Night of Never Page 14

  “Am I a monster for living with them for so long?” Nola said.

  “Not at all.” Dr. Wynne packed away his scalpels. “If that were true, Kieran and I would be monsters as well. And I hope you don’t think that of me.”

  “No,” Nola said. “You’re a hero and a healer. I just…”

  Jeremy lifted Nola’s hand, pressing it to his cheek.

  “I thought I knew which direction was up,” Nola said. “And I don’t know what to do now that I can’t even pretend I wasn’t wrong.”

  “You forgive yourself,” Emanuel said. “You forgive others, and you work.”

  “The work is the part that helps most,” Dr. Wynne said.

  Jeremy’s hand slipped from Nola’s, falling gently to the floor.

  “We need to get him someplace to sleep,” Nola said.

  “His room is right down the hall.” Emanuel lifted Jeremy, carrying him like a small child.

  “What happens if they find us here?” Nola followed Emanuel into the hall.

  “They will attack us,” Emanuel said.

  “Can the fire packs get down this far?” Nola asked.

  “If they come for my family, they will bring far worse than fire packs.” They stopped three doors away from the library. “If you would?”

  Nola twisted the nob. The door opened without a creak.

  A single bed waited along with a desk and a chair.

  “Is this where he’s been sleeping?” Nola pulled back the sheets on the bed.

  “It seemed right.” Emanuel laid Jeremy carefully down.

  “To keep him so close to you and Eden?” Nola said. “Not that he would ever hurt you.”

  “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” Emanuel said. “My grandmother always used to say that.”

  Emanuel stepped around her to the open door.

  “Do you think he’s your enemy?” Nola asked before the door could shut.

  “No.” A weary smile curved Emanuel’s lips. “But shattered hearts are the enemies of all men, and that boy has been broken. I can only hope that somehow my friend’s heart will be pieced back together.”

  The door closed with a click. The tiny noise seemed louder than the bang of the revolver.

  Every muscle in Nola’s body screamed for sleep. Her legs longed to collapse.

  Jeremy lay in the bed, his chest gently rising and falling. Color had already begun returning to his face.

  Tears slipped down Nola’s cheeks. She didn’t bother drying them, or untying her shoes before wriggling her feet free.

  Jeremy’s arm splayed out to the side, as though even in painful sleep he’d remembered to leave a place for her.

  She curled up next to him, tucking her head onto his shoulder. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Another inhale, another victory. Another moment the end of the world hadn’t stolen from them.

  Sleep came for her before she could wonder how close the end might be.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jeremy’s arm moved, pulling Nola out of sleep.

  “Don’t,” Nola mumbled, burying her face in his chest. “Don’t move.”

  Beneath the stench of smoke, he still smelled like him. Like fresh earth.

  I hope that smell never goes away.

  “You don’t want me to move?” His words rumbled in his chest.

  “No.” Nola wrapped her arm over his stomach, pulling herself closer to him. “If you move, then I have to open my eyes.”

  “You don’t want to?”

  Nola could hear Jeremy’s smile shaping his words.

  “No, I don’t,” she said.

  He leaned his cheek against her hair.

  They lay silently for a long moment. Footsteps passed in the hall. Life in Nightland continued without their aid.

  “Does your leg still hurt?” Nola asked.

  “It feels fine. I’ll stretch it out a bit and be good as new.”

  “I should let you get up then.”

  Jeremy held her tight. “You shouldn’t.”

  A child ran past in the hall, laughing about something.

  “If I open my eyes, then we have to go out there.” A tear leaked down Nola’s cheek. Her hands started to shake. She balled them into fists, gripping the front of his shirt. “If we go out there, then I’ll know yesterday wasn’t just a nightmare. And the domes murdered people, and Nightland is in hiding, and I don’t know if I can deal with all of that.”

  He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I wish I could tell you it was all a bad dream.”

  “You promised not to lie to me again,” Nola said.

  “I know.”

  Nola wiggled up higher on the bed, pressing her forehead to Jeremy’s cheek.

  “Remember before all of this started, when the zombie woman made it to the outside of the domes?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I thought she was terrifying,” Nola whispered. “I thought the kids in the food lines on Charity Day were the saddest thing I would ever see. I was so stupid.”

  “Not stupid. You were never stupid. Maybe a little naïve, but we were kids. We weren’t supposed to know how messed up everything is.”

  “It wasn’t that long ago, you know?”

  “A lot’s happened.”

  “Yeah.”

  They lay still for a long while. Nola’s breaths matched Jeremy’s, their chests rising and falling in time.

  “Promise me we’ll both make it out of this?” Nola whispered. “You and me together.”

  “Nola…”

  “You’ve never broken a promise to me.” She found Jeremy’s hand, lacing her fingers through his. “So promise we’re going to get through this.”

  “I would never let anything happen to you.” Jeremy’s lips brushed her cheek as he spoke.

  Nola opened her eyes, turning so her face was a breath from his.

  “I don’t need you to protect me. I don’t need you to fight my battles or pretend everything is okay just to make me feel safe.”

  “I know. I just”—a shudder shook his shoulders—“the idea of anything happening to you, it kills me.”

