This book was a quick one to get back into. There was a little bit of a recap of what happened, Jack went to the tunnels for Nikki at the end of the first one, so as you would expect, Nikki is now looking for a way to get back down there and save him. And until she can, she is doing what she can to help keep him alive, the way he did for her, she dreams every night of him. In order to get back to the Everneath, she knows that she will need Cole, whether she likes it or not. Her first plan is to just steal a hair from Cole, and use that to get into the Everneath on her own to find Jack. Which she tries, and when it doesn't work out so well, Cole saves her before the other everlivings down there, as well as the queen, can catch her. Cole can see that she is determined to get back to Jack, so he finally agrees to help her. It is obvious that Cole loves her, but Nikki doesn't know how much is real, and how much is just that he wants her to help him take over the Everneath by becoming the queen. But she knows that Jack is her true love, even as she has feelings for Cole as well. Like many 2nd books in a series, this one has a journey. The journey is through the Everneath, to try to get to the tunnels to find Jack. In a sense there are parts like Dante spoke about, different levels/rings. And there is the river to cross, and the Elysium fields, etc. So the journey seems to bring Cole and Nikki closer together even as Jack seems to become more and more distant in Nikki's dreams. We learn more about the Everneath, and the Everlivings, as well as what it takes to get humans down there, and how the Shades actually do what they do. The end, wow, it was a twist! Can I say I didn't quite see what happened? I knew that something was up with how the findings from the search ended up. Just didn't see that happening. So, now, don't know how I'll wait till 2014 to read it!
