Page 129 of The Souls Harvest
My finger is stuck on the switch, my neck so rigid it hurts when I look behind me, at the line of stunned faces that, like me, are fighting back the weight of Lucretia’s words.
Chapter 46 - The Deserving Ones
Lucretia
Istop screaming, not because someone who sounds precisely like July has told me to, but because I don’t want to ruin my voice.
I distractedly caress the weird frog’s little head, its soft fur oddly soothing against the cuts and scratches on my fingers, while I wait for someone to pay me attention.
Eventually, another voice speaks to me. “Do not touch the building, do not get any closer. To be clear, whatever you’re thinking of doing, just don’t. And, please, let Rary go.”
The sound comes from everywhere as if this disgrace of a building is talking to me. “Fine, and, for the record, I wouldn’t even brush a finger against thisthingcovered in moss and surely infested by every sort of insect.” I look at the frog in my hands. “Rary?”
A confident bark comes through my fingers, and a skinny webbed foot pops out between my thumb and forefinger. As much as I like the effect of the frog’s skin on my wounds, I kneel and gingerly open my hands to let it go. The frog hops away, trilling and chirping.
“Done,” I push myself up, patting my knees and wincing when my raw skin scrapes against my silk trousers. My legs also ache, and my left knee has been throbbing since I fell badly on it while running away from the people who tried to capture me, after Popplewish and I got separated in Brenath, after having fled a burning Libera…My eyes sting at the memory of it.
I press a finger on my swollen knee and hiss, clenching my jaw.
“Are you—nope, clearly you’re not okay.”
That voice again, only closer, younger and…friendly?
I look up to find someone who wasn’t there a moment ago, standing only inches from me. “How did you?” I tilt my head to the side, searching for a door, some sort of entrance to the destroyed building.
With the moon setting at his back, the young man’s silhouette radiates an impossible shade of copper and silver, from his hair to the freckles on his smiley face to his silly orange shirt.
“You’re not Tabitha Lorne.”And who sounds silly now?
“I hope not,” he quickly assesses his statement by touching his face and chest before rushing to offer me his hand.
I swat his hand away, cursing silently as pain explodes in my body with every slightest movement. “Don’t touch me, I can manage.”
His face drops, “I’m sorry, I thought you needed—Thanks for letting Rary go, by the way.”
I look him straight in his boyish, cerulean eyes. “I don’t need anythingand…You’re Horigean, what are you doing with TabithaLorne?” I move closer to better study him and make him blush.
“Was that July Crimson I heard?”
He nods, seemingly happy for me to change the subject. “She asked me to come and save…”
I narrow my eyes.
“Show you the entrance.”
“Well then?” I raise my arm to jab him in the shoulder, but stop when I notice something bulging on my wrist.
He promptly steps back, pointing at my hand. “That needs my sister’s knowledge, and I’d like to knowhowyou and July are friends,” he comments, ignoring my insulted face and giving me his back.
“I’m Mack, by the way.”
“We’re not friends,” I snap. “And I’m not interested in hearing another word from you.” I trudge behind him.
“Are you sure this is the way?” I observe my surroundings, unsure whether to turn around and run in the opposite direction.
My head starts pounding.
“If this is another trap…” I blurt after Mack.
