Page 82 of Ramshackle
“Kellan, can you train me next?”
“If I go change, can you train me too?”
While he’s surrounded by eager Guild members, I hurry to put my things away and sneak out when a girl stands in my way. “You were so cool! I’m Trinity. How did you learn to fight like that? Do you think you could help me? Kellan’s going to be so busy with the others…”
“Uh, I’m not really that great at fighting yet. I think he’d still be a better teacher…” I skirt around her until she’s no longer between me and the door. A couple others catch my eye and start walking over.
Nope. This is too much.
“Sorry, I uh, I have somewhere I need to be.” I hurry from the room, keeping my pacejustunder running but fast enough to avoid anyone else. Even after I pass the doors, another group of members exit the elevator. I switch to the stairwell instead, hobbling up a few flights and picking a random floor when my knee can’t take anymore stairs.
The floor seems calm at first, but five minutes in brings a new group who notices me and tries to wave me down.
This is why they told me not to wander on my own.
I curse my knee for slowing me down, turning down a hallway and then another in my attempt to lose them. I pause after the third hallway, listening for following footsteps.
“—gan! Wait!”
Ahh.Why?
Just as I rush back into a fast walk, something grabs me and yanks me into another room.
The door closes after me, cutting off any source of light. I struggle against whoever grabbed me. “Hey—!” I shout before a hand slaps over my mouth.
“Shh!” a voice hisses in my ear.
The pounding footsteps of the others who followed me get closer. They call my name again.
Is it GE? The spy? Were they just waiting for me to be alone out of my room?
My gift heats in my gut. “Let me go, or I’ll kill you,” I speak into the hand, but it comes out garbled and far less threatening than I’d like.
“It’s me, Rae. Just stay quiet until they’re gone,” Dane whispers. I pull my gift back in and scrunch my nose. His citrusy scent is more noticeable now that my heart rate is slowing, butwhat is he doing?
Oh, fuck. Is he trying to get us away to find Vera again? This is just like those times when he’d pulled me aside to keep his promise of bringing me with him.
The Guild members run by whatever room we’re in, their steps getting farther away until we can’t hear them anymore.
Dane sighs with relief. There’s a soft click, and a dim light fills the room in a haunting glow. His hand falls from my face.
“Please tell me we aren’t sneaking away to meet with Vera again,” I rush out first.
“What? No. I saw you were running from them and thought I could keep you hidden until they were gone.”
“Oh.” That’s a relief. I look around the room—closet, I amend—and the organized shelves of cleaning supplies as well as a floor covered with buckets, mops, brooms, vacuums, and...
I shift back to get a clearer picture of the room with what little light the small bulb is giving us, and Dane reaches for me. “Wait, don’t—!”
Whatever I step on rolls, and I fall back. Dane throws himself at me, his hands cradling under my head as we topple to the floor, and the mess of cleaning supplies crashes down on top of him.
His amber eyes are locked with mine while we both catch our breath. There’s a look in them that sends a rush of heat through me. It’s a look he hasn’t given me in a long time. One that had always been there on the island. I thought it was just what his eyes looked like back then. Hot as fire. Like melted gold with burnt edges and flecks of green.
The look that causes me to melt in return when it’s pinned on me, raising my body’s temperature until I think I’m also turning to liquid from the inside.
Those eyes flick to my mouth, so close to his, before they return.
He licks his lips, and it’s like he’s imagining what I taste like.
