At the exact moment Nico throws his body in front of Sam’s, Ragnor’s blade reaches him. With all his weight behind it, the sword enters Nico’s stomach and is buried up to the hilt.
Ragnor is still for a moment then staggers back, pulling the blade with him.
Nico wavers on the spot. A puddle of blood stains his shirt. He presses his palms to his stomach. Sam stumbles sideways and takes hold of Nico as he falls.
Kayla starts to scream and tries to rush forward but Ragnor throws his arm around her waist and drags her back.
Sam is cradling Nico in his lap. Tears stream down his face. Nico looks up at him and whispers something. Sam shakes his head, desperately pressing his hands to the wound. Behind them, the tear is growing larger and brighter. I yell for Sam to run. He doesn’t look at me. He has Nico’s face in his hands, touching their foreheads together. Nico clutches Sam’s fingers with his own bloodied hand.
Finally, Sam slides his knees from beneath Nico’s head and stands up. Nico’s head rolls back. He coughs. Blood trickles from his mouth. The hole behind him grows larger. Eve jumps to one side as it swallows the altar, the skulls, and the coffin. When it reaches Nico, his eyes are already closed. It sucks him in. He disappears in a hiss of bright light.
Sam is shaking. Blood stains his hands and his chest. I need him to run.Run, Sam, please run.
Finally, he starts to move.
Ragnor is picking up Elena, shouting, “What happens now?” at the sky.
“Take her to the fountain.” Eve sings. “Place her in the water, and The Shadow King will keep his promise.” She is shaking her outstretched arms, waving them wildly, cooing and humming and chanting words I don’t understand.
Ragnor turns and runs for the fountain. Behind him, the window to the underworld is still growing. It’s swallowing up the earth, following the line of skulls, creating a huge gaping gorge in the ground.
Sam darts around Ragnor. He doesn’t look at his mother. His eyes are fixed on mine. My heart lifts. He’ll make it. He’s fast. He’ll make it.
Then suddenly he stops and breaks from my gaze. He looks down. Kayla has hold of him. With one arm around his waist, she hooks the other around his neck, pulls, and throws him to the ground. Her face contorts with anger.
Sam scrambles sideways, barely a foot from the hole that is eating up the earth, but Kayla kicks him hard. He tries to catch hold of her. She kicks him again. He grabs her foot, but she yanks it free, diving sideways.
Sam finds me again. His eyes widen. Then I hear myself scream as the ground below him crumbles. For a second, he grips the edge of the hole. His nails dig into the damp soil. He tries to heave himself out, pulling up tufts of grass, his shoulders bulging with the effort of hanging on. He screams, agony darkening his face. He slips. His fingers drag two deep grooves in the earth as his body disappears into the blackness beneath him.
The last thing I hear before the ground swallows him is, “Nova!”
And then he’s gone.
* * *