Where The Ice Gives Way Chapter 151

**Charlotte**

I wake up alone. For a second, I lie there with my face pressed into Blake’s pillow, breathing in cedar and smoke. The curtains are half drawn, the light outside is dim and grey, and the bed is cold on his side. My fingers move over the empty sheet as something tugs in my chest. I think it is the bond at first. That strange, quiet pull that always points me toward him, even when I don’t fully understand it. But this feels different. It’s lower, deeper inside of me, like something has hooked beneath my ribs and started pulling from far away. Shanti lifts her head inside me. *They’re here.*

I blink at the ceiling as I try to understand. *Who?*

*The lost ones.* Her voice is soft, but it sends a chill through me. I sit up slowly, the blanket slipping to my waist, and I can… I can feel them then—a hundred broken breaths pressing against the edge of me.

*They’re calling to us,* Shanti says as my hand goes to my chest.

*What do we do?*

*We bring them home.*

I sit there for another breath, waiting for fear to stop me, but it doesn’t. So I climb out of bed and find warm pants folded on the chair, then shove my feet into slippers. I grab Blake’s hoodie that’s over the back of the desk chair. I pull it on and smile as it swallows me whole. I step into the hallway fully aware that Blake is going to be mad at me for this.

Blake will learn. Shanti assures me, and I make my way outside. The cool night air slips under the hoodie and bites at my cheeks, but I barely feel it over the pull in my chest. 

The backyard doesn’t look like a backyard anymore. Floodlights stand across the land beyond the fence, and once white snow has been turned to mud in long tyre tracks. My steps slow as I reach the far end of the yard, past the churned ground and temporary fencing. A set of wide metal doors sits at the bottom of concrete steps leading underground, but in front of that stands Theo. He sees me before I get halfway across the yard, and he frowns while crossing his arms. “Charlotte?” 

I keep walking towards him, and he steps away from the doors and meets me near the edge of the cleared path. He eyes my slippers before asking, “What are you doing out here?”

I rub the heel of my hand against my chest. “They need me.”

Theo looks toward the doors as a growl comes from underground. “Blake’s not going to like this.” He sighs.

“Blake is going to have to learn to trust me,” I say, planting my feet. 

For a second, he looks like he might argue, but he doesn’t. He shakes his head and steps aside. I walk forward to the two patrol members at the doors, who look over my shoulder at him. Theo sighs loudly this time. “Let her in.”

They both look at each other like they want nothing to do with this. They’ve probably been ordered to keep me out, but when Theo’s voice drops, and he says, “I said let her in,” they open the doors.

The first corridor I step into slopes underground. Harsh overhead strips of light illuminate the concrete walls. The air smells like damp stone and steel, but beneath it all is the stench of rot. Another set of patrol members stands at the next door, both of them straightening when they see me. One reaches for his radio, but Theo, who has followed behind me, shakes his head. The door opens, and the low growls from before get louder the moment I step through.

Feral sounds roll through the corridor, angry and frantic, and one by one the cell doors begin to rattle as rogues throw themselves against the steel. Shanti presses forward inside me, making my skin feel like it’s humming.

*Easy,* she whispers.

I don’t know if she means them or me, but I hear Blake and Gareth speaking from around the turn ahead, so I follow the sound. When I round the corner, Blake is standing beside Gareth with a clipboard in one hand, sleeves pushed up, and his hair messy like he’s been dragging his fingers through it. The second he sees me, surprise, fear and anger collide across his face. He comes toward me fast. “What are you doing here?” His voice is low, but I hear the strain under it.

I stop in the middle of the corridor, surrounded by concrete and growls and the sound of claws hitting reinforced doors. “They called to me.”

His jaw tightens as he reaches me. “Charlotte.”

I step closer and place my hand on his arm, letting the contact hum through both of us. “They need me, Blake.”

“You shouldn’t be down here.” He says, covering my hand with his own.

“I know you think that.” I try to explain, but he cuts me off.

“I know that,” he says. “You just started getting better, getting your life together. This can wait.”

A sharp whine cuts through one of the doors, and my chest pulls so hard toward it that I sway a little. Blake wraps both hands around my waist as he frowns at me.

“See?” he says, panic breaking through now. “This is too much.”

I grip his wrist, pleading with my eyes for him to listen to me, to understand that I know my own limits. “I need to do this.”

His face twists as Gareth approaches behind him and sets one hand on Blake’s shoulder. It doesn’t look forceful, but Blake stills under it. Then Gareth looks at me, his expression careful, but his eyes are kind. “Charlotte,” he says gently, “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

I look past him, down the corridor where the growls are getting louder. “No,” I say honestly. “But Shanti is, and I trust her with my life.”

Gareth’s gaze softens as Blake’s hand tightens around my waist. I look back at him, and my eyes sting. “They’re scared, Blake. They’re scared, and they’re hurt, and they need me to bring them back. Hiding upstairs won’t make them stop calling,” I whisper. “And it won’t make me stop feeling them.”

Blake exhales, rough and broken, and lowers his forehead to mine as he draws my body into his. “You are going to be the death of me,” he whispers.

My mouth trembles into the smallest smile. “Maybe, but not today.”

A pained laugh leaves him before his lips touch my forehead, and he pulls back. 

“Okay, Lotty.” 

“Okay?” I ask, looking up at him, needing the confirmation. 

“Yes,” Blake says, though every part of him looks like that word hurts him. “But you stay with us the entire time, and you tell us if it’s too much,” Blake says.

“I will.”

The growling grows louder down the corridor, and Shanti rises further inside me—*this way.*