caused him to stop in his tracks and stare up, receiving a face full of falling snow in the process.

  A streak in the sky sped among low-hanging clouds, only visible for a few seconds at a time, but clearly a Sky Person, probably the same one he’d seen rescuing Julietta in the Dome. The Sky Person wasn’t alone; his arms were wrapped around another person. Isaac felt a jolt in his chest at the thought of the Sky Person saving Julietta again, but his eyes didn’t see the one person he so wanted the Sky Person to be carrying. Though he never had a clear view of the Sky Person’s passenger, he had no doubt it wasn’t Julietta in his arms.

  Within seconds, the Sky Person disappeared into the distance. Isaac couldn’t help but worry the Sky Person was speeding in the opposite direction of where Isaac was now headed. He turned around, staring at the distant silhouette of Old Minkus’s ISU, wondering if it wouldn’t be smarter to head inside and check if he had anything of use that might make this journey less—

  Isaac collapsed. Without warning, the ground disappeared beneath his feet. His body and face smashed into the snow but didn’t remain still. He began to slide back as more snowy earth cracked open to the blackness beyond. Instinct took over, and Isaac slammed his hand into the snow, slowing his descent. His hands scraped at the snow until he grabbed hold of a thick root sticking out of the ground. He dangled for what felt like forever, worried the root might break free at any moment. The supply pack on his back felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. Had he been able to cut it free, he would have. Steam rose from the crevasse beneath him. The orange glow of lava shined from somewhere deep down. Melting snow plunged around Isaac, but the earth remained frozen enough to hold the thick root—and thus Isaac—in place, at least for the time being.

  His fingers numb and his arms leaden, Isaac found the strength to not only hold on but pull himself up a few inches at a time. The edge of the open fissure was sloshy and slippery, but he managed to throw his arms over the side and pull his way up, crawling several feet before collapsing into the snow. He breathed deeply, his body shaking from a combination of cold wind and racing nerves. When feeling came back to his extremities, he struggled to his feet and stood, wobbly, for nearly a minute, watching steam hiss out of the hole in the ground.

  There’s no way I can survive while the White Nothingness is breaking apart, Isaac told himself. I have to take shelter until the shaking ends.

  He turned and hurried back toward the bunker, though he had refused to ever set foot in there again. Instead, he headed to the lone ISU, hoping it would prove sturdy enough to—

  Isaac no sooner spotted the dilapidated building when the ground opened up and swallowed it whole. A second later, the same thing happened to the bunker. Isaac unleashed a string of curses he could barely hear over the shrill wind and the hissing steam. He had nowhere left to go but back toward the Dome.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Emma heard shrill wind, but it sounded far in the distant. She felt the bitter sting of cold, but it didn’t bother her. Her eyes experienced a haze of white and light—despite her lids being cold—but she saw no
thing distinct. A vise seemed to be squeezing her chest, preventing her from breathing deeply, but she felt no panic. When she was conscious enough to conjure a single thought, she couldn’t focus on anything more than the pain ravaging inside of her skull.

  Thankfully, her consciousness was fleeting, though her dreams filled with thoughts too real to be anything but memories. Prince Oliver… the tunnel… fighting… death all around… the orange glow of liquid fire… the Sky Person… flying…

  Flying, she thought, her eyes snapping open.

  Pain exploded in her head again, made worse by intense brightness of the white world beneath her. She spotted several moving dots on the ground. People? she wondered, though the freezing wind filled her eyes with tears in a matter of seconds. She tried to wipe those tears away but was unable to budge her arms, which were pinned to her sides. She looked up and caught a glimpse of the Sky Person’s outstretched wings catching the wind at the perfect angle to let them soar through the clouds. His arms, however, remained wrapped around her. Instinct told her to squirm free, but she resisted the urge.

  She closed her eyes to blink away the tears, which allowed the darkness and pain to let her mind drift away. Emma didn’t know how much time passed, but the next time she woke, the cold felt like it invaded every pore in her body. She shivered violently and felt the Sky Person readjusting his hands around her body.

  “Try to relax,” he called out over the sound of rushing wind. Emma had nearly forgotten how strangely lilting the Sky Person’s voice was. “I’m losing my grip.”

  “I c… can’t r… relax,” she called out. Freezing wind rushed into her mouth and down her throat, filling her lungs with icy burning. She began to cough, which in turn made her suck down more freezing air, which in turn made her cough more violently. She spasmed in his grasp, forcing the Sky Person to squeeze tighter. “Just let me go,” she said between coughing fits. “Let me die.”

  “You are the Descendant,” the Sky Person said, glancing at her with concern. “I have but one mission, as I’ve had my entire life: to find you. Many have died to make this possible.”

  “I’m not the Descendant,” Emma said. She twisted in his grip, no longer caring if she fell. Her mind fought the haze and recalled the fiery death engulfing everyone and everything she knew in the City Below. She was alone in this world and didn’t know what this monster had planned for her. She didn’t want to know. “I’m not a Jonas.”

  She looked up at the Sky Person and saw him staring forward. When he spoke again, Emma didn’t get the feeling his words were meant for her.

  “He thought he was hiding the truth from me… he thought he was hiding the folder,” the Sky Person muttered. “He didn’t hide the truth so well.”

  “Who are you talking about?” Emma asked, blinking her eyes to stop her tears from turning into icy crystals.

  But even as she spoke, Emma realized she didn’t have the strength to make her words louder than the wind whipping around them. Her shaking turned into convulsing. Despite the Sky Person’s pleas for her to relax, she couldn’t. The Sky Person adjusted his grip several times, but Emma continued to slip through his hands. It wasn’t long before he drew his wings straight and lowered toward the ground, spreading his wings at the last moment to catch the air and land softly.

