Trial by Fire (Worldwalker 1)

Rowan laughed through a shiver. “It is the Charles, actually. I can’t believe we call it the same thing. And don’t worry. It’s not polluted at all here.”

“Oh. That’s nice. But nothing’s polluted here, is it? It’s just my world that’s a big mess. All the glaciers are melting and the polar bears are starving.”

Rowan was too preoccupied to answer, or even try to figure out why Lily was mumbling about bears. He broke the ice edge with his heel and stepped into the frigid water. “Hold your breath, Lily.”

She felt cold water slosh over her. Rowan held on to her underwater and kicked them both back up t

o the surface. He shouted when they crested, his whole body convulsing with shock. Lily wrapped her arms and legs around his torso, letting the blanket drift away on the current.

Steam rose off Lily’s skin and the water around them bubbled and hissed like they’d poured hot fat into it. She pressed her chest against Rowan’s, trying to keep his heart warm, as he paddled with his arms and legs to keep them afloat. Lily tipped her head back into the icy current, trying to cool her head. It didn’t help. She felt so hot she thought she might explode from it. She wondered if this was what a dying star must feel like—never hotter than just before it goes supernova.

Rowan? Am I dying?

“No,” he said roughly, working against the current. They were being swept downstream. “You’re not going to die.”

You didn’t answer me in mindspeak.

Don’t ask me to answer, Lily. I can’t—

“Ro! Reach for this!” Upstream, Caleb hung over the edge of the ice, holding a stick out to Rowan. Rowan managed to grab on to it as they passed, stopping them.

The water around them roiled. Rowan’s face was a grimace. Lily released him and floated away a bit so she could look back at him. Even in the pale moonlight, she could see an angry red burn where she’d been holding him. Lily kicked away from him and into the current, but he grabbed her wrist before she got away.

“Let me go,” she cried. “I’m hurting you.”

“Like that’s anything new,” he said, managing to smile at her through chattering teeth. The hand that held her wrist shook with effort. Rowan was fighting every instinct to hold on to her even though her skin was burning him. The water around Lily was boiling. Her head was so hot.

“I can’t stop it, Rowan,” Lily said, trying to tug her wrist out of his grip. “It’s just getting worse.”

“I know.” Rowan’s face suddenly fell. “Cold water isn’t going to be enough to put out the fire. We have to suffocate it.”

He pulled Lily to him with a scared look on his face. “I’m sorry,” he said. His eyes pleaded with hers for a brief second, and then he pushed her head underwater.

Lily looked up at him through the shifting surface, too stunned to do anything else. The moonlight and the bubbles distorted his face, making his sharp features elongate until they seemed hawkish. The unseeing gleam in his black eyes was familiar to Lily.

Carrick.

Even though she’d run from him, he’d found her somehow and now he was trying to drown her. Lily struggled under his hand, thrashing violently. He grabbed a hank of her hair and pushed her down even farther. Water burned as it rushed into her nose and mouth. Lily grabbed his wrist, trying to twist herself free. More water rushed into her lungs. She grew cold and sluggish, staring at Carrick’s face above hers. She wanted to fight him, but she felt so heavy.

* * *

Lily heard a familiar voice slide into her head. Her own voice. This time, Lily knew that it was Lillian and not herself she was talking to.

No. Don’t you dare die, Lily.

I don’t want to live. There’s no one here in the dark with me.

I’m here, Lily. And so is Rowan. You have to fight, Lily. He can’t handle losing us both.

You don’t want me to live for Rowan. You want me to live for you. You brought me to this world for a reason, and you can’t let me die because you want to use me somehow.

Everyone wants to use you. But don’t think for a second that I don’t care about what Rowan feels. Loving Rowan is what made me who I am now.

How dare you blame your evil on him? You killed his father.

No one can lie in mindspeak, Lily. Everything I did, I did for Rowan. Everything I am doing to you now is to save Rowan by saving the world he lives in. You will stay here and finish what I started—for him. You may as well accept it, Lily. You’re stuck here. There’s no one left to teach you how to worldjump.

How can you know that? You killed the shaman, didn’t you?