Page 15 of Claim the Light
Felix keeps watch as we work. He’s always been the quieter of the two cousins, but I’ve come to know him as a dragon of action. The way his hands twitch and he steps toward us several times tells me he doesn’t like that he can’t help us.
Once Micah is safely wrapped in his wings and his head is supported within the cocoon we’ve created, Beatrix and I continue to coordinate our movements, crouching, sliding our arms under his body, and lifting.
“Damn,” I whisper when my legs buckle before I can spread my wings.
Felix darts forward and nearly touches me, but I ward him off with a fierce glare. “I can do this.”
Concentrating as hard as I can, I extend my wings, controlling the movement so I don’t bump anyone. Then I force myself fully upright again, grinding my teeth with effort.
Beatrix follows my lead, lifting Micah at the same time I do. We’re incredibly lucky that our wings curve enough at the sides that they don’t collide as we rise into the air, but our mistimed wing beats buffet the wind around us, making us tip to one side.
“We need to be in sync,” Beatrix cries. “Up, down… Up, down.”
I follow Beatrix’s lead, beating my wings in time with her voice as we wobble into the air.
Damn, we’re like acrobats clinging to nothing but hope right now.
I don’t dare look back in case I upset our precarious balance, but I sense Felix’s burning gaze.
I’m not sure how I’ll know when Beatrix uses her power to camouflage us, but in the next second, my body tingles, as if a low-level vibration were passing through it.
When I dare to glance back at Beatrix, her forehead is creased in concentration.
She gives me a brief smile. Even though nothing looks different to me, I hope her power is working.
It worries me a little, now that we’re in the air, that she will have to use her power while fighting off the effects of the ash on her skin. I may have more of the dust on me, but her energy could drain faster than mine.
Thankfully, we can take a straight line to the river since we don’t need to keep to the shadows.
I fly as fast as possible, my concentration intense as I focus on keeping my wing beats in time with Beatrix’s, but I’m frighteningly aware that my arms won’t hold out much longer.
I try to lace my fingers behind Micah’s torso, only to find that my hands are completely numb.
Up ahead, the river is like a black snake meandering between the riverbanks. There’s a bridge a little farther to the north and I’d prefer to dive into the river beneath the bridge’s shadow, but I’m afraid we won’t make it that far.
Groaning with effort, I push on until we pass the riverbank.
The water sparkles beneath us and the moment I see it, my muscles give way.
My arms and legs cramp up, my wings shudder, Micah’s weight is suddenly unbearable, and then I’m falling.
I cry a warning to Beatrix, only to find that she’s already plummeting toward the water behind me. Her wings are fully retracted, and my brief glimpse of her face tells me her eyes are closed.
Fear shoots through me. Not only for Micah, but for Beatrix if she’s also unconscious. The water is meant to help us—not drown us!
I barely have time to take another breath before I hit the surface. It cracks across me before I plunge into the cold wash.
Desperately, I thrash within it, praying that the water will rinse away the ash so I can help my friends. Also desperately trying to keep their sinking bodies in my sights within the murky deluge.
But the moment the cold liquid fully engulfs me, a new fear fills my heart, icy cold and as sharp as barbs.
There’s darkness in this water. A darkness that squeezes my heart harder than the ash did.
Out of nowhere, tendrils like ropes wrap around my legs and drag me down into the deep.
CHAPTERSIX
Ifight the scream building in my throat, knowing that I need to hold on to my oxygen for as long as I can.
