Chapter 20 #2
Malakai turned forward quickly, jaw tight as he focused on holding on to Nate. He wasn’t used to being treated as anything but a threat. The acceptance hit him like a punch he didn’t anticipate.
It made me smile faintly.
Lionel stepped into the center of the group, voice loud, steady, forcing the mood to rise by sheer will.
“Alright!” he called out. “Let’s get out of this cursed, miserable excuse for a forest. Whoever designed it has terrible taste.”
It wasn’t much, but the ghost of a smile flickered through the group, and despite our exhaustion and grief lingering beneath the surface, we pressed on.
The further we moved, the more the fog broke apart. Light filtered through, weak but real, and the trees thinned until finally, the dead forest spat us out onto open ground.
A lake spread before us just ahead. It looked normal, and I wasn’t sure if that was a relief or made me even more worried at this point.
It was encircled by sparse foliage clinging to life, stubborn enough to stay in the grey sand.
The air here tasted… different.
Eve inhaled deeply and muttered, “If this is heaven, it’s depressing.”
Malakai adjusted the weight of the still unconscious Nate in his arms and glanced at me. “Don’t even think about running to it. Next time you run towards danger—” he said, voice a low rumble only I could hear. “I’ll tie you to me.”
I chuckled at him.
We reached the edge of the lake cautiously.
The water stretched dark and still, smooth as polished obsidian. No ripples, no movement, simply our reflections staring back, tired, blood-streaked, and shaken.
Lionel found and tossed a small pebble into the water. It struck the surface with a clean ‘plop’ sound, sinking without anything leaping out to devour it.
“That’s the most normal reaction I’ve seen all day,” he declared. “I vote not cursed.”
“Low bar,” Eve muttered, but she dipped a hand in anyway, the rest of us following suit.
The water was cold. Not freezing, but the kind of cold that bit enough to remind you that you were alive.
After several tense minutes of scanning the shore, Jaden nodded. “Clear, safer than anywhere else, at least.”
We set up a perimeter at the shoreline where there was more open space. Malakai placed Nate carefully on a patch of sand, and Ashley instantly knelt beside him again, guarding his breathing like she could will life into him if she stared hard enough.
Once everyone was convinced the lake wouldn’t rise up and drag us to the hells, we agreed to take turns bathing.
Faelin and Eve went first, bonding over their hatred of demons while disappearing behind a cluster of boulders further away, while the rest of us kept watch.
It was far enough for us to not hear them, which was why we decided to bathe in pairs.
I stood by the open water, arms wrapped around myself, letting the quiet seep in.
And finally, the guilt.
Caleb’s face, the surprise, his fear. Images wouldn’t leave my mind. Nate’s blood had dried into my skin, rough and dark. My hands still smelled like regret.
How many more?
How many more would die because they followed me into cursed lands?
The thought dug into my ribs like claws.
Lionel moved behind me, approaching carefully as if worried to startle me. The mere sight of him almost made me chuckle.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“I’m thinking.”
“That doesn’t bode well.”
I shot him a look over my shoulder, but he simply smiled that crooked smile he always did when he was making fun of me.
“It’s just… We keep losing our own.”
“You can’t save everyone,” he said quietly.
“But I’m the reason they’re gone,” I said. “If I lose more, if—” My voice fractured, but I forced it steady. “I can’t lose any one of you, Lionel. I can’t.”
He sighed as he placed himself next to me, mimicking with arms crossed, staring out across the water.
“You saved Nate,” he said. “You kept him here, and by doing so you saved everyone else, too.”
“So why do I feel so… defeated?” I asked looking up at him. Lionel shifted, meeting my gaze as his eyes softened.
“Because you have a caring heart. Isn’t that why we all followed you through this hellhole?”
I snickered. “Is it?”
“Perhaps the others, I was in for the obvious alluring view,” he snarked waving off to the dead and boring sand dunes.
“You’re stupid,” I snorted, hiding a chuckle.
“Yeah, I haven’t grown smarter during all this time I’m afraid…”
“Well, I think I’ve grown dumber,” I said, drawing a sharp breath.
“I don’t think that’s possible,” he shot back, making me glare at him. He waved his hands in surrender.
“Thanks, Lionel,” I said and smiled at him. His eyes widened for a brief second, before they softened once more and his mouth curved.
“I mean it,” I continued. “Thanks for everything… Staying, having my back after, well, everything.”
He chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry about it, Ethalyn. We’re all good. I’m happy, really… You might be more badass now, but you’re still the same person I grew up with, still my friend.”
I nodded as I smiled at him.
“Besides, you’d be lost without me,” he sneered and I opened my mouth to protest, but the only sound that left me was a defiant snort.
“Maybe you should check up on Ashley.” He saved himself by distracting me and I scoffed at him as I passed, earning a wide grin from him.
I headed back to Ashley who sat beside Nate, her eyes still glued to him as if he was about to wake up at any moment. “He’ll be fine, he just lost some blood.”
She sighed low. “Some? I nearly killed him.”
“I’d say that’s pretty standard for you two,” I tried joking but she only gave me an arched brow.
“I seriously doubted his words,” she continued, her voice hushed. “I knew he cared, the way he always nags and tells me to stay alert… But love?”
“There was never any doubt,” I filled in, making her tense. “Maybe in your eyes, but that’s because you’ve kept him locked outside.”
“Ouch,” she snorted, giving me a sharp glance.
“Not all words you need to hear are comforting,” I reprimanded quietly.
“Way to kick someone who’s already down,” she muttered before shifting nervously. “So… what do I do to… open the door?”
“Oh, I don’t know…” I smiled teasingly. “Maybe start with ‘I’m sorry I stabbed you when you confessed your feelings to me’?”
She clenched her teeth loudly as she gave me an unreadable look. “Right… piece of cake.”
She looked at Nate again, before turning to her bag and rummaged around for a moment. She finally stopped when she found a small bucket.
“I’ll get some water and clean off the blood,” she decided.
I guarded him until she returned, noticing that Lionel and Jaden had taken the next bathing shift, and Eve and Faelin were back.
Ashley placed the bucket next to Nate, exhaling deep as if it had cost her everything to bring it.
“You’re drowning him next?” Malakai teased, sneaking up behind us.
“I—” Ashley was startled, baring her teeth at him. “No, I’m cleaning him off!”
“While he’s unconscious? That’s rather indecent.”
“Wha—” she stammered, retreating “Not like that, stupid demon!”
Malakai chuckled. “Glad your energy’s back to normal, firecracker.”
Ashley stilled. “Did… did he just give me a nickname? I kind of like it…”
Malakai rolled his eyes. “Let’s go, kitten. It’s our turn to bathe soon.”
“What do you mean? I’m going with Ashley.” I cocked a brow at him.
“Huh? No, I’m not going,” Ashley shrugged.
“What?”
“Too bad,” Malakai grinned, but really, he wasn’t sorry at all.