Faith and Riley started back down the mountain in silence. Back at the hotel, they both sat at the table.

“Faith…” Riley stopped.

Faith looked up from the wood of the table. “We have to try.”

Riley nodded. “We’ll find Suzie. We’ll get her back somehow.”

Faith wanted to believe that. She focused on it as hard as she could.

The phone rang and Riley picked it up. Faith assumed it was the hotel calling until she saw his expression. Relief. Confusion.

“We’ll be there,” Riley said. He set the phone down. “It was Hew.”

“How would he know we’re here?” Faith asked.

“He must have been watching.” Riley didn’t seem the least bit bothered by that. “He wants to meet us in Holden, at the docks at sunset. The day after tomorrow.”

The docks at sunset? Wouldn’t that be dangerous if something was sleeping there? Unless this one wasn’t waking up. If Hew knew about all of this, the docks were a strange place to meet. And if he was watching and knew they were at the hotel, why not meet them there? Faith didn’t mention this to Riley. He trusted Hew, and maybe Hew could tell them something Vallen hadn’t. Maybe there was something he wanted to show them at the docks.

“I’ll call Holtby and tell him we’re going to be longer,” Riley said, picking up the phone again.

After he hung up, he told Faith what Holtby had said. More people in Silverfield had seen messengers, but no one else had been killed, and no one had gone missing. That night, Faith couldn’t sleep. Everything they found had led to Sky and Sea and them knowing how to keep the beings asleep. She touched the warm pendant. Would this work? If they could get close enough to Ninivus, would it work?

Faith tried not to worry about Hew. Riley trusted him. Somehow this time that only made her worry more. If Riley trusted Hew, he wouldn’t believe for a moment that Hew could be up to anything. Why would Hew want to meet at the docks of Holden at night? Why not meet them at the hotel? These things didn’t make sense, and Faith hoped the answer wasn’t that Hew was working with one of the beings. Eliza hadn’t wanted to betray Riley, but she had called them out there and the messengers had come.

Faith closed her eyes, blocking all of this out as much as she could. When she did sleep, she had dreams. Dreams of the tossing, dark waters of Gray Lake. Dreams of the dark mass waking up in the depths of those waves. Messengers crept out of the water, from among the trees behind her, and even came up from the ground. Hands reached toward her out of the darkness of the lake, their fingers wet and cold. Faith tried to pull back, but the hands were strong.

One hand forced itself into her mouth, becoming water. The water rushed into her lungs. Faith tried to cough, to get it out, but she couldn’t. She pulled against the other hands, but the more she struggled, the less air there was. Darkness closed in around her, the hands vanishing into it. Faith woke up soaked with sweat but breathing. A shiver ran through her, but the room wasn’t cold.

The curtain was open a crack in the middle. By the light of the moon, she could see all corners of the room. There were no messengers. The sun finally rose. She had barely slept after the nightmare. Faith and Riley drank their coffee in silence and watched the sun rise.

“Did you sleep good?” Riley asked.

Faith looked at him. “I slept fine. You?”

He shrugged and finished his coffee. “I’ll sleep when we’ve stopped Ninivus. We should leave for Holden. We’ll have to stop for the night in Sills.”

The two of them checked out of the hotel. The stretch of road between Eads and Sills was long. There were a few trees, but a lot of the way was open plains. Night came and they stopped at a hotel in Sills. No messengers showed up, in the hotel room or in Faith’s dreams. They left for Holden early the next morning, reaching the seaside city an hour later. Faith and Riley had coffee at a cafe and waited there awhile, then they waited in the car.

Finally, the sun started to go down. They walked along the docks at the harbor, which were clearing out for the day. The further they went, the fewer people there were. Faith saw a man standing straight ahead, as though he was waiting. Riley walked faster and Faith assumed the man was Hew.

Hew smiled. A small smile that didn’t reach his dark gray eyes. His light brown hair was short. He wore a gray raincoat with the collar up. “Riley. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Why did you want to meet here?” Riley asked.

Hew turned his gaze to Faith, that small smile still there. “Who is this?”

“Faith Corwell,” Faith said.

Hew frowned. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs. Corwell.” He glanced at the setting sun. “I’m Hew Farrant. I worked with your husband, but I didn’t know him well.”

“Did you find Sky and Sea?” Faith asked.

Hew frowned further. “There is nothing left of Sky and Sea. They failed us. Beings like Ninivus are waking up. The only way any of us will survive is if we give in to them.” He lowered the collar of his coat, revealing the blue mark on the right side of his neck.

The sun vanished below the horizon the rest of the way. White spread through Hew’s hair, and blue scales took the place of his skin. His eyes turned light blue. Riley’s expression was hard to read. He seemed at a loss for words. Now Faith knew why Hew had wanted to meet at the docks. Waves were picking up out at sea, tossing restlessly.

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“Altunei is waking up,” Hew said. “Join us and you will be spared.” He stared at Riley.

“No,” Riley said without hesitation. “Do you realize you’ve betrayed us?”

“We’re the only ones left,” Hew said. “Orva is dead. Eliza, Roy, Collin. They’re gone.” He sighed. “I had hoped you would see reason.”

Messengers slid up onto the docks from the sea. Riley grabbed Faith’s hand and turned and ran. She ran with him. She didn’t look back, not until they were in the car. The messengers were coming toward them, and Faith didn’t see Hew anywhere. Riley started the car, driving over a few messengers on the way out. They became water again when the car hit them. He drove back out of Holden, toward Sills.

“Ninivus isn’t the only one waking up,” Faith said.

Riley gripped the steering wheel so tight his fingers were bone white. He said nothing. The plains were dark, the headlights doing little against it. It was a cloudy night, with no moonlight to light their way.

