If he hadn’t had Darien holding onto him, he might’ve sat down there on the Riverbank and— Grimalkin butted him again, harder, and he staggered.
Darien said, “When I was washing the ghosts loose, I heard something, someone calling me. A friend from when I was a kid. I hear him now. Is that the River?”
“Could be.” He tightened his grip around Darien to keep him from following. “Don’t listen to it.”
“Now what?” Darien’s upturned face looked old and weary in the flickering silver light. “Can you get more power somewhere? Is that what you need?”
“Yes. I think I burned myself out a bit. Maybe just a rest.” The idea called to him seductively, although it was dangerous to relax on these banks.
Grim said, “Don’t be stupid. If you stay here too long, you both die. I don’t want to break in a new sorcerer.”
“Well, if you have a suggestion, let’s hear it.”
Darien asked, “Do ghosts come to the River on their own? Can you trap them somehow? Eat them?”
“The River’s full of them, but by the time they reach here, there’s no power left in them.”
“So what you need is the stuff they cling to? From inside a person?”
Silas licked his dry lips, glancing around the barren landscape. “Or, back in the real world, free ghosts carry a scrap of the energy from the person they once were. I can use that too. But here?” He ran his eyes over every rock and hollow and rise, but saw no sparkle, no sign of power except Darien’s heartglow, and the River, and it was death to take from that water. “Maybe if some other necromancer wanders down here.” Before it’s too late.
He didn’t realize how hard he was squeezing Darien until the boy grunted and pulled free. “And Grim can’t share power with you?”
Grim dragged a paw through the loose dirt at their feet. “I share excellent advice. Foresight. Spellcasting. But not power.”
“And what about me?” Darien turned to face him. “You said I was full of power. You used all the bits the ghosts dragged out of me. Why not one more?”
“You’re already ragged with losses,” Silas protested. “I don’t know how you’ll be affected when we get back to the real world—”
“If we get back,” Darien interrupted. “Or am I wrong about how fucked we are right now?”
It was Grim who said, “You’re not wrong.”
“Then do it.” Darien held out an arm, bare of spirit marks, his pale-gold skin vulnerable in the flickering Riverlight. “Take some.”
“I can’t.” I don’t want to either. But if it would save Darien’s life, he would’ve. Except… “You’re not trained in the runes of power exchange, and taking power from the living isn’t my talent. I could kill you and then eat your ghost’s power, but I don’t know how to take a bite from what you hold and not take it all. Not without a ghost latched onto it to control the exchange.”
Grim said, “If anyone’s wondering, I’m not volunteering for the ghost part of this process.”
“Hush, cat.” Silas reached out to touch Darien’s cheek, running a finger down sandpaper rough skin to the tender curve of his lips. “I’m afraid to try.” The only thing worse than dying trapped with Darien here, would be getting home safe on the boost from his death. He kept all his power coiled deep inside him, as he touched Darien’s chin, his throat. “Let me rest for a bit and I’ll try to find home again. Grim, can you keep a time check? Don’t let me sleep too long.”
“I don’t like it one bit,” Grim muttered.
Darien caught Silas’s hand in his, and turned his cheek into Silas’s palm. “I have faith in you.” He nipped Silas’s thumb. “Maybe you need incentive.”
I can’t imagine incentive better than saving your life. But he didn’t pull his hand away as Darien added a little lick to the bite. Darien kissed his palm, then said, “Oh!” in an odd voice.
Silas followed his gaze and saw a hint of green power flicker over his thumb and disappear. “Don’t worry,” he said, though he was shaken by losing power where he had none to spare. “That’s just me.”
“I’m not worried.” Darien eyed him. “I saw that before. When you kissed me, you passed power along. Can you take that back? It was yours to start with.”
“I don’t see it.” Silas scanned Darien up and down, noticing for the first time that the boy was naked other than his underwear. And now I