The Amulet Of Nicmir (The Scripts Of Neptune, Book 1)

Chapter 57

Everything had gone to hell.

At least, everything was about to. For Nyle.

It was two words that really set Lillian off. Just two, scribbled on a piece of paper tucked in a book. They changed everything.

And there was a small chance a certain blond Serpentine wouldn't make it through the next hour.

***

It'd all started with the meeting. Chad was finally awake, barely eating, barely speaking. He wasn't completely catatonic, but the better part of the first day was spent whittling his fingernails down to the bed as he sat cross-legged on his mattress, not speaking to anyone. After Crynia brought him a hunk of firewood to chip away at, he looked up at her, and even from her place by the fire, Lillian saw the pain in his expression.

It broke her heart.

The second day was a slight improvement. He got up and walked around with them as Paleo gave them a tour of the strange mountain caverns and their amazing oddities, but even then, he hung back and kept his head down. It was obvious he was trying to go unnoticed. What he didn't seem to realize were all the worried looks everyone kept giving him. They were all concerned. They all cared. Because somehow, that skinny, quiet human boy had endeared himself to each and every member of their crazy little group, and none of them liked seeing him hurting so badly alone.

It was Paleo who finally got him to talk, in the end, but it was strictly business. The meeting the dark-skinned Nemaru called was small, just him and the five of them gathered around the fire.

"You." Paleo pointed straight at Chad, who shifted uncomfortably and looked at his hands like they held the cure for every illness. "We've been here two days, and Sam's told me the witch contacted him and told him she told you about the amulet. What's the gig?"

His words were quick, confusing, heavy on his accent. Chad blinked. Everyone looked at Sam, and it was his turn to fidget beneath their stares.

"What?" he mumbled, like being summoned by a dead witch was something he did every other Tuesday.

"I, um," Chad began softly, his voice rough. Pinching his eyebrows together, he swallowed. "Yeah. She told me what I have to do."

"And?" Paleo pushed, tapping a cigarette against his knee impatiently. There were stress lines in his dark complexion, evidence of how hard he'd been working, leading this expedition. Lillian knew he wasn't suited for this; he was a free spirit, a nomad, someone who hated being tethered by anything. Especially responsibility.

Chad took a breath and leaned over, rubbing his forehead. "The amulet...it's something called a soulstone. It depends on the soulstone, but they...they typically prolong life and prevent death as long as the person's soul is trapped inside. Which is why Agnir has lived so long."

"So, if we take his soul out, will he just...die? Will the years catch up to him?"

Chad shook his head in response to Crynia's question and sat up straight. "His body will age normally from the point at which he stopped the process. We'll have to kill him if we want him gone."

"And how do we do that?" Paleo asked, pulling out a match and lighting his cigarette.

"Magic." The word fell so bitterly from Chad's lips, it might as well have been poison. "I have to remove his soul and return it to his body before he will become mortal again."

"All right," Nyle said slowly, his voice faint and reedy from the cough that'd assaulted his body since the fall, "that seems a little too good to be true. What's the catch?"