Page 62 of The Souls Harvest
The gate swings slightly with the wind. The sea will soon appear beyond it like a dark purple line to the horizon. I can almost hear its voice—
“Stop.” Galen’s hand lands on my wounded shoulder like a claw as he unexpectedly steps in front of me and grabs my wrists.
“What the f—”
He pulls me into his arms, pushing my head against his chest, and turns us around so his back is to the castle. The imaginary voice of the sea turns into a whistle, growing closer by the second, until I spot a massive boulder flying towards us. I shut my eyes and bury my face against Galen moments before the stone lands inches from us and disintegrates as soon as it hits the ground.
For a moment, everything stops except for the ringing in my ears and Galen’s laboured breath.
He presses his cheek against my head. “You’re okay,” he whispers. “You’re safe…”
I push away and flinch at the state of his face. Scratches and grazes on his cheeks are barely visible under the layer of soil and dirt. Blood drips down from a cut on his forehead.
“What the hell happened on that tower?” I ask, tasting chalk on my lips.
This can’t be a trap if he’s just risked being flattened by a boulder to save me.
As if reading the doubt in my eyes, and perhaps the feeble hope that maybe he isn’t lying and this whole freaking situation caught him by surprise as much as me, he takes my face in his hands and kisses my forehead, as I mumble, “You owe me—if we make it, you owe me big time.”
His attempt at a smile puts a painful mask on his battered face.
I try to keep a straight face, “If we make it out alive, we are leaving this fucking place together,” I offer him my hand. “Then I’ll probably kill you.”
There are no night birds in Libera. When the sun disappears behind the sea, gulls retreat inside caves by the shore, and little birds hide amongst the fat branches. Nights in Libera are utterly quiet and silent.
The day I met the Chapter, Roden spoke as if his words had no implication, “You bring me the rebel’s soul, and you will be free to go as far as you want from the island. Anywhere, with whomeveryou want.”
“And Galen won’t remember?” That was my only clause in our agreement. I wanted him to forget everything about me, had he chosen to stay in Libera. Forget about my name and face—that I ever existed.
“Should he wish, Galen will be given a whole new life and purpose.”
“How can I be sure?”
“BecauseI’llbe watching over him as my personal responsibility,” Popplewish had stepped in.
That day, I felt darkness; not because the birds had gone to sleep but because I had traded the life of a stranger for Galen’s future.
Chapter 26 - Darkness
July
Only when I’m sure we’ve put enough space between us and the castle can I find the courage to stop, look back, and face the destruction we barely escaped.
“It’s not safe yet,” Galen suggests, frantically checking the same ear I saw him tapping earlier. “Shit! I lost it…” His voice is hushed by the ground rumbling beneath us and the daunting image of the solitary body of the Wise, shaking and glowing red in the distance.
The tears on my cheeks are cooler than the heat riding the violent wind blowing from the castle, and I let them dry while Galen keeps shouting something at me.
I push sticky locks of hair off my face and my eyes. My hand smells of blood and dirt when I cover my mouth in disbelief. “They have no time left…Whoever was up there with us…What have we done?”
We’re standing on the hill’s highest point, where fresh grass takes over the concrete path and begins its descent to the sea.
“How many?” I look briefly over my shoulder.
Galen’s silence is unsettling. Once again, I’m pulled between theneed to run away from a flesh-and-bone red flag and the hope of finding out that there is something he is not telling me just yet.
He takes my hand, and I let him. “Knowing won’t change what happened. I told you, it was their decision.” He sounds resolute despite the mask of pain on his face.
I angle my head and take a step back. The more I dig, the more Galen becomes a different person.
