She laughed and removed her diadem from her head, then placed it on mine. “I do not recommend trying to reach Everest. Lilith lingers around him and only he can control her. Try once, let him know the line is always open to him, then get back out. You don’t want her finding you in his mind. It would be fatal for him.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

FRANKIE

“Frankie, can you hear me?”

I gasped and spun around. “Cooper? I hear you. Why can’t I see you?”

“Because we’re looking for Everest, it’s more likely he’ll answer if you’re alone.” Cooper’s voice was strong and steady and not far away. “Just breathe for me. Your body is asleep and safe right here in the living room next to me. You’re just going to go for a walk.”

I glanced around. “It’s just black. I feel like Eleven in Stranger Things when she tries to find people.”

Cooper chuckled. “You’re not wrong, but I assure you that you are not in a sensory deprivation tank or pool. There’s no radio static coming from the speakers either. I am in control.”

“And I am here to help.” Deacon’s snicker echoed around me like something from a horror film. “Think about Everest, dudette.”

Think about Everest? Like, any thoughts?

Red smoke coiled around me as if it were a snake slithering up my body. “Everest.”

Images filled my mind instantly. At first I just saw his face in a sea of black but then I was lying on the couch in Lookout Tower watching the fireworks. The image changed to that spell room in the Tampa infirmary. My whole body cringed. I waited for the memory to replay what we’d done in these places, but the image changed too fast. Next I was in Coach’s office with only the red light on but that quickly transformed into the dance floor—Wait. He’s not here. Each of these moments were pieces of memories of places I’d been with him and yet I wasn’t seeing him . . . The infirmary room I’d stayed in for days. The hospital I’d been in for months.

Avolire.

I shuddered. So many images of that forsaken place, of all the different rooms and outdoor spaces I’d been in. Yet they were empty backdrops. There was only me. I saw me hanging upside down in that car, then back in the frat house bedroom. This made no sense.

“This isn’t working,” I said softly and closed my eyes.

“Let’s try . . .” Red lightning zapped me a few times, but it didn’t hurt, “. . . this.”