THE SON-IN-LAW WHO WOULDN'T BURN

CHAPTER 2: NOTHING AT ALL

Cole kept falling. It felt like he had been in the air for a whole minute. Wind rushed past his ears, and Elise's scream grew fainter above him. Soon, he could barely hear it. He couldn't tell if the sound was still reaching him or if he was only hearing it in his head.

His tied hands flew above his head. His stomach seemed to stay behind near the altar.

Then he hit the ground.

But it wasn't flat. He landed on a steep slope covered in hard salt. The ground broke under his back like thin ice, slowing his fall before throwing him to one side. He slid about twenty feet on his ribs before crashing into a wall of salt crystals.

Pain shot through his body. Every breath felt like a hot knife cutting into his side.

For a while, he lay still and listened.

There was no sound down here. The rain was still falling somewhere far above, but it sounded very faint. A soft white light came from the crystals on the walls. It was just enough for him to see the rough stone roof above him and a small square of orange light high overhead.

"Finally," a voice said. "Nothing at all. Not a spark. Not even a thread. Do you have any idea how long I've waited to say that?"

Cole's eyes opened wide.

"Okay," he whispered. His mouth tasted of blood and salt. "I'm dead, and even the afterlife has someone who won't stop talking."

"You're not dead."

The voice sounded calm, almost friendly. But it didn't come from anywhere around him. It was inside his head.

"Though you were only a few breaths away from dying when you landed. I wouldn't try to sit up too quickly. Two of your ribs are broken. A third might be."

"I wasn't planning to sit up."

Cole tried anyway.

A sharp pain shot through his left side, and he fell back with a hiss.

"Good advice. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Cole slowly turned his head. That was when he saw the thing that made this place feel so strange.

A huge black chain hung from the roof and ran down the far wall. Each link was as wide as his thigh. The soft light from the salt crystals touched the metal but seemed to disappear into it.

The chain ended inside a crack in the floor, about ten feet away. That crack was darker than anything else in the cave.

"That's not a normal chain," Cole said.

"No, it isn't."

"Is that you? Are you chained up?"

"Held. Let's just say I'm being held. It's a long story, and you're bleeding on my floor."

"Your floor?" Cole swallowed. "I'm lying on a stranger's floor, listening to a voice I can't even see, and you expect me to be polite?"

"I expect you to listen. You can be polite if you want. But we don't have much time."

Something scraped far above them.

A man's voice came down through the opening. It was weak and hard to hear, but Cole knew it at once.

"...find a rope! Someone get a rope! I want him pulled out. I want that altar fixed before dawn!"

"Garrick," Cole whispered.

"Yes. They'll send men down here. They'll find you alive, and since you're meant to be the sacrifice, they'll finish the ritual. Your uncle has waited a long time for tonight."

"He's not my uncle. He's my wife's uncle."

Cole stopped speaking. The pain in his ribs was bad, but something else hurt even more.

Elise had been holding his wrist. Garrick had stepped on her hand. Cole had heard the bone break.

"I heard it too," the voice said.

Cole closed his eyes.

He could still see the red cord cutting into Elise's arms. He could see her face so close to his and hear her shaky voice telling him she had him.

In three years, he had only seen Elise cry twice. Both times, she had gone into the pantry and shut the door so no one would see her.

"If I stay down here," he said, his voice breaking, "what will happen to her?"

"I don't know. But I do know what will happen to you if you stay here alone."

A wooden sound came from above. Someone grunted, followed by the sound of a rope rubbing against the stone.

"Fine." Cole opened his eyes. "Talk fast. Who are you, and what do you want?"

"A body."

"I guessed that much."

"A body with nothing inside it."

The voice sounded warmer now, almost excited.

"Do you know what lives inside every person in that house? Fire. Your people call it roots. It's like a small flame burning in their chests. I can't go near it. It burns me. But you..."

"Me?" Cole asked.

"You're like an empty room with all the lights off. Not dim. Completely dark. Someone broke your roots a long time ago, and they never grew back. Do you know how rare that is? I've waited ten thousand years for someone who looked empty and truly was. You were made to be a home for me. You just didn't know it."

Cole let out a weak laugh.

"For three years, everyone has called me worthless. Now being worth nothing is exactly what someone wants. That's funny."

"I thought you might see it that way."

"I don't."

Cole pressed his tied hands against his forehead.

"What do I get?"

"Your life, for one thing."

"And after that?"

"Strength. More strength than any living cultivator has."

"You said that very quickly."

"Because it's true."

Cole noticed the voice hadn't said that everything it told him was true. He kept that in mind.

He had learned to do the same with Garrick. He always watched the man's right hand. It would twitch just before he threw something at Cole's head.

"What's the catch?"

The voice went quiet.

The chain shook above him, and tiny bits of salt fell from the roof onto his face.

"There's always a catch," the voice said at last. "I'll tell you everything when the time comes. But right now, men are climbing down a rope to kill you. And I'm the only one here who can stop them."

Cole looked up.

A boot appeared in the small square of orange light. Then a leg followed. A guard was climbing down on a rope, holding it with one hand and carrying a short sword in the other.

"Garrick says to keep him alive until the elders get here!" the man called to someone above. "Just tie him down!"

"They've already tied me up," Cole muttered. "Tell Garrick he's late."

His heart was beating hard.

He looked at the black chain, then at the dark crack in the floor. The guard was getting closer.

And all Cole could think about was Elise's red eyes at the bottom of the stairs.

Don't fight it. Whatever happens. Please.

He hadn't promised her anything. There had been no time.

"If I say yes," he asked quietly, "what will happen?"

"It will hurt."

"Of course it will."

"A lot."

"And if I say no?"

"You'll still suffer. Only for no reason."

Cole almost smiled.

The guard was now only ten feet above him.

"Do it."

The cave went silent.

Even the guard stopped moving.

Then the chain screamed.

The sound was so loud and rough that it shook the whole cave. Dust fell from the walls as the thick black links pulled tight. The cl

osest link split down the middle with a loud crack like thunder.

Bright white light burst out of the broken chain and spread across the cave.

Then it struck Cole in the chest.