  Nola leaned in, brushing her lips against his. A tingle squirmed at the bottom of her toes.

  “I love you.” She rested her forehead on his. “I can fight for myself, but I need as many things worth fighting for as I can get. I need to know at the end of all this, you’ll be by my side.”

  “I promise you, Magnolia Kent, when all this is over, I’ll be with you.” He brushed the curls from her face. “As long as you let me, I’ll be by your side.”

  Nola pressed her lips to his, letting the warmth of their kiss flood her chest, sweeping away all thought of fear and worry.

  Jeremy wrapped his arm around Nola’s waist, pulling her closer.

  She separated her lips, deepening their kiss. Her pulse thundered in her ears, but beyond the steady thumping off her own heart, she could hear Jeremy’s blood racing through his veins, his pulse keeping time with hers.

  His fingers found the skin at her hip. Heat throbbed from the trail his fingers traced up her spine.

  Nola found the bottom of his shirt. His hands joined hers as she pulled it up, snaking the fabric over his head.

  No scars marked his chest. All of the blood and pain had left his skin unharmed.

  She pressed her lips to his chest. Never had she been so grateful for the simple sound of a beating heart.

  He took her face in his hands, kissing her cheeks, her lips, trailing his kisses down her neck.

  She shifted her weight, twisting to sit.

  He lay on the bed beneath her. His short hair tousled from sleep, the lines of worry fading from around his eyes.

  His hands slid up her sides as she pulled off her shirt.

  She lay down, pressing her chest to his.

  “Nola.” Her name fell from his lips as she kissed him.

  Their limbs twined together as they searched for every inch of flesh they could share.

 
All thought of where she ended and he began disappeared. All fear of what lay beyond the moment vanished.

  There was nothing left in the world but them and the darkness.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The thick smell of fertilizer filled the air. Even with the cloth tied over her face, the inside of Nola’s nose itched from the scent. Footsteps echoed dully in the cavern, and water trickled down the back wall.

  While no glamour could be found working in the mushroom field, Nola welcomed the peace.

  Kieran had banned visitors from entering the lowest cave in Nightland without his permission, and his consent was not easily given.

  Nola pulled a glass vial from her bag. Carefully, she dug the vessel into the dirt. Fumbling in her thick gloves, she worked the stopper into the vial. She plucked the mushroom nearest where she had taken the sample, and wrapped the two in a rag before placing them in her bag.

  The task she’d been assigned was simple enough. Find the best fertilizer for the different growing conditions in the mushroom field.

  She chuckled to herself at the absurdity of calling this place a field. Buried deep in the mountain, the mushrooms were grown in a cavern the architects had barely altered. Most of the field consisted of random patches of growth rather than rows of crops to be harvested.

  Lights hung from the ceiling at odd intervals, doing little more than casting strange shadows. Nola didn’t mind. As long as a trace of light existed, Graylock gave her the power to see. Only absolute darkness could blind her now.

  Humming faintly to herself, Nola wandered down the twisting paths of the cavern. Tucked up under a ledge, a patch of mushrooms fed off the water dripping from a crack in the wall. She scraped a bit of soil away from the base and plucked a mushroom sample as well.

  None of the food eaters in Nightland relished the thought of living off of mushrooms for the cold months. In the week since Nola had started working in the caves, some had even gone so far as to question if she really needed to work on growing more mushrooms.

  They’ll be grateful if the other supplies begin to run out.

  If they come for us.

  Nola shivered, the chill of the cavern suddenly biting her to the bone.

  She worked her way farther down the path, squeezing between a set of stalagmites to reach a growth of mushrooms that clung to the wall.

  There had been no news from the city in more than a week. Raina said the smoke had stopped rising, and the stench had finally left the air. Emanuel had put her in charge of the ones set in the windows to watch the woods.

  Nola would never dare say it, but she knew Raina spent her time scanning the outside world through that open window, searching for her sister.

  Nola clasped her hands together, waiting for their shaking to stop before she pulled another glass vial from her bag.

  A few lost survivors had been spotted at the base of the mountains wandering aimlessly. Searching for the safety and supplies they couldn’t know were so close by.

  She pulled down a half-moon shaped mushroom from the wall and tucked the sample safely in her bag.

  The helicopter hadn’t been spotted, but the tiered garden on top of the mountain still stayed covered. Only vampires were allowed out at night to silently tend the crops in the darkness.

  At least the growing season is over anyway. And there was time to protect the animals. And the domes haven’t dropped fire on us.

  Slipping back through the stalagmites, Nola moved on to the main chamber of the cavern, to the part of the mushroom farm constructed by Kieran. The ceiling towered fifty feet overhead, and the space reached two hundred yards before meeting a pool. Then who knew how much farther until it ended?

  We should try and farm fish in the water. There has to be a species that would thrive.

  The domes hadn’t trained her in animal husbandry. Just like they hadn’t trained her in fighting or first aid.

  She shook off the flare of anger that bubbled in her chest.

  “Do the work you know how to do, Nola.”

  Each of the plots had been built of heavy-tarred wood filled with soil and fertilizer. Mushrooms blossomed at odd angles, thriving in the damp air. She worked quickly, moving from bed to bed, taking the samples that would help them expand the mushroom farm.

  What Kieran had built didn’t take up even a tenth of the space, and there was more room between beds than necessary. If they figured out the most efficient soil, condensed the beds, and spread out the operation…

  Kieran and I will be the most hated people in Nightland.

  Nola laughed. The sound bounced around the cavern.

  A face appeared from behind a stalactite. A scowling, weathered old man with black eyes.

  “Sorry,” Nola whispered, knowing the man would easily hear her even at a distance.

  Carefully dusting off her gloves, she tucked them into her bag with the last of the samples.

  The face disappeared.

  Nola rolled her eyes and headed for the pool. She could understand the man’s love of the quiet. The peace was part of what made working in the mushroom fields worthwhile.

  The tension above held nearly as strong a scent as the fertilizer in the cavern. Hardly anyone ever chose to venture outside Nightland, but now that it had been banned, stir crazy vampires roamed the halls. Between all the brawls that had broken out and the constant threat of hundreds of guards swooping in on them, the cavern was the only place that could truly be considered quiet.

  Kneeling by the pool, Nola stared down at her reflection.

  My eyes still look the same.

  She smiled. Her eyes didn’t brighten as they should.

  Nola splashed her hands in the water to rinse them, swishing her fingers around vigorously enough that her reflection couldn’t reform. Letting her hands drip dry, she jogged through the cavern to the tunnel that led to the main corridors of Nightland.

  The tunnel had been left mostly to its own devices just as the cavern below had. Swatches were pure, left as the mountain had created them. Then the walls would be carved smooth for a few feet as the architects guided the path to the farm below. The steep and winding climb would have tired her legs before, but jogging up the tunnel with her bag bouncing at her side didn’t even change her breathing.

  Bright lights from the main corridor poured into the last few feet of the tunnel. Nola pulled the cloth from her nose, relishing her first breath of clean air.

  “I was just about to send a search party down after you.” Jeremy leaned against the wall, a plate of food in his hand.

  Nola’s mouth watered at the scent of fresh bread and cheese. “Am I running late?”

  “Only about an hour.” Jeremy shook his head as Nola took a giant bite of the bread.

  “Sorry.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m not very good with time down there.”

  “Well, if I can ever find one, I’ll snag you a watch.” Jeremy winked.

  Nola rose up on her toes, pressing her lips to the stubble on his cheek. “Thanks.”

  He wrapped an arm around her, letting her lean on his side as she downed the food.

  “How was it down there?” he asked once she’d emptied the plate.

  “Fine.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, laying her cheek on his chest. “Stinky, quiet, I got all the samples I needed.”

  “Good.”

  “Was it not supposed to go well?”

  Nola smiled as a rumble of laughter shook Jeremy’s chest.

  “I’m just always surprised is all.” He tipped up her chin to look into her eyes. “You used to hate being underground, and now you march into the middle of a mountain every day. I’m just impressed.” He kissed her gently.

  Her heart skipped a beat as he lifted his face away.

  “You never cease to amaze me, Nola Kent.”

  Nola took his hand, keeping her arm pressed to his as they walked down the hall.

  “There is no aboveground here,” Nola said. “Except the gardens, and only v
ampires are allowed out there. Besides, after everything we’ve seen and survived, and after that last trip through the Nightland tunnels, I guess my definition of scary has changed a bit.”

  “Last trip through the Nightland tunnels?” Jeremy asked.

  “When we were running from the domes,” Nola said. “Before you found me in the city. After the tunnel I had to crawl through, the mushroom field seems huge.”

  Jeremy’s shoulders tensed. “You went through Nightland?”

  “Yeah.” Nola stopped, stepping aside to let a man with a crate of food pass. “How did you think we got into the city?”

  “Boats,” Jeremy said. “The same way Nightland crept across to attack us.”

  Nola furrowed her brow, trying to remember if Jeremy had ever asked how she had gotten into the city. “There were never any boats. At least not that I saw. There was a tunnel that started in a dead tree and cut under the river. I thought the Outer Guard had found it. I thought that’s how you knew we were in the city.”

  “We just knew Nightland had gone back over the bridge after they attacked the domes and assumed Raina would take you into the city,” Jeremy said.

  “You were so close to us. I heard”—a lump pressed into Nola’s throat—“I heard you say you’d never stop looking for me.”

  Jeremy closed his eyes. “I could have found you before you got hurt.”

  “Shh.” Nola wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek to his. “Please don’t. You saved me, and we’re together. And even if you had found me, the domes would have locked me up. And Salinger and the Incorporation still would have destroyed the city. And I know you, Jeremy. You wouldn’t have been able to help them do that.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.” He held her tight, like he was afraid the domes could still come and rip her away.

  “Then we’re where we should be.” Nola kissed him, letting his taste flood her mouth. “And we’re together.”

  “I love you.” He kissed the top of her head. “More than anything that has ever existed, I love you.”

  Nola’s heart swelled, sending heat rushing to her cheeks. “I love you, too.”