Free Nil on Fire by Lynne Matson Page A

don’t encourage it, what if they do nothing? What if someone decides to go to Nil anyway? We have to make sure.” Conviction strengthened my words, assuaging the ache thrumming through my veins. “We can’t let anyone go through that gate. We have to stop that tradition, forever.”
    Relief washed over me with the certainty of my words.
    Help me , she’d said. Choose me.
    That’s what she wants , I thought. That’s what the girl— I couldn’t bring myself to even think the name Talla— the voice of the island, has been trying to tell me. Nil needs me to block the stationary gate in June and end the islanders’ tradition.
    But is that enough? I wondered. Doubt dulled my relief.
    â€œI want to talk to Charley and Thad,” I said suddenly. “Especially Thad. I want them to read my uncle’s journal—the one that led me to Nil in the first place.”
    â€œWhy?” Rives regarded me intently. “I’ve read your uncle’s journal, Skye. And you probably have it memorized by now. What do you think Thad and Charley will find that we haven’t? And if something stands out, what would we do with it anyway?”
    â€œI just can’t help wondering if maybe there’s something in that journal that will help convince the elders or the person next in line not to go,” I said. “Maybe something from the journal will click with Thad’s experience. Maybe he met an islander, someone who can tell us something—something we don’t even know to ask. Maybe we can even find a way to destroy that gate for good, or at least keep it from ever opening again.”
    Rives didn’t respond.
    â€œWe have to try,” I insisted. “We have to ask. We have to do all we can, on this side.”
    He cursed under his breath. “What makes you so sure?”
    â€œBecause Nil is tired. Because the girl— Nil —asked for help. She asked me to choose ,” I said quietly. “And it’s not the first time.”
    Confusion replaced worry on Rives’s face. “What do you mean?”
    â€œWhen you were on Nil, did you ever hear the island?”
    We rarely talked about our time there. The best part we already knew, already shared. But this question needed an answer.
    Watching his expression shift, I knew he’d say yes before he opened his mouth.
    â€œIt took me a while to realize I was hearing Nil,” Rives said. “But I was. Nil called me to the Cove; it’s how I found the Looking Glass Cavern.” He lifted his gaze to the night sky. “The island is something I don’t understand, because it’s not of our world. But is it real? Is it alive? Hell, yeah. Absolutely.”
    Now he looked at me.
    â€œIt scares the hell out of me, Skye. I don’t know how to deal with this—this thing that’s alive. This foreign thing that’s somehow messing with you, here.” He kissed me passionately, almost out of control, then he pulled away, pulling himself together. As I watched, Leader Rives roared back. “Why the question about hearing Nil? We know you’re hearing Nil now. At least we think you are.”
    I couldn’t tell if Rives was in denial or just not fully convinced.
    Choose me , the girl of my dreams begged. It was Nil, because Nil loved to make people choose—or at least, it loved to make me choose. My last moments on Nil swirled like ghosts, ones with murder in their hearts.
    â€œSkye, talk to me,” Rives said. “I can’t read you, other than the fact you’re holding something back. If I don’t know, I can’t help. No more secrets.”
    Tell him , I told myself.
    I took a deep breath. “You know that back on Nil, I felt the island’s fatigue. But on our very last day, there was a moment when I didn’t just feel Nil, I also heard it. It was the moment Nil made me choose.”
    â€œChoose?” Rives