Page 118 of Dawn of Hope

The monsters pile themselves up below, like they sensed me coming, but I am not going to give them anything today. I grip the rope rails and steadily walk across. No pausing, no wavering, nothing but focus until my boot lands on the other side. I don’t even look back to see if the monsters had followed me, I just take off running toward the mountain.

I can’t help but feel like I know where I am going. I feel this pull, deep in my body, from where I feel all of my hope. I can’t explain it, but I just know it will guide me.

I burst through the edge of trees, the lagoon just ahead. The roar of the falls magnifies as I approach, mingling with the pounding of my heart and heaving breaths. It isn’t fear causing them this time, though. It is excitement. Hope. Determination.

My eyes scan the lagoon, knowing there is a reason I need to be here, and it isn’t to see Weston again. I walk along the edge, eyes searching the surface and scanning the walls, trying to find some abnormality or clue.

Then I see it.

I’d never seen the mountain from this distance before, always having come around from the other side. The last time I was here, I didn’t even make it halfway around the lagoon before the sirens called me into it.

The rainbow.

We see them rarely in Blackwood, but I’ve never seen one like this before. Now that I see it, I feel foolish for missing it before. Maybe I was just too close, or not paying attention.

Or maybe Dawnlin hadn’t shown it to me.

The hope swells in my chest again as I gaze at it. Then it hits me.

I’d seen this before, not this exactly, but something like it.

The rainbow, shining in a half circle on top of the rock bridge, formed the perfect dawn over the chalice of rock, just like on the fountain that brought me here. That image was how I knew I found the right place, and it is how I know the cure is hidden inside. It is in the mountain, and this, somehow, is the gate.

I sprint down the side of the lagoon, my sole focus getting as close to the mountain as possible. This time, instead of crossing the rock bridge, I stop just beyond it and peer into the pool where the waterfall crashes.

I crouch down on my knees, the rock biting into them, and look down into the pool. The water from the fall is flowing too rapidly, way too fast for someone who doesn’t know how to swim to try to make it through. I can’t tell how deep it is, and it is too strong to walk through. I will not risk being flung into the depths of the lagoon again.

I need to climb around.

I double back over the bridge and swing my legs over the side, dropping down onto the large boulders next to the water. They are slick, and soon I am soaked with mist and spray from the falls. I climb across on all fours, doing my best not to slip and fall into the rushing water.

I’m exhausted by the time I make it to the wall of the mountain, and I cling to it for a moment, sucking in deep breaths and resting my limbs. The falls crash next to me, but for once, I am not afraid of the ruthless water. I know I am in the right place.

I notice a small ledge and plant my boots onto it, my chest flat against the mountainside and my arms spread out, clutching the rock for my life. I slowly inch along the ledge, moving behind the deadly wall of water.

I can’t think of a better place to hide the cure than that.

Inch by inch, I cling to the side of the mountain, and as I reach the edge of the waterfall, magic overwhelms me. It feels like I am entering a portal. My body tingles and the noise around me dulls. I push my body forward, trusting in the island’s magic, and fall through the portal onto a smooth stone platform that juts out of the side of the mountain.

That wasn’t there before.

I kneel on the platform and rest my hands on my thighs, using a few precious moments to catch my breath after that heart stopping climb.

This is it, I can feel it.

There is no way this is a trick. I stand up and take in my surroundings.

The back side of the waterfall is completely white, the water barreling down in front of me, but the sound muted by the magic. I am completely enclosed. No spray reaches me, and I can see nothing past the platform, which means it can’t be seen from out there either.

The perfect hiding spot.

I turn and face the wall, knowing there has to be more than just this.

The rock face is smooth as glass, and I know it isn’t just the years of being beaten with water that made it that way. My gaze trails over the wall, looking for any sort of seam or knob, something that indicates there is a door. I place my hands on it and push, trying to detect if it is another portal, but I don’t move.

There is nothing, the dark slab smooth and glistening and seamless.

There.