Chapters (53)
- Front Cover
- Letter from the Author
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- • One •
- • Two •
- • Three •
- • Four •
- • Five •
- • Six •
- • Seven •
- • Eight •
- • Nine •
- • Ten •
- • Eleven •
- • Twelve •
- • Thirteen •
- • Fourteen •
- • Fifteen •
- • Sixteen •
- • Seventeen •
- • Eighteen •
- • Nineteen •
- • Twenty •
- • Twenty-One •
- • Twenty-Two •
- • Twenty-Three •
- • Twenty-Four •
- • Twenty-Five •
- • Twenty-Six •
- • Twenty-Seven •
- • Twenty-Eight •
- • Twenty-Nine •
- • Thirty •
- • Thirty-One •
- • Thirty-Two •
- • Thirty-Three •
- • Thirty-Four •
- • Thirty-Five •
- • Thirty-Six •
- • Thirty-Seven •
- • Thirty-Eight •
- • ∞ •
- • Thirty-Nine •
- • Forty •
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Excerpt from Be Dazzled
- One
- Two
- About the Author
- Back Cover
His eyes came to rest on Adeline Bishop, her deep brown skin glowing against the cold marble holding her.
Of course, he murmured inwardly. Adeline had been the third person in the boiler room. Within the warped logic of this world—this reverie—it followed that someone as powerfully beautiful as Adeline Bishop would be cast as a damsel in distress. The main damsel, it looked like. The other girls were strung among the reaching fingers, while Adeline hung dangerously vulnerable in the palm.
“What’s going to happen to her?”
“Probably she’ll be sacrificed,” the boy murmured. “It depends if the hero makes it to her in time. He’s close.”
“What if he doesn’t make it?”
“Then definitely she’ll be sacrificed.”
Kane looked at the boy and then, perhaps by the brightness in the cavern or by the closeness they shared, recognition finally took hold. He knew this person. It was the eyes, the only thing about the boy visible beneath the thick mask of bone.
“You’re Dean Flores, aren’t you?”
The boy kept his eyes on the court, unblinking. Kane knew he was right.
“You’re the one who gave me that photo of the Others. You wanted me to find my way here, didn’t you?”
Dean turned to Kane. “Not quite, but I’m glad you’re here. They need you. But for now you need to keep out of sight until Elliot shows up. He’s with the hero—the person at the center of the reverie, the one creating it. They’re traveling through the traps beneath the cavern. They’re going to try to thwart the sacrifice, and maybe they’ll be successful. Regardless, the reverie is going to start collapsing soon after.”
“But—”
“And then it’ll be up to you to unravel it.”
“But—”
“And this last part is very important, Kane.” Dean’s face was a loveless mask of shadows. “You must never tell the Others about me. If you do, they will hurt you, and then they will hurt me. Do you promise?”
Dean was unflinching. Curiosity clawed at Kane to ask more, ask about the Others and their secret worlds. About his role in all this. He promised himself he would if he survived.
“I promise.”
“Good. Now don’t move, and try not to get in trouble. I’ve already spent too long here—I won’t be able to return.”
Another explosion blew from the mouth. Behind the blackened teeth squirmed a crimson tongue, something swollen deep in the earth’s throat.
When he tore his eyes away, Dean was gone.
He spun around. Dean had slipped into the caverns without disturbing a single pebble. Kane knew it was stupid to try and catch up; the boy had moved with the smoothness of a centipede through those lightless corners.
Kane had two options: stay, or go.
He made his choice.
• Ten •
Plot Twists