“I trusted him,” Riley said quietly. “When things happened in Silverfield ten years ago and Corisa was found…” He shook his head. “Hew told me about Ninivus and the others. He told me we could stop them, that we would find a way.”

“We can stop them,” Faith said. “With the pendant. The second group of Sky and Sea made this pendant, and it must have worked, or Ninivus and the others would have woken up before now.”

Riley nodded, not saying anything more.

They stopped in Sills that night, at the same hotel as before, in the same room. Riley still hadn’t said anything more, and Faith didn’t know what to say to him. The two metal beds squeaked, the only sound in the room. Faith closed her eyes, trying not to think about Ninivus, Hew, or the fact Lily and Corisa had used the pendant to put Ninivus to sleep and it had cost them their lives.

Sleep pulled Faith in. She was standing in Destiny Park at night. A strong wind blew past. One bench was upside down at the center of the park, and the other was under the left tree. Destiny was sitting on the bench under the tree, watching. Faith caught sight of a girl running toward the path to the lake.

“Suzie!” Faith called out, but the wind blew her voice away.

Faith ran after her, but Suzie was already out of sight. Faith ran along the path to the lake, which wound through the forest how it didn’t in reality. She stopped. There was no end to the path in sight. She looked back and the path was the same that way, stretching on forever. A splash came from somewhere ahead and Faith ran toward it. She glimpsed Suzie up ahead, but only for a moment.

Something glistened on the ground up ahead. Faith stopped and picked it up. A kitchen knife. It looked just like the one she had impaled Destiny with at Riley’s house. Faith pushed that thought far away. She saw Suzie again, up ahead. The end of the path seemed to just appear right in front of Faith. Suzie wasn’t at the lake. The water tossed and swirled, a dark mass rising in the depths, getting closer to the surface.

Destiny walked out of the lake. The moonlight shone on her white hair and blue scales. She ran at Faith. Faith moved the knife between them, closing her eyes tight. The knife was almost pulled from her hands with the impact. Faith opened her eyes. It wasn’t Destiny in front of her. Collin stumbled back, the knife still in him. He looked down at it.

Faith took a step back, her breath ragged. Something rustled in the thin forest and brush around the lake. Messengers were coming toward her from all around. Collin pulled the knife out from between his ribs, but he wasn’t bleeding. He came closer slowly. Faith didn’t move. He put a hand on her shoulder gently, but there was nothing familiar in his eyes. He plunged the knife into her chest. Faith gasped, waking up back in the hotel room in Sills.

She stared at the thin curtains, at the moonlight pouring through them. The clouds must have cleared away. A shiver ran through her. Faith didn’t dare close her eyes again that night. In the morning, Faith and Riley left for Baylis, neither of them saying anything on the way. An hour later, they were in Baylis. Almost another hour passed before they were finally back at Riley’s house. Nothing appeared to be out of place. Riley went to the kitchen to call Holtby and tell him they were back.

The morning was warm and the room was musty. Faith opened the two front windows, then she sat at the table. Riley joined her a moment later, bringing his notes back out. He looked no more stressed than before, but not any less either.

“Anything happen?” Faith asked.

“No,” Riley said. “Holtby said people are still seeing messengers, but the messengers haven’t killed anyone and no one’s missing.”

“That’s good,” Faith said. That didn’t mean Ninivus wasn’t still waking up. She tried not to think of last night’s nightmare, of Ninivus getting closer to the lake’s surface. And Collin…

A picture among Riley’s notes on the table caught her attention. She took it from the stack. It was a picture of Collin. There were piles of papers on the desk in front of him, but it wasn’t his desk at their house in Gull Bay. Faith didn’t recognize the room. Collin was looking at whoever had taken the picture and was smiling. Faith had seen that smile many times. He was trying not to laugh.

“Where was this taken?” Faith asked. She set the picture on the table and turned it to face Riley.

Riley stared at the picture for a long moment. “That must have been in one of the folders.” He stared at it. “That was a house in Gull Bay where we all used to meet. I only went there once. Orva and Collin bought the house…” He didn’t finish, frowning hard and not looking at Faith.

“Were they close?” Faith asked. Her heart clenched.

Riley looked at Faith. “They were. I’m sorry, Faith, I don’t know more.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know either of them well.”

The room felt suddenly much colder, but Faith knew it was just her. Riley put the picture away in a folder, burying it among the notes. Faith didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to wonder how close Collin and Orva had been. Maybe they were just friends, buying a house together for the group to meet in. Collin hadn’t told her about any of this, or that he had bought another house in Gull Bay.

Faith got up and made coffee to take her mind off it. It didn’t work. Night came, and a chill came with it. She closed the windows right before the rain came down like hail. It pounded against the windows and the roof. Wind blew it hard at the house. Faith was about to close the curtains when she saw something.

“Riley,” Faith said.

Riley looked up from his notes, then his eyes went wide. He joined her at the window.

Messengers crept along the street outside, pulling out of rain puddles and falling from raindrops. They came up from the wet ground and some just walked out of the rain. Riley closed the curtains quickly. The candle flickered, but it didn’t go out. They both stayed awake in the living room all night. With that many messengers out there, it wasn’t safe to sleep. They could come inside at any moment. Faith made more coffee, but it was still difficult to stay awake.

The night wore on and morning came. The storm and the messengers were gone. The candle had burned to a stub and flickered pitifully. Riley blew it out and replaced it with a new one, but didn’t light it. The two of them slept for part of the morning. This time Faith’s sleep wasn’t interrupted by nightmares. She awoke to the sound of the phone ringing in the kitchen.