Chapter 1

On the way out of the tomb, a cloud of toxic miasma rose up out of nowhere.

My boyfriend, Harvey Delgado, grabbed our friend's hand on instinct and pulled her clear to safety.

But my eyes had been poisoned, and I was trapped in the fog, unable to find the way out.

Harvey's voice came from somewhere far off. "Sabrina Whitlock, go west. West is safe. We'll wait for you at the exit."

But the miasma only grew thicker on the west side.

I don't know how long it took before I stumbled my way out.

When Silvia Harding saw me, she smiled and marked an exit on the map.

"So the west chamber really does have an exit."

"All thanks to you, Sabrina. My exploration guide is finally finished."

I stood frozen where I was. So he had sent me the wrong way on purpose.

"Do you have any idea? I almost died in there."

Harvey frowned, impatient. "I just asked you to scout a route. What's there to milk for sympathy?"

He took Silvia's hand as he spoke. "Come on. It's dangerous here."

Watching them walk away, it all came clear to me. He had known everything.

The only one in any danger was me.

I looked down at the dark-red veins slowly spreading across my hands, and let out a bitter laugh.

"My life. Don't you care about that anymore either?"

1.

Harvey didn't come home until deep in the night.

When he saw me sitting on the couch with the lights on, he stiffened, expecting me to throw a fit the way I used to.

"What are you going to make a scene about now? I'm exhausted today. I don't have the patience for you."

It was a long moment before I spoke, softly.

"Do you remember? Earlier this year I went to Cockcrow Chapel and prayed to every god and buddha there."

"The people there told me an ancient tomb can grant the wishes people never got to fulfill in this life."

I paused, and looked up at him.

"So I made the wish for you."

From the day I met him, I knew his dream was to become the finest explorer alive.

For the sake of that one wish, I forced down my own fear and went down into the tomb with him.

I was naïve enough to believe that as long as my heart was sincere, everything I prayed for would come true.

But it turned out the other way. The end of the story didn't match its beginning.

Harvey sat across from me, pinching the bridge of his nose, worn out.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"If this is about making you scout the route today, I'm sorry. Can you please just stop acting crazy?"

I was silent for two seconds, then pulled my lips into a bitter, self-mocking smile.

"What if the route you pointed me to today hadn't led to an exit? What then?"

He blinked, his whole face nothing but impatience.

"But you did get out. Exploration is dangerous by nature, isn't it?"

I met his eyes and pressed down the sting rising in my nose.

"But when you love someone, you don't leave them standing in danger."

Once, when I went with him into the jungle and we passed through Vermin Gorge, he carried me the whole way on his back.

He knew I was afraid of insects, and he couldn't bear for me to come to the slightest harm.

But today, when the miasma rose, his first instinct was to protect Silvia.

He was even willing to send me toward an unknown abyss, just to draw one more exit onto her exploration guide.

He was the one who taught me to be brave, and he was the one who threw me into the dark.

"Harvey, I've seen what you look like when you love me."

"But the person you are now has changed."

Something complicated crossed Harvey's face. Before he could say anything, his phone rang, the ringtone he'd set just for Silvia.

He glanced at it and got up in a rush.

"Something urgent's come up. I have to go out. I won't be back tonight, so don't wait up."

"Harvey."

I called out to stop him. "Don't go. Please?"

It was the first time I had ever asked him to stay. It was also the last.

He stopped walking, but he didn't turn around.

"Stop it."

"In a while I'll take you to see the northern lights, your favorite."

And with that, he left without a backward glance.

I lowered my head and gave a bitter smile.

So even now, I still couldn't let him go.

But once a person is dead, I suppose they forget everything.