Chapter 19: The Fire

I took my first step toward the pit.

"Briony," Merrick said, very low.

"I know."

"If you go down there..."

"I know what it is." I kept my eyes on my sister. "I've been in it once already. This time I'm walking in."

He did not argue. He only took my face in both hands, and pressed his forehead to mine.

"I'm at the edge," he said. "I won't leave it."

"Then I won't be afraid."

That was a lie, but a good one.

Stone steps were cut into one side of the pit, worn smooth by years of boots.

I went down them one at a time with the silver light in my fist.

The air grew warmer with every step. It smelled of ash and old poison.

At the bottom, the black stone was cracked and packed with dried wolfsbane, grey with age.

I turned in a slow circle.

Three hundred faces looked down at me from the rim, lit orange from below by their torches.

Garth's face was among them, calm as a church.

"Here I am," I said, and my voice rolled off the walls. "Take your time."

Lorna stood on the lip opposite, with the torch in her hand and tears running down her chin.

"Bri," she said. "Please go back up."

"No."

"I don't want to."

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