Chapter 24

It was cold.

Ivea was one of the coldest, biggest towns in the Whispering Woods, and it was mostly populated by skinwalkers, as they seemed to be the only ones who actually enjoyed the cold weather.

And Mount Agva was a good distance behind it, the top covered in snow, so large and menacing that the other two mountains to its right paled in comparison. I barely saw their silhouette as they weren't tipped with snow and they sort of merged into the darkness of the clouds covering the Woods.

As we neared the end of Ivea, even the trees of the surrounding woods were naked, their branches frozen, their bark halfway dead. Worse than that woods I'd been thrown in when I first came here—by Storm.

Storm, who could very well be one of the two dragons I could see flying around the mountain in silence—or maybe I just couldn't hear their roars from so far away.

"Last chance, Fall. Please, thi?—"

"Stop," I told Quinn because she'd been trying to get me to reconsider for the past three hours now, and I'd had enough. "I can see the mountain now, Quinn. You don't have to walk with me anymore. I can get to the other side of Ivea with just Shadow."

"No, I'm coming with you up there," she said.

"Of course not. Storm doesn't know you."

She flinched. "You're a bride! That means nothing to them at all—he's gonna eat you!"

"And what are you going to do about it if he does?"

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, but she couldn't find anything to say.

"Exactly. You stay down here, and I go after him on my own."

"But why?" she cried, exasperated. "Why would you—why?!"

I said nothing.

She didn't ask me again.

We arrivedat the edge of the town less than an hour later. The trees here were few and far enough from each other that we could hardly see the ones surrounding us. The edge of the mountain was right there, and the wide path that led up to it wasn't as steep as it had seemed from the distance. I'd be able to walk up there without trouble.

Or, at least, that's what I told myself.

But when I saw it, when it was actually within walking distance, and I could hear the roars of the dragons flying miles over our heads, it struck me that I'd made it. I'd actually made it to Mount Agva in one piece, and I was about to go up there and find Storm for real.

Quinn tried to get me to change my mind about both going up there and letting her tag along. I wouldn't budge, not even close. Not when I was already here.

I was afraid, yes. I was terrified, but I was also excited because the image of Grey, his silhouette as I'd seen it in that mirror was more vivid than ever in front of my mind's eye. Grey was still alive, and Storm was the only one who could bring him back to me.

I'd do anything it took. Anything at all.

So, in the end, I thanked her for coming with me, and when she refused to take the bag of coins I gave her, I left it there on the ground, hoping she wouldn't leave without it. I had no use for it anymore, anyway.

It was just after six p.m. when I went up the mountain and passed the first row of trees. Tonight, I either died up there—from the cold or from Storm or from other dragons—or I convinced Storm to go find Grey.

The best part was that I'd had time to think, and I'd made my peace with both options. I was never going back to the Evernights again, not on my own. So, every other option was perfectly fine by me.

"I'll wait," Quinn said when she came up the path a few feet to shake my hand, and she looked like she was genuinely contemplating hauling me over her shoulder and running away.

"Don't. I can find my way back." I'd paid attention to the towns, though most of the forests looked about the same. Shadow had made it easy—I hadn't had to worry about anything but where we were going.

But I had my magic now. I had my senses. I could feel other people and other energies perfectly fine, and Storm would be with me if I came down that mountain alive.

If I didn't…

"I'll still wait," Quinn said, squeezing my hand tightly. "Just in case you need company back to the castle."

"If I do decide to go back to the castle, I will have company," I said with a smile, then turned to the mountain again. "Take care, Quinn."

"You, too. Keep your eyes open," she said. And I planned to do just that.

She remained right there at the edge of the mountain as I made my way up, Shadow flying in circles over my head. There were rocks and trees to help me climb, and my legs were tired but my feet were numb, so I didn't feel much. I was thankful for it because no matter how bad the exhaustion was, I wouldn't stop. Not until I reached the top of that mountain and found Storm.

Snow.

It had been so long since I last saw snow. It didn't really snow in Roven, but it used to back home in Detroit. Now, as I caught the snowflakes in my shaking hands, I wondered what it would be like if I was back there again. If I'd chosen to use the goddamn train money Brandon had given me and gone back to Missy. If I'd just…given up.

Where would I be now?

God, that life was so foreign to me now. Jobs and computers and TVs and phones and clubs—all of it was like a dream to me, not something I'd ever actually lived.

All of it was so…unimportant.

A screeching sound filled my ears, pulling my eyes toward the sky. Toward Shadow, who was having difficulty flying with the sharp cold wind and the falling snow, even though we were still only halfway up the mountain by the looks of it. Halfway, and there were no more trees around us, just dirt and rock and snow.

"Yes, I know," I said, pulling the skinwalker fur coat around my shoulders tighter as I kept going, and Shadow roared again. "Come down here. Don't waste energy flying!"

My chin was shaking from the cold, so the words came out twisted, but he'd understand. Yet he still refused to come down to me. Still refused to stop screeching—his version of a roar—and the higher up I went against the wind, the more I realized, he was trying to warn me. For the first time since we left the castle, Shadow wasn't just watching and protecting me from a distance—he was trying to warn me, to get me to turn back.

And I had no trouble ignoring him while I tried to keep from falling on my face and rolling all the way down to Quinn again.

So many things crossed my mind as I climbed that mountain. I had no idea how much time passed, but the darkness of the Whispering Woods was the same at any hour. For once, I was thankful for it, thankful that I could trick myself into thinking it had just been a few minutes. I'd only been climbing for a few minutes, and I was going to make it to the top in no time.

I continued to ignore Shadow's warnings until my legs gave up on me and I couldn't keep my balance. I fell against the soft snow that reached up over my ankles now, but hard rock was underneath it, so it hurt like hell. I pushed myself to stand up, only to lose balance again and fall on my ass, roll around for a bit, then slam with my side against the edge of a sharp rock that supported my weight perfectly.

There, I stopped.

There, I couldn't continue to fool myself any longer, to tell myself that I had only walked minutes. That I didn't need to rest, that I could keep going indefinitely.

My body wouldn't let me if I tried.

Holding onto the coat covered in snow, I allowed myself to close my eyes just for a minute, just so I wouldn't be so tired as to lose my balance before I even stood up again.

I slept right away.