29

I'M SPEECHLESS.

All this time…

"You're Moriah's step-brother."

Carter's face is grim. I study him for any sign that he's lying. But he doesn't show anything other than pure grief and anguish.

"You lived with your mom. Your dad married Moriah's mom. You felt betrayed by your father. You wanted nothing to do with anyone."

"Partially true. I did meet Moriah, and we were both angsty teenagers, angry that our parents let this happen. We formed a solid bond. We became friends. We texted all the time. And obviously, she spoke of me to you since you knew all of that."

"I didn't know you were Atlas's roommate, though." I look between them.

Atlas shrugs. "I didn't know it was relevant since you hadn't met Carter yet, and we're… trying to figure out where we stand in general."

Carter nods. "Fair enough. I wasn't home from work when you were in the city, either. It really wouldn't have come up that day. And as far as I can tell, that's the only day you two have been friendly again."

"It is. After Atlas faced his fear, we woke up in his bed."

Carter smirks at Atlas, eyes alight with excitement. "Now that was a detail left out of the conversation we had."

"A detail that wasn't supposed to be revealed," Atlas says, glancing at me, eyes full of sorrow at my betrayal.

I smile coolly at him. "Well, we can't hide our secrets from your roommate, now, can we? Besides, that didn't happen on purpose. It was only because… well, I can't give away the contents of the dream yet, but it makes sense."

Carter shakes his head, amused, as he turns to face the wall of rain again. "I can't wait to dive into that juicy story, but if we want to get out of this alive, we need to venture beyond this cave. I know exactly where we're going. I've never made it beyond this dream before. I wake up, and then it starts over again the next night. I need help. And I think you two might be the key to escaping my nightmare."

"What do we need to do?" I ask him.

He turns back to face us. "We're venturing into a graveyard to obtain a magical amulet. That isn't the fearful part, though. It's only the plot of the story that has to unfold to force me to face the thing I fear most."

The way he speaks is so poetic, every word making this seem like a fairy tale come to life, a fantastical story from one of the books that line Priya's shelves.

"In the rain?"

"In the rain. I've hated rainy days since Moriah died. But I think that is only one layer of the story, just one of the things I have to face. Because every time I've done this before it's rained, and that has not changed."

"So we can rule out rain being the fear." Atlas confirms my thoughts out loud.

"If rain isn't the fear, and the journey to the amulet isn't the fear, then what is?"

Carter's face becomes grim once again. "The thing I fear most? That would be death."