Evertrue

TWENTY-FOUR

NOW

The Everneath. Lake Tantalus.

“Beetles?” I repeated.

I squinted, but the middle of the lake was far enough away that I couldn’t see individual beetles. It just looked like the floor of the lake was moving.

“Yeah,” Cole said, narrowing his eyes. “About the size of half of your foot.”

I whipped my head around toward Cole. “Did you know they would be there?” I said.

“No. But I can see really well here. I see them.”

Jack shook his head. “You’re not going, Becks.”

This time it was my turn to smile and look skyward. “We’ve faced zombies and walls of fire and a queen bent on revenge. We’re not stopping because of a few bugs.” My voice broke on the last couple of words.

“Becks . . . ,” Jack said. He looked as if he wanted to jump off the branch, take me in his arms, and fly us out of the Underworld.

“Remember what you said at the rock-climbing gym?”

Jack closed his eyes. “You don’t have to worry about the top. You just have to worry about the first step.”

“And then what?”

“And then the next step,” he said.

I nodded. “That’s what I’m going to do. And hopefully, as I’m stepping, I’ll smash a few beetles along the way.”

Jack’s grip tightened around me.

“And I can’t take that first step unless you let me go.” I smiled at him.

Jack closed his eyes, sighed deeply, and quickly dropped his arms. I hurried and hopped off the branch before he could change his mind. It stayed down with Jack’s and Cole’s combined weight. I walked up to the former edge of the lake.

“Are they poisonous?” I asked Cole as I stared at the black mass.

“I don’t know,” Cole said. “The water’s not, though. I would think that if poisonous beetles lived in the lake, the water would be contaminated too.”

With a deep breath, I nodded. “Good theory.”

“But they could nibble you to death eventually,” Cole said.

I heard the distinct sound of Jack punching Cole’s shoulder.

“Ow,” Cole said. “So, stay conscious,” he said, as if he’d just told a small child to be safe at school.

“Step by step,” I muttered.

“Becks?” Jack said.

“Yeah?”

“I’d run.”

“Me too.”

I took off running toward the base of the platform, counting my steps along the way. Eventually Jack’s words of encouragement faded behind me. It was step one hundred and twenty-eight where I heard the crack and squish of my first beetle. I screamed and kept running.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. I tried to avoid them, but eventually I was crunching several with each step. I was scared to stop or slow down, because I was sure that this many beetles could overrun me if I let them.

I was panting.

The base of the rock platform loomed ahead of me, growing ever taller as I got closer.

Thankfully the wall of it was craggy, and I could already see there were some suitable toeholds and handholds. I kept my eyes on where I would put my hands so I didn’t think about the beetles scurrying at my feet.

After what felt like at least two miles of running, I reached the base and immediately started climbing. A wave of beetles tried to follow me, but they fell backward as the wall became steep. Once I was a few feet above them, I looked back to where I’d come from and saw that there was now a thicker line of black on the path I’d just taken, as if every beetle wanted to converge on it.

Maybe on the way back down I would take another path.

I started the climb, trying not to think about the facts that I wore no harness and there was no one to belay me. With sweaty fingers, I grabbed and tested each handhold, making sure it was strong enough before I made a move. Eventually the time between steps diminished as I got used to the routine of it.

I even stopped thinking about the crackling sound of the sea of beetles below me and thought instead of what waited for me on the top of the platform. If Cole was right, it would be the Sickle of Cronus, and at this rate I’d make it there in a few minutes. Once we had it in our hands, we would jump back to the Surface, regroup, and then make our first assault on the Everneath by destroying the Shade network with the sickle.

Once we succeeded, it would merely be the task of gathering every Everliving heart and destroying them.

I decided to skip that part in my daydream, because I was at the top of the platform. I’d made it. I hoisted myself over the edge and saw something lying there in the middle.

It looked ancient and made of stone, and it was shaped like a bent knife.

The sickle.

I grabbed it and turned toward the fruit tree, raising the sickle over my head. And that’s when I heard the scurrying feet behind me. I turned to see a flood of beetles coming up over the edge of the platform.

“Shit,” I whispered.