Seeker (Riders #2)(64)

I'm powerless as I watch his back legs wash out. Watch him clamber back up and slide almost ten feet on rigid legs.

His coat lights up with fire as he grows more terrified. His hooves. I see it-a terrible spiral. Him descending into panic, torching brighter, melting the very ice he's standing on.

I run after him, pushing off as quickly and lightly as I can.

There's a trail of broken ice separating him and me now. I have to jump the last stretch. I land, slide, and slam into his side, unable to stop myself.

He roars and stamps, and I almost lose my toes.

"Whoa, boy! Whoa!" I grab the reins. "It's okay, Big Red. You have to move, Riot. You have to move now."

I love this horse as much as I've loved anything. He gave me my life back. He healed my soul. I look for a way through the maze of broken ice. I don't see one.

"Gideon!"

Jode is jogging a wide path across smooth ice, coming toward our position. A length of paracord is slung across his shoulders, glaring green against his white armor. Far behind him, Lucent follows, his great head bowed low, like he's smelling the ice.

I don't see anyone on the far side of the lake anymore. No Bas or Samrael.

"Jode, what are you doing?" I yell.

Ice cracks nearby. Riot and I step back. Any second he could lose his balance, wipe out, and fall right through. Any second the ice beneath us could give.

Jode stops about twenty feet away. A perfect hockey stop, like he grew up on the ice. He pulls the rope over his head and starts tying a knot. "I'll pull him out!"

"It's not going to work!" It's a terrible idea. Lucent is well back and struggling to stay upright. Hardly any better than Riot. "He won't even make it out here!"

Jode turns and sees his horse. "Oh, hell! Lucent, get back!"

"That wasn't part of your plan? Were you going to pull Riot out?"

"Yes! I was! Can we argue about this later?"

A crackling sound shatters across the lake and water arcs into the air. To the left and right. Behind me. Beneath me. The ice jolts sharply as the sheet Riot and I've been standing on separates, becomes its own island, twenty feet by twenty feet of floating frozen platform. 

Riot and I crash against each other, staggering as we try to keep our feet. I grab my sword and drive it into the ice. Holding on to the pommel, I wait for Riot to slam into me; then I wrap my arm around his neck.

"Riot, stay! Riot, stop moving!"

His legs lock and he trusts me to hold him still.

Thousands of pounds of him.

Every muscle in my body strains to keep him steady until the ice floe finally stops rocking. Slushy water rushes past my boots. Riot makes defeated sounds. Awful whimpering sounds unlike anything I've ever heard from him-and that I never even thought possible.

Jode stands at the edge of our ice floe. He rises slowly, now that it's more stable. Black water surrounds us, broken chunks of ice floating by.

Jode drops the rope at his feet and draws his bow. He fires three shots into the sky. Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt. But we both know it's a pointless call for help.

We aren't accidental victims of peril. Peril is after us. The Rift is.

There's no solution. Riot's shaking with fear. I'm shaking with anger, with the effort of holding him. With powerlessness.

More chunks of ice snap and splash. "I've had about enough of this," Jode says. He draws the bowstring, calling up another arrow, and looks at me. "Say the word."

I look at Riot, fighting for his life. But we're going through anyway. It might as well be on our terms. I lift my sword from the ice, sheathe it, and firm my hold around Riot's neck. "Do it."

Jode fires at the smooth stretch of ice between us.

Nothing happens for a second. Then the world tilts.

Riot and I hit the ice. We slide into cold dark water that swallows us, and we sink in its teeth.





CHAPTER 23

DARYN

"Gideon, wait." I jog to catch up to him as he rushes ahead. "Where are you going?"

"I have to find Marcus," he says without slowing down.

"Marcus? He should be-"

"I'll find him. Go back," he calls over his shoulder.

Okay, that was kind of rude. Even though he's right. I should go back to the lake. I left my backpack down there. But I keep after him. Something isn't right.

Five minutes ago, he stalked down to where I was sitting by the lake and asked about Marcus, not once looking at me. As I replied that I saw Marcus a little while ago, Gideon walked away. Before I'd even finished speaking.

I jumped up and followed him.

I'm still following him.

And I still don't know what's going on.

"Did you guys fight?" I jog a few steps to keep up. I can't believe I'm even asking the question. I haven't seen Gideon and Marcus so much as argue since the first days they knew each other. It was ugly then, sure. It's like they packed all the animosity their relationship was meant to have right at the beginning. But that's behind them. Isn't it?