Page 91 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
Of course, Briar would’ve known a harbinger had found me when I wasn’t where he’d told me to be. He’d probably assumed the worst—that I was already dead. I prayed he’d search for my body before abandoning hope, but my gut said he wouldn’t looktoohard.
He’s probably counting his blessings that you might be dead, my dark side suggested.Counting as heskips right off to Laurel Woodrush’s bed.
And to the throne he was so quick to assume you’d handed him.
Stop that, I berated myself. Regardless of his feelings for Laurel—or his buried aspirations to be king—Briar wouldn’t forsake me so quickly. He’d loved my mother like a sister, after all. Even if he didn’t love me.
I’m trying, Briar’s voice tolled.
I flinched, then embraced my disquiet as sparks flew again, smoke flavoring the breeze.
“Keep it up,” I breathed, desperate to harness my escape.
Until my memories rioted, wanting out of the box I’d stuffed them in.
No, I thought at the odor of charred flesh.Stop, I demanded as jagged teeth gnashed my leg.Please, no more!I begged Sy Rockrose’s pieces and Mica Polkweed’s dead eyes. I winced as I flew into my father’s closet, then hurtled from the sky to blacktop.
Daddy’s face, pasty and gaunt, whispered my name. For the last time.
Fire exploded from my hands, its force propelling me back on my ass. The world ignited around me.
“Shit!”
Flames rained onto nearby shrubs, consuming mushrooms, ivy, and saplings alike. Smoke billowing toward the sky, I scurried around like a sand-fried chicken, trying to douse various brushfires with handfuls of water before they converged into one gigantic blaze.
Thank heaven the lake’s plant life was moist and healthy. Several fires began dying without my trivial aid.
Heaving in relief, I looked down and saw my new anklet—a scintillating crust of ash. My shadow tether was burning!
Now attached to a flaming rope, I yelped in surprise rather than pain and dove into the lake, headfirst. Soon after, I knelt, dripping, on soppy sand, examining my ankle.
The fuming tether clung looser to my blackened flesh. Its mist appeared sparser, featherier. Fully expecting to cause myself torment, I gritted my teeth and prodded the anklet.
If anything, I experienced sweet alleviation as the tether withered to nothing but a circle of soot in the sand. Fresh air caressed the scab I’d given myself.
My lungs filled with a smoky breath of triumph. Freedom!
My heart pounding, I scrambled to dress. Bathing would take a backseat to simply getting the fuck away. Although, I hated leaving both my totem and my new bestie behind.
“Goodbye, Sionna.” I blew her a distant kiss, squishing along the shoreline in my soppy boots and saturated clothes, following the horizon toward sanctuary. She was a sweet dog, despite her owner, and I’d miss her with my whole heart. I would’ve taken her with me if I could. Alas, she was a harbinger’s snuff hound, and if I never saw her again, I’d consider myself fortunate.
“Damnyou,AuntAylie!”I chucked a stone in my tantrum. It sprung off a wall of damp rock, plunking to the ground. “I told you I should’ve joined Girl Scouts!”
When pure concentration and painful memories had failed at sparking another fire, I’d tried using the two flat stones in my skirt pocket instead. They’d failed me, too.
My frustration bounded into the darkness beyond the five-foot swath of fading light filtering in through the mouth of the cave I’d chosen as my camp. The suns would soon abandon me, leaving me to my fears.
The cave had seemed a haven when I’d discovered it, obscured by creeping ivy in a mossy fairy hill. But what lurked in its abyssal caverns? Did Evereostre have bears? Or predators resembling bears? I guessed yes but prayed they dwelt outside caves in the land of perpetual spring.
Resigning myself to a night of paranoia and teeth-chattering sleep, I layered myself in my cardigan, cloak, and woolen socks. Without a fire, the dank cave would chill me to the bone. The walls around me beaded with cold sweat, which I’d already licked multiple times to combat my cottonmouth.
At least there’s probably water nearby, I gave optimism a shot. My throat could scrape wood after my non-stop sprint through thickets and alder. I hadn’t paused for any bodily pangs since that tether had disintegrated. Until I found the cave. I knew Pete would chase me and couldn’t risk slowing. Now, of course, my thirst bordered on unbearable.
What good will a water source do without light, idiot? You can’t wander blindly through a dark cave. If you wanted to kill yourself, you could’ve let Pete hand you off to Gentian.
Briefly, I wondered if I was better off as Pete’s prisoner. He certainly didn’t want to kill me—or at least he hadn’t before I’d begun irritating him. Either way, his job prevented him from doing so. Maybe that meant Gentian wouldn’t take my life upon delivery.
But what the hell else could he want from you?the dark side of me countered.You probably don’t want to know.
