Despite Rives and Skye's attempt to destroy Nil, the island remains. And back in this world, Nil won't let Skye go. Haunted by a darkness she can't ignore, Skye wrestles with Nil nightmares that worsen by the day and threaten to tear her apart. As the island grows in power, Skye fights to keep her mind intact. Soon Skye realizes that to break free of Nil, she must end Nil's vicious cycle once and for all--and she can't do it alone.
Who are Nil's new arrivals? Who will return to the island? And who will survive in the end? In this thrilling final installment of the Nil series, the stakes have never been higher.
Losing isn't an option, but winning will cost Skye everything.
Release date:
May 30, 2017
Publisher:
Henry Holt and Co.
Print pages:
384
* BingeBooks earns revenue from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate as well as from other retail partners.
Paulo blinked, slowly, his consciousness returning in crisp frames filled with color and scent and sound.
He stood alone on the black rock platform. The acrid smell of death filled the air, accompanied by the distant crackle of flames. Above him, the sun burned like smokeless fire, still high noon. But over the carving, the gate was gone. Skye was gone.
His chance to leave was gone.
Reality set in, stark and devastating.
I failed, he thought.
A cry ripped from his throat like the wail of an injured animal. He dropped to his hands and knees on the harsh black rock, landing so hard that pebbles raked his palms, drawing blood, but he was too consumed by his growing terror and overwhelming bewilderment to care. How had he missed the gate? He’d waved to Skye, grateful she’d made it, knowing he was last and that the timing felt right—the completion of a circle begun three months before, the end of a cycle begun years before he or Skye were ever born. Only he’d hesitated, for reasons that he couldn’t explain. For reasons he couldn’t remember.
He’d lost time, mysterious minutes stolen by an invisible entity.
And now he was alone on Nil.
An angry tear welled in his eye; he wiped it quickly, already pulling himself together, knowing he wasn’t truly alone. There were lions and hyenas and pumas on the island too, and he was very aware that he did not sit on top of Nil’s food chain. He coughed, then choked, tasting smoke and salt. The thick air billowing up from the meadow snapped him to attention like a hot slap to the face.
He needed to get away from the mountain. There was nothing for him here, not now.
Not for three more months, to be precise.
Paulo stood, and with one last look around the silent black platform, he stepped back. Then, even though there was no escape, he turned and began to run. Down the steps, past the fiery meadow.
Around him, the island burned.
* * *
The island let him go.
It would wait.
It was accustomed to waiting. Once it had waited for centuries. Time wrapped the island like an invisible sheath, fluid and constant, both armor and weapon.
The island was weakened but not broken.
The male kept running, through smoke and flames and blood as the island settled in to watch. And to wait. And above all, to renew.
And so it began, again. Only this time, the island would not show weakness.
Or mercy.
That era was over.
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