  Emma fell from his grip the moment they touched the snow. Shaking so severely that she barely remained upright, Emma began running—which immediately turned into stumbling—once she was free. She only managed a few steps before losing her balance and collapsing into the snow. She struggled to stand, her frozen limbs not responding to the commands sent by her brain. The memory of her last—and only other—time on the surface made her recall a familiar face she hadn’t seen in months.

  “H… He almost d… died out here,” Emma muttered as she struggled to her feet.

  The Sky Person crunched in the snow beside her, gently taking her by the arm.

  “Who?” he asked.

  Emma shook her head. “Aren’t you c… cold?” she asked.

  The Sky Person crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. “I do miss the coat they took from me, but the cold is nothing more than a slight annoyance.”

  “I… I…,” Emma began before collapsing to her knees. “I won’t survive much longer.”

  The Sky Person knelt in front of her. “But you must. You’re too important to those that forced me to find you.”

  With a final burst of strength, Emma leapt to her feet and continued to run. She glanced back to see the Sky Person stand and frown. He spread his wings and flapped a single time, propelling him forward. He landed beside Emma and grabbed her arm. She tried to pull free but didn’t have the strength. Before she could object, he wrapped his wings around them both, pulling her against his body, blocking out the brightness of Above.

  Emma’s mind told her to panic, but the wind and cold immediately faded. She looked up to see the silhouette of the Sky Person’s face looking down at her. His wings pulsed, rubbing warmth into every part of her body, painfully returning feeling to where there’d just been none. Emma could finally breathe again, finally think again, finally feel like she wasn’t on the verge of freezing to death. Even the numbness in her skull faded; she never thought she’d feel so relieved to feel such pain.

  She thought of escaping back to her people, of getting far away from the Sky Person and wherever he intended to bring her, but the heat in his winged cocoon made her feel safer than she thought possible.

  “Is this better?” he asked.

  Emma nodded. She remained completely still, as if they were the only two people—if that’s what he actually is—in the entire world. His feathers were soft, and his body was strong. Emma closed her eyes and breathed deeply, feeling more alive with each inhale. She wanted to stand there, unmoving, forever, but knew that wasn’t possible.

  “I’m not this Descendant you’re talking about,” she said softly. “And I’m certainly not a Jonas. My last name is Weller. My family always clashed with the Jonas family.”

  The Sky Person’s chuckle was short and high-pitched. “You have no idea how correct you are.”

  “I just… I just want to go back… go home… to the City Below,” she said.

  The Sky Person shook his head and sighed. The wrap of his wings loosened. Emma finally felt a cool breeze trickling around her. “I’m afraid returning is impossible,” he said. “We must proceed to The Mountain.”

  “I won’t survive outside much longer, not with what I’m wearing,” she said. “I don’t have feathers to protect me. How much farther away is The Mountain?”

  “Hmm,” the Sky Person said. “Much farther than we’ve already traveled.”

  “I’ll freeze to death long before we get there,” Emma said. “You don’t want that to happen, do you?”

  “No,” the Sky Person snapped, his response so sudden that Emma didn’t doubt his honesty. “But I think I know what to do.”

  Emma opened her mouth to ask but never had the chance. The Sky Person wrapped his arms around her waist again before unfurling his wings. In an instant, all heat in the cocoon faded into the cold wind. Emma started to shiver as soon as the Sky Person took off. He flapped his wings quickly but leveled out before flying as high as they’d gone before.

  But that didn’t matter. Snow swirled around them, and the worsening storm blew them all over the sky. Emma tried to look toward the ground for any sign of life but saw only White Nothingness. When she closed her eyes, she couldn’t help seeing the people she’d left behind, her life, her section, her husband rushing in the opposite direction to save Paige, not that she could blame him. All of it was probably gone and she was certain the cold would kill her the way the lava had killed everyone else.

  Shivering uncontrollably, her consciousness faded in and out. Each time her vision went black and she felt herself falling toward a black abyss, she hoped it would be the last time she’d see the frozen wasteland.

  Love flapped harder and faster,
fighting through a storm he would’ve normally soared above or waited out on the ground. He felt the girl go limp in his arms.

  “Descendant?” he asked. “Hold on. Please. We’re almost there. Not to The Mountain but to the…”

  Love didn’t know why he bothered explaining. When he felt her tighten in his grasp again, he let out a deep breath.

  “It’s just ahead!” he called out over the wind.

  Emma barely forced her eyelids to break through icy tears. She heard the Sky Person’s words but didn’t quite understand their meaning. Though her vision was flooded with white from below, blackness crept in from the corners of her eyes. She tried fighting impending unconsciousness, especially when she spotted something among the vast snowy landscape, but she failed to stay awake…

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The moment Oliver’s feet hit the tunnel floor, he tried to run to keep his balance. Instead, he fell and hit down, hard, curling into a ball as he rolled and jarred to a stop. As if pain in every part of his body wasn’t bad enough, he heard the high-pitched ‘no!’ of a young girl’s voice in the final truck escaping through the tunnel. Olly didn’t need to see Mia’s face to recognize the little girl, though it wasn’t long before the truck—and Mia—sped off down the tunnel.

  Olly had no time for regrets. He stood on wobbly legs and looked in the other direction, ignoring the distant orange glow becoming not-so-distant with every second. He spotted Paige on all fours, slowly climbing to her feet. The runner that had dragged Paige off the truck lay completely still, a pool of blood spreading around her head. He hobbled past the dead woman and headed toward Paige. When Paige looked at him, the pain on her face eased, though she frowned and shook her head.