Page 78 of The Sixth Spring

“We will stop,” Itori said.

But Will was already shaking his head, grasping tightly at Itori. “No. You can’t die. They can’t win.” His voice was strained. He felt like he was cracking apart.

“But Willowtree–”

“Is there a way to hold on to my memories?” Will asked.

“The exchange is only done willingly. If you hold tight to them, I cannot take them,” Itori said.

“Then that’s what we’ll do. Now that we know. We’ll just be more careful.”

He could feel Itori’s hesitation, but it was too late to stop now.

“Please, Itori. You need energy.”

There was a long pause. Then, “We should go deeper,” Itori said. “The patrolling men are not far. Let me take you to the other lake while it is still there.”

Will turned to look back at Mercale Street. In the thick dark he couldn’t see the gate or who might be patrolling beyond it, but he believed in Itori’s senses.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s… go to the other lake.”

Itori hesitated. He parted from Will only to take his hands. “Do you remember this last time?”

“As though it were a dream,” Will said.

Itori nodded, but Will could tell he didn’t like that answer. “I have to take you down through the channel. It will not take long, but you will need to hold your breath.”

“Got it.”

Will forced his breathing to even, then drew in a deep breath and squeezed Itori's hands as a signal. Itori clasped his hand tight and sank down under the water, pulling Will with him.

It was too dark to see, so Will closed his eyes. The water rushed around them, bitingly cold against the pull of Itori’s warm hand. The memory of the dream pressed in around him.

The pressure increased as Itori swam deeper. Behind closed eyes, Will felt bits of grass or pondweed brush his skin.

Then the pressure began to lighten. The water warmed as Itori took them back toward the surface. Just as Will’s lungs started to burn, they broke air.

Will rubbed the water out of his eyes and looked around. Like his dream, they’d emerged in the lake back behind the grocery store. It had shrunk some, but still retained more water than where they’d been before. In the distance, Will could see the light of the grocery’s back door.

This area hadn’t been touched yet by the construction. Opposite the grocery, the forest stood tall and healthy in the moonlight.

“This is where I sleep during the day,” Itori explained. “You are nearby, in that building?”

He was gesturing at the grocery store.

“Yeah. You can feel me?” Will asked, surprised.

“Yes. It is part of the tethering. Do you not sense me?”

Will thought about that. About the strange energy that had called him to the water initially. It hadn’t dissipated.

Now he imagined it as a tether, running from him to Itori.

“I suppose I do,” he admitted.

And there was something else beyond that. The moment he thought about it as a tether, he thought he could follow it farther, from Itori out into the rest of the lake. Like in some way he too was connected to the land.

He became aware of its energy. It was humming around them, a shimmer like the way hot air vibrated over metal. Everything here was alive, alive, alive.