“Xavier,” I said, my voice unsteady. “Come here.”

“What is it, dead man?” I heard him call from the cave.

“The Book of Moons.” I picked it up, and it was warm in my hands. But my hands didn’t burn. I remembered thinking they should.

As I held the Book, my memories came flooding back to me. Just as this book had brought me back from the dead once before, so now was it bringing my life back to me again. I could picture every detail. The places I’d been. The things I’d done. The people I loved.

I could see Lena’s delicate face. Her green and gold eyes and the crescent-shaped birthmark on her cheek. I remembered lemons and rosemary and hurricane-force winds and spontaneous combustion. Everything that made Lena the girl I loved.

I was whole again.

And I knew I had to leave this place before it claimed me forever.

I picked up the Book in both hands and carried it into the cave. It was time to make a trade.

With every step, the Book was heavy in my hands. It didn’t slow me down, though. Nothing could, not now.

Not until there were no more steps to take.

The Gates of the Far Keep rose before me, straight and tall. Now I understood why Xavier was so obsessed with gold. The Gates were a filthy blackish brown, but underneath I could see the gold fighting through. They rose in forbidding spires. They didn’t seem to lead anywhere a person would want to go.

“They look so evil.”

Xavier followed my eyes to the tips of the spires. “They are what they are. Power is neither good nor evil.”

“Maybe that’s true, but this place is evil.”

“Ethan. You are a strong Mortal. You have more life in you than any dead man I’ve met.” Somehow, that wasn’t a comfort. “I cannot open the Gates if you do not truly wish to go.” The words sounded ominous.

“I have to go. I have to get back to Lena, and Amma, and Link. And my dad, and Marian, and Liv, and everybody.” I saw their faces, every one of them. I felt surrounded by them, by their spirits, and by mine. I remembered what it was to live among them, my friends.

I remembered what it was to live.

“Lena. The girl with the golden curls?” Xavier sounded curious.

There was no point trying to explain, not to him. I just nodded—it seemed easier.

“And you love her?” He looked even more curious about that.

“Yes.” There was no doubt. “I love her beyond the universe and back. I love her from this world to the next.”

He blinked, expressionless. “Well. That’s very serious.”

I almost felt like smiling. “Yeah. I tried to tell you. It’s like that.”

He stared at me for a long moment, finally nodding. “All right. Follow me.” Then he disappeared up the dusty pathway in front of me.

I followed him as the path twisted into an impossibly rocky staircase. We climbed until we reached a narrow cliff that dropped away into what seemed like oblivion. When I tried to look over the edge of the rock, all I could see were clouds and darkness.

In front of me were the imposing black Gates. I couldn’t see anything beyond them. But I could hear terrible sounds—chains rattling, voices wailing and crying.

“It sounds like Hell.”

He shook his head. “Not Hell. Only the Far Keep.”

Xavier moved in front of me, blocking my path to the Gates. “Are you sure you want to do this, dead man?”

I nodded, keeping my eyes on his disfigured face.

“Human boy. The one called Ethan. My friend.” His eyes went pale and glassy, as if he was going into some kind of trance.

“What is it, Xavier?” I was impatient, but more than that I was terrified. And the longer we stood outside listening to the terrible sounds of whatever was going on inside, the worse it seemed to get. I was afraid of losing my nerve—of giving up and turning back—of wasting everything Lena had gone through to get The Book of Moons to me.

He ignored me. “You propose a trade, dead man? What do you offer me if I open the Gates? How do you propose to pay your way for entrance into the Far Keep?”

I just stood there.

He opened one eye, hissing at me. “The Book. Give me the Book.”

I gave it to him, but I couldn’t move my hands away. It was like the Book and I were one thing, yet somehow connected to Xavier as well.

“What the—”

“I accept this offering, and in return I open the Gates of the Far Keep.” Xavier’s body went limp, and he collapsed in a heap around the Book.

“Are you okay, Xavier?”

“Shh.” The sound coming from the heap of robes was the only thing that told me he was still alive.

I heard another sound, like rocks falling or cars crashing, but really it was just the enormous Gates opening. It seemed like they hadn’t been opened in a thousand years. I watched the black walls give way to the world inside.

As a rush of relief and exhaustion and adrenaline made my heart race, one thought kept running through my mind.

It has to be over soon.

This had to be the hardest part. I paid the Ferryman. I crossed the river. I got the Book. I made the trade.

I made it to the Far Keep. I’m almost home. I’m coming, L.

I could picture her face. Imagined seeing her and holding her in my arms again.

It wouldn’t be long.

At least that’s what I thought as I walked through the Gates.

CHAPTER 31

Keepers of Secrets

I don’t remember what I saw when I walked into the Far Keep. What I remember are the feelings. The pure terror. The way my eyes couldn’t find anything—not one familiar thing—to rest on. Nothing they could understand. I was prepared in no way, by any world I’d ever encountered, for the one I was encountering now.