Charon's Gold (eARC) by Skyla Dawn Cameron

Author:Skyla Dawn Cameron [Cameron, Skyla Dawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

18

Acheron

We stopped then at the water’s edge and looked back and forth along the river.

There were still remnants of the demon or whatever corrupting the water, but it didn’t seem to be spreading as far. Were the Pulses allowing these realms to bleed together, then? Surely if she had been here awhile, the river would’ve been corrupted a long time ago? Or maybe she just moved on to different bodies of water. Or maybe she couldn’t fuck the water up completely no matter how long she was there.

The hell if I knew.

No sign of bridges as far as I could see, and the river didn’t seem to narrow any further than the ten feet ahead of us—though it certainly widened in a few spots.

“I assume I can jump this,” I said.

“Let me throw your pack to the other side,” he suggested, which made sense so I handed the heavy thing to him. He tossed it easily to the other side—like way too easy. Unnaturally easy, but I didn’t know what to say about that.

I took a breath, ran a few steps, and leapt.

Just as I landed on the other side, I fell forward onto my knees, the impact shaking a cough and spittle from my lips—

I went about setting up two bolts and then looped the end of the rope through, knotting it properly and tightly. Reid could figure out how the fuck he was getting everything else over—I focused instead on getting my climbing harness on, and then stuffed West’s wetsuit and belt into my pack with my fins.

“Do you climb much, Director Gordon?” I asked.

She was silent a moment as she watched me. “No.”

“Unless directed otherwise, come after me on ropes as we go and do as I instruct you.” I met her eyes as I stuffed West’s headlamp in my pack as well and got it strapped on my back. “Right now, the only person here you can trust is me. West, I am sure, will leave us to die if he thinks it’s going to benefit him.”

“Reid won’t hurt me,” she said, in the way someone grasps a belief they have a hell of a lot of evidence against.

The truth was, I figured he’d already hurt her in many, many ways.

“Be that as it may,” I continued, “when I’m on a job, no one is expendable. I can promise you that. When this gets bad, I’ll do what I can to make sure you get to the other side.” With that, I crouched and pulled my rebreather with me, slipping under the column.

West was on the other side, in human form, both hands on the rope. He gave it a firm pull but the bolts clearly held. “You have the drill?” he asked.

I nodded, staring down at the gaping canyon between us. “Maybe I can throw it to you.”

“I’m not going to drop you.”

Oh really?

“Olivia.”

I met his eyes.

“I can hold your weight, even with the rebreather. I won’t drop you. You have to cross.”

Shit. I strapped the rebreather on my back, over the pack which was awkward, and stepped to the rope.